George Miller creates a complete stylistic reversal with Beyond Thunderdome, replacing the open and desolate frames of Mad Max and The Road Warrior with busy compositions bursting with cluttered interiors and primitive warriors caged by a shrinking world of sand and shit. Even the exterior action scenes represent a cluster of suffocating motion.
It’s as if the clash between natural beauty and technology has produced a sandy purgatory where humans eager to experience a world long forgotten return to incomplete origin stories for comfort and hope. While not a great film by any measure, Beyond Thunderdome sports many interesting scenes which complicate and expand Miller’s obsessions with widescreen photography and environmental mise-en-scene.