Mad Max 2 and subtitling it "the thrilling predecessor to "The Road Warrior"." Despite the title change, grosses from the US release were on par with other countries. Warner Bros. felt comfortable to keep the title of the third "Mad Max" film, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", intact for that film's American release. "Mad Max 2" received positive reviews and is regarded by many critics as one of the best films of 1981. The film holds a 98% rating based on 42 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with and average rating of 8.4/10 and with the consensus, ""The Road Warrior" is everything a bigger-budgeted Mad
Mad Max the meager, terse dialogue too unappealing. Casting director Mitch Mathews invited for "Mad Max" a class of recent National Institute of Dramatic Art graduates, specifically asking a NIDA teacher for "spunky young guys". Among these actors was Mel Gibson, whose audition impressed Miller and Matthews and earned him the role of Max. An apocryphal tale stated that Gibson went to auditions in poor shape following a fight, but this has been denied by both Matthews and Miller. Gibson's friend and classmate Steve Bisley, who worked with him in his only screen role, 1976's "Summer City", became Max's partner Jim Goose.