Rictus Erectus

[Taipan]

A couple of reasons why there wasn't a shanty town at the feet of the Citadel:

1. The people traveled from afar with everything on their backs just to get there knowing there's water.
2. There was no time for them to build housing because they would die before they would build it. Another thing is they were so poor the moment someone built a house they'd be robbed and/or killed. The comic books show that there was total anarchy down there, people were pitted against eachother just to fight for food. The deleted scene in Fury Road shows one of the mothers straight up throwing away her child just so she could be taken up the lift. There really was no place nor time for anyone to build anything, it was all about survival. When things were somewhat stabilized and goods were distributed differently it allowed for the town to form since they didn't have to kill each other over commodities.

[Dinki Di]

Yeah, that scene if they'd kept it in might've conveyed a bit more about the situation of the wretched. I remember hearing about the scene long before I saw it and someone being all like "they chuck babies around like in the 300 graphic novel," so I guess they didn't want to gross the audience out more than they already would later with the c-section. But I kind of like how it illustrates the way the world has changed people. Bit heavy-handed I guess. We more than get that point by the end of the movie anyway.

I heard they intended to kill Corpus, too... If so I can see why they didn't wanna show that. Seems a bit at odds with the sensibilities of the Wives.

[Taipan]

It's funny the thing about Corpus because only Quentin claims that his character was supposed to be ripped apart by angry milk mothers and that they actually filmed it but never used it. I asked Colin Gibson about it and he denied all of that. In fact he stated that Quentin's addition to the cast was in the 11th hour as it is and there wasn't a scene like that planned whatsoever. I don't know who am I supposed to believe.

[MWFV8]

I've always found the omission of the shanty town very odd. I just assumed there wasn't the budget/time to do it realistically.

[levcore]

Yeah maybe because all of that Citadel stuff was such a late addition done during the pick ups in Australia. The studio gave them more money to do the bookends to the movie but perhaps they drew the line at creating the shanty town so George had to scale it back a little. I honestly don't miss it though.

[MWFV8]

Regarding Rictus and his body mass. The only thing he really needs is calories and the rest is down to genetics. Protein synthesis helps but isn't essential as some people just gain muscle mass so easily and continue to do so even above 200lbs body weight. Regardless, if there's chickens and milk, he's getting well above his protein needs daily. It takes rare genetics to get that big but it's something that's implausible rather than impossible. He also carries a realist amount of body fat.

What's ridiculous is Max's build and I've said that from day 1. There's no way someone in that position could maintain that level of mass. The fact he also appears have excellent cardio only pushes things further into the realm of fantasy. Mel's body and physical ability in Roadwarrior was spot on given what we believe the timeline to be.

[Dinki Di]

The lizard hunting was good.

Nah, agreed. Even if Max was somehow able to maintain it before getting captured, and even if they fed their bloodbags well, for the however many weeks he was probably stuck in the citadel hardly able to move around he'd waste. I assume a few weeks or months had passed before he escapes. Although it doesn't explain how they would keep "full lives" in good physical nick stuck in cages like that. Maybe they made him do some kind of work. Doubt it though.

[MWFV8]

The lizard hunting was good.

Nah, agreed. Even if Max was somehow able to maintain it before getting captured, and even if they fed their bloodbags well, for the however many weeks he was probably stuck in the citadel hardly able to move around he'd waste. I assume a few weeks or months had passed before he escapes. Although it doesn't explain how they would keep "full lives" in good physical nick stuck in cages like that. Maybe they made him do some kind of work. Doubt it though.

That's the thing. Without regular resistance training muscle mass will gradually deteriorate even if calorie goals are being maintained. Max's physique simply does not match the state we see him in at the beginning of the movie or his time in the citadel.

[Artemis Flow]

The lizard hunting was good.

Nah, agreed. Even if Max was somehow able to maintain it before getting captured, and even if they fed their bloodbags well, for the however many weeks he was probably stuck in the citadel hardly able to move around he'd waste. I assume a few weeks or months had passed before he escapes. Although it doesn't explain how they would keep "full lives" in good physical nick stuck in cages like that. Maybe they made him do some kind of work. Doubt it though.

I believe he was only in the citadel for 1- 2 days evidently the movie is set over 3 - 4 days I read somewhere

[Dinki Di]

1-2 days... thought he'd been there longer for some reason.

I figured the chase to point they turn back on the salt plain lasts around 2 and 1/2 days, and then I guess 2 back (although they don't show us how they got back through the swamp) so it'd be about 6 if he'd been in the citadel a couple of days first...