There have been quite a few distopian novels made into films recently and this is very much a second runner to the excellent The Road by John Hillcoat. Its definately trying to walk the Mad Max line, the grand daddy of all post apocalyptic road movie films, indeed it even features bad guys on motorbikes ...
When this first came out in 1990 I remember going to see it, and it's as shocking now as it was then. It really is in a little genre of its own. Its a bit war film ( Vietnam ), a bit horror and a bit nostalgia human interest with a drugs twist thrown in ...