He wasn't a side character. He got more screen time than Furiosa.

On top of that, the character he wrote for Max was a raging feral who was a complete loner who would have very little invested in working with a bunch of strangers to help their cause. In the Road Warrior, Max's connection to those survivors he helped was very tenuous and unbelievable. Like he wasn't really a part of their story either. He was just a stranger that showed up and helped them for a bit. Same as in Fury Road.

Fair enough. You are right on this. He's a little more realistic in Furry Road character wise. That said it bores me how they portray his aloofness. It felt like in Road Warrior he shows a bit of interest in strangers for his own survival. Maybe I'm wrong. I should re-watch both movies back to back.

More screen time doesn't mean more important to the plot. Jar Jar Binks has more screen time than Boss Nass. Jar Jar doesn't contribute more to the development of the plot with that screen time though.

The production of water doesn't have a victim. Nor does the production of the vegetables. The mother's milk thing however made cattle of human beings, which is exceptionally evil.

Makes sense in theroy... That would be one of the worst things to do to a mother. HOWEVER! Women must be unbelievably fertile for them to become human cattle in the Mad Max Universe. Which again is absurd to me. It would make sense in a futuristic sci-fi film where they have the technology to help out with pregnancy. Doesn't make a lick of sense in a postapocalyptic world where resources are limited.

As for why the heroes drank it on the road, it's because that's what the tanker happened to be filled with, because it was supposed to be a trade run with gastown and the bullet farm.

Again absurd to me. They got enough women to produce enough milk to fill a tanker?!

Just forget the woman thing. It's not one of those "girl power" movies. A woman is in a central character role for practical plot reasons, not for the sake of "wokeness". If you go into it with the attitude that it's a feminism movie, you're obviously going to hate it.

I literally could care less if they have a female lead. It's just how absurd parts of the story are without explanation. I got to re-watch it since I might be forgetting details. But I watched it 3 times once when it was in theatres and 2 times on Netflix and I still don't remember an answer on the Valhalla/spray paint thing. I get the paint is symbolic but come on... As for the Valhalla thing if they have just included they found a book or script or something that made them believe in such a concept would have been nice.