Mad Max

Low budget classic that is now a genre landmark.

Set somewhere in the future we are privy to a world where the roads are ruled by maniac gangs with souped up cars, and bikers that literally could come from hell. Trying to stop these marauding loons are the overstretched police force who themselves ride in exceptionally fast cars. At the front of this story is Max Rockatansky, a good honest cop trying to hold his own against the chaotic world that is forming around him. After his best friend is burned and left for dead he decides enough is enough and thinks about retiring from the service, but whilst on a vacation with his wife and child things go decidedly bad and Max becomes an avenging force of fury with devastating affect.

When eva...

Though I had only seen the previous installment, 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome', which I enjoyed whilst a great many people didn't, with the present sequel earning ten (!?) Oscar nominations, I wanted to catch up on things before seeing the new film at the Cineplex. I was very pleased with this early film in the post-apocalyptic movie category, and can see how and why both it and star Mel Gibson became so successful. Other than Kenneth Anger's experimental film, 'Scorpio Rising', I have never seen a work that so fetishes both cars and the ritual of dressing, either for driving or for war. It's very well directed and suspenseful for a first-timer in Miller, and I'm so glad he's still helming the films of the series 36 years later! All that one...

Who'd have thought we'd still be talking about a $350,000 film, 40 years after it was made? And who'd have thought it would be in a positive way. Mad Max was one of the most formative films ever released, and not only is one of my favourite films, but is chief inspiration to my actual favourite film of all time, Neil Marshall's Doomsday.

Final rating:½ - Ridiculously strong appeal. I cant stop thinking about it.

For whatever reason, never had seen the original and doesn't disappoint, some good action and gut wrenching scenes defying the rules of killing pets and kids, Mel Gibson is quite good in the role and look forward to checking out the sequels. 3.75/5

It's not often that these dystopian scenarios ever leave the USA, so it's interesting that this one introduces us to the massive expanse of the Australian desert and to the young policeman "Max" (Mel Gibson). His job is pretty thankless - and perilous. He must patrol the remote countryside trying to protect what is left of civilisation from marauding motor cycle gangs who are constantly on the search for fuel - for themselves and for their machines. Things start to boil over when ruthless biker "Toe-cutter" (Hugh Keays-Byrne) avenges the death of his leader by killing just about everyone he can find - including the wife and child of the now incandescent "Max". What now ensues is a grittily told, quickly paced, tale of violence and vengeance...

The action is stupendous, but the rest is a bit of a drag.

When the attackers be attacking it's all great to watch, like I got a lot of entertainment from seeing Toecutter's gang do their thing; and vice-versa with the MFP, really. However, the film kinda goes through peaks and troughs in switching from the action to the more mundane and the latter parts did bore me a little.

The characters of Max and Jessie do act noticeably dumb in bits too, I don't necessarily mind that as the whole movie is silly and all those onscreen chew the heck out of the scenery. But it does get a bit annoying to watch, I can't lie. I do like how much extra the characters act in general, though.

The whole 90 minutes of 'Mad Max' are over the top completel...