I guess some Australians just really know how to crash about a hundred cars for the sake of entertainment, and I respect that. Set in a sparse futuristic Australia with lots of violence and fast driving, Mad Max details the experiences of the titular police officer (Mel Gibson), who wears lots of leather and always gets the bad guys. When a new gang rolls into town, led by the sadistic Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), they take over the highways and ruin the lives of the small-town locals. Max and his partner Goose (Steve Bisley) try to bring them to justice, but find that the law is no match for their brute violence. After killing Goose, they come after Max's wife and son, until he must resort to complete ruthlessness for revenge.
This movie is a real series of highs and lows. There are these amazing chase and crash scenes, with truly impressive camera- and stunt-work. There are some nice visuals, incorporating the bleak, empty landscape and futuristic, punkish costumes. The cars look really cool, but I don't know anything about cars so I can't go into much detail except that Max's looks kind of like KITT. But on the other hand, the intermittent scenes are not especially interesting. The dialogue isn't very well-written, the acting isn't great, the characters are pretty boring, and I had no real comprehension of what was going on or what this imaginary future is actually like. It has many underdeveloped aspects.
It's the first feature from George Miller and the first (and only) screenplay co-writer James McCausland ever wrote, so I understand why it has some issues, I'm just not sure why this movie is such a big deal today. It's innovative for its time, features fun car crashes, and is well-filmed, but I'm not sure what its long-lasting appeal is otherwise, unless Mel Gibson has more of a pull than I realize. I'm looking forward to the other two, which I imagine will feature Max being really badass instead of mostly boring and hanging out with his wife the whole time? And many chase scenes and/or car crashes, I assume.
3/5
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mad Max (1979)
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I found Mad Max a little boring, the film really didn't start moving until the last 20 minutes where Max actually goes "mad". The sequel Road Warrior, is my favorite, that one has non stop action and that cool dog.
ReplyDeleteThe main legacy of the film (to me) isn't really about the movie itself - it's more about the Interceptor, the "last of the V8". It's the main point of interest for us gearheads. I don't know anyone who would really like them ovie if they weren't into the cars.
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