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Mad Max | Year: 1979 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - George Miller (II) Actors/Actresses: - Mel Gibson "You and me, Max, were gonna give 'em back their heroes." MAD MAX may actually live up to that boast. This was Mel Gibson's first role in an action film, and one of his only Australian films. The movie takes place in a post-apocolptic world where the cops just basically get their [bootys] kicked by road rats, who pretty much rule the highways. "Mad Max" Rockatansky is the only cop who seems up to par against the meanies. His Do-gooding (Or Good-doing......?) upsets one gang so mush, they murder Max's best friend, wife, and child. Well, wouldn't that just [tick] you off too? Of course, so Max is on a hunt for the murderers to enact revenge. This movie had a dirt-poor low-budget, little known actors, and few chances of a sequel. Well, the film was (at the time) the most financially successful australian film ever made, catapulted Mel Gibson into stardom (he later was known for his LETHAL WEAPON films), and produced not one, but 2 sequels, one of which (MAD MAX 2, known in the U.S. as THE ROAD WARRIOR) is even better than the first. The action scenes are fantastic, but one difference between this and your average action film is the character Max, and his futuristic environment. They engage you in a way that not only can you just indentify with the character and imagine yourself as the hero, he's so universal, you can imagine anyone in his shoes, doing exactly what he's doing. A very well made action film They say people don't believe in heroes anymore! "Mad Max" is a pretty simple revenge tale, a rousing sci-fi biker and car-crash-a-thon. Mel Gibson plays Max, a police pursuit driver in an unspecified future where roadgangs terrorize the innocent. Evidently road rage is way out of hand! When motorcycle thugs kill Max's best friend Goose (amiable Steve Bisley), his wife (Joanne Samuel) and son Sprog (!), Max gets mad... and gets even. What elevates this drive-in flick to cult classic status is director George Miller's use of low-riding, wide-angled shots to give the chase scenes an intensity never before seen. And Mel's presence, too, I suppose. Mel looks awful young, but flashes the charm and charisma that keeps him atop the box office charts all these years later. Like all cult movies, "Mad Max" has its cheesy moments. Max's scenes with his wife feature some goofy dialogue, and there's a very cheap-looking nightclub set at one point. But Hugh Keays-Byrne, as the reprehensible Toecutter, and Tim Burns (an Adam Ant lookalike) as the psychotic Johnny, provide ample menace. Plus, Miller and company throw in some very unusual-looking supporting players. And then there are the spectacular stunts and kinetic camerawork; they've been ripped-off a thousand times since! This "Special Edition" features a crisp, widescreen print (ooh!) and, even better, the original Australian vocal track (ahh!). Finally, someone wised up and banished the cartoon voices. The original actors perform solidly throughout, even subtly in places. At last, you can see why Samuel Z. Arkoff would bother to import this movie. But why'd he mangle it with bad overdubbing? No matter. The sequel ("Road Warrior") remains the superior film, but this new-to-the-U.S. version of the first movie provides some adrenaline-inducing adventure. Includes some nice commentary with plenty of inside trivia on the stuntwork and how they risked their lives just filming it! Truly death-defying work. As Max's boss Fifi says, "We're gonna give 'em back their heroes!" Give the master some respect for early work too... Come on people... If you liked the Lethal Weapon Series, you will enjoy the Mad Max Series. Remember that this film had almost no budget or high profile actors(at the time), so the point is what a great film to launch a career with. Gibson rode the tail of these movies to being one of the most sought- after action stars of the era and used it to become a force in hollywood by making films he wanted and his way with few compromises. Watch and enjoy a great actor come into his own. Buy Mad Max at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Mad Max Search with the Priority Search Engine on Mad Max This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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