Mad Max

Released: 1979

Director: George Miller

I’ve heard a lot of bad things about this movie. It’s been described to me as a mess, incomprehensible, a waste of time, etc. I can definitely see major flaws in this movie, but (and maybe mostly because of the horrible reviews I’d heard) I found this movie to be surprisingly enjoyable, and really not bad at all.

Mad Max didn’t start out too badly. In the first twelve minutes (if that) it became very clear what sort of movie it was going to be: an over-the-top car chase movie. It was ridiculous and cheesy, but honestly a far cry from the trainwreck everyone led me to believe it was.

The basic plot is this: Max (Mel Gibson) is a cop in a world where violent gang members not only have more influence than the cops, but they seem to outnumber them as well. When a member of a motorcycle gang is killed in a chase, the other members seek revenge on the cops involved and Max gets caught up in this cycle of revenge. It is revealed in the second movie that the violence of the gangs and the weird feel of the society comes from the fact that the world is in the fallout of nuclear war. The movie takes place in the early stages of fallout in Australia, a land far removed from the bomb sites. The major impact at this point is social unrest, as the physical effects begin to work their way to this corner of the world. This seems to be a point where many viewers pull back and cannot come to terms with the world, but I had no trouble accepting society as the movie portrayed it.

I will admit that about forty minutes in the movie got super shaky, mostly because the narrative shifted from intense and insane action sequences towards the characters themselves and personal interactions. The entire flow of the movie does not support this sort of dramatic switch. Because of this, when Max becomes emotional it can become hard to watch. However, once Max and his wife Jess (Joanne Samuel) took to the road I found the movie got back on track and returned to its thoroughly enjoyable cheese-fest.

As the best parts of this movie were the ridiculous action sequences, the acting, as can be imagined, was not a strong suit. There were also times when the plot was a little difficult to follow, as evidenced in the opening sequence. If you have trouble recognizing faces and don’t know what Mel Gibson looks like (that’d be me), you could easily get confused as to whether there are a whole lot of cops or just a few. Also, the way the move is cut makes it hard to place things spatially, which led to some confusion on my part as well (shouldn’t they have run over that road block a while back??). However, if you stick it out, things become clear and with minimal work this movie is extremely enjoyable.

At the end of the day, you have to accept that this is an 80s camp movie. If you can’t handle that, you won’t enjoy it. You have to be able to laugh at the stupidity and the inconsistencies and simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

(Click for reviews of The Road Warrior and Fury Road. Beyond Thunderdome coming soon!)