The world is out of control and there are only a few dedicated men out there willing to risk their lives to keep order. Led by Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) and his partner Jim Goose (Steve Bisley), the pair end up taking out a gang member called the Nightrider and opening up a huge amount of trouble in the process. First, Jim Goose gets stalked by the other gang members. Second, Max’s wife and child end up paying the ultimate price for her husband’s dedication to the law. Once all bets are off, Max makes it his life to clean up the streets no matter the cost.
This type of film has been done before, and in some areas better. You’ve got a story where the hero is trying his best to keep the peace and not cross the line over the villain’s side of the road. Westerns are notorious for such a dilemma and very famous for their predictable conclusion. What’s even better is that we love that conclusion, no matter how many times we see it. That’s what makes Mad Max so great, as it does go that exact same pattern, but it does it in such a raw way that you really love the results. Seeing Max struggle with keeping it together and then finally pushed over the edge is something amazing.
With that said, the ‘amazing’ can’t happen without the talent of one George Miller. His vision and his way of doing things in Mad Max intensify the type of story he’s trying to tell. First and foremost, the driving in the film is the most powerful tool he works with. Much like what made the movie Bullitt famous, in an otherwise very mediocre detective film, the driving sequence in Mad Max is real and it’s rough. Cars and motorcycles speeding down an endless highway throwing caution to the wind intensify the moments where the gangs are battling the police. Hell, the first scene in the film is the Nightrider being chased by three cop cars and causing tons of mayhem and destruction along the way. The driving scenes make the movie special and really setup the world these characters live in and define how dangerous it all truly can be. Seeing a motorcycle spill off the highway at 100mph and launch the stuntman 85 feet from the crash is something to behold.
Now take the story and mix it with the intense driving and you got yourself a true reason to feel nervous and excited. Miller’s raw vision of an unforgiving, soon-to-be struggling to survive wasteland on the highway is appealing to anyone who loves non-stop action. Added to all this is a great story of revenge at the end when Max completely just loses it and gets everyone back the best way he can, on the road.
So are there any flaws to this film? The only flaw I can see is the moment where Max must tear himself away from revenging his friend Goose and spend time with his family. Miller’s a bit long in the tooth when it comes to Max’s relationship with his wife and son. Periodically in the film prior to this point you can already see that he is a family man. There are short stints of moments with his family that establish this fact and there truly isn’t a need for him to spend a good portion of the end setting it all up again. Some will argue that it intensifies the sweet revenge of our lead character, but that intensity could have been established sooner and quicker. Anyway, that’s my only complaint on the film, other than this isn’t even close to being as good as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
Without Mad Max to establish Max’s background and reason for ‘doing’ what he does to the bad guys, The Road Warrior probably wouldn’t have worked as well. What’s great about Max is that once he crosses that line and loses himself on the other side there is no going back for his character. He can’t be a good guy and he doesn’t want to be a bad guy. This exact reasoning makes the sequel even better. He’s truly a character that has no home to go back to.
Anyway, I’ll save the rest of that last paragraph for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior when/if it arrives on Blu-ray.
Speaking of which, this Blu-ray is good, but not particularly great. The visuals in Mad Max are a mixture of really pretty to very grainy. While I couldn’t really tell if it was the smoggy Australian background or the fact that this film wasn’t cleaned up enough, the picture quality is certainly better than DVD, but not as good as other Blu-rays. Having just reviewed The Bridge on the River Kwai (a 1957 film) it’s difficult to excuse other films from not getting a good cleanup job during the Blu-ray upgrade. Mad Max has moments of vivid colors and beautiful surroundings (the time he spends with his wife in the country has some really gorgeous shots), but there aren’t enough to go around in the film to make it a spectacular Blu-ray. Visually it’s only good, at best.
As for the other side of the equation, the audio is breathtaking in a film like this. You get some great sound effects, which help drive home the point that this is a true action film. The revving of the engines, the spectacular crashes and the music sounds beautiful in DTS-HD.
With all this said, let’s talk about the features. Here’s what you’re looking at on Mad Max:
Blu-ray:
• Filmmaker Commentary by Jon Dowding, David Eggby, Chris Murray & Tim Ridge
• Documentary: “Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon”
• New-To-The-U.S. Original Australian Language Track
• Two theatrical trailers
• TV Spots
DVD:
• New Digitally Remastered Transfer
• “Mel Gibson: The Birth Of A Star” Documentary
• “Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon” Documentary
• New-To-The-U.S. Original Australian Language Track
• Theatrical Trailers”Road Rants” Trivia & Fun Fact Track
• Photo Gallery
• TV Spots
I like what they include, but I wish there were more HD features on the Blu-ray. Some of this is rehashed material, while other parts are just a bit new. The documentaries are very well done, especially the Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon. You get to know all the little details of the filming and what the filmmakers had to do to get this movie sold. You also get to finally know if the stuntman who had his head knocked by a motorcycle tire lived to see another day (he did). Interesting stuff, good commentary and a ton of fun features make this pretty good. You’ll find plenty of good info on here to keep you interested beyond the ending of the feature.