Mad Max

Mad Max (1979)

Ranking: Not really
Extremely Trashy

I was sort of surprised at how mediocre this movie was. I mean, Road Warrior was fucking awesome. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome wasn't a total waste of time. Going by the laws of sequels, this movie should be fucking unbelievably awesome (ex: Alien: Resurrection = Sort of interesting (I really like that movie for some reason). Aliens = Fucking awesome. Alien = Holy sweet shit). That is not the case here.

About a traffic cop (Mel Gibson) doing battle with a bunch of bikers who killed his wife, or his dog, or his partner (actually, I think they killed all three...), in the near, pre-apocalyptic future. A whole shitload of stuff happens but it was all sort of weird and irrelevant.

Now don't get me wrong, I like cars, and Mel Gibson (I don't care that he`s a frigging weirdo) and guys in leather pants and I admire the fact that the movie was made for a low budget, but I still found it kind of dull. And I was expecting something on par with Road Warrior and this really wasn`t.

The acting wasn't great, the dialogue was nearly incomprehensible (although if given a choice between that or an American dub job I would pick the ridiculously thick Aussie accents anytime), although the music was really the worst offender. It was really nasty.

Also, 'Toecutter' or whatever the hell that guy was called, was probably the least intimidating villain in movie history. Yes, 'Humungus' was lame, but Toecutter was beyond lame (I don't even know what that would be, exactly), and sort of gay (no offense to the gay community, but generally speaking I don't find gay men that threatening). The name 'Toecutter', too, seems to be a bit of a misnomer. Where was the toe collection?

The end of the movie is sort of anticlimactic, too. Yes, Max does avenge the death of his friend Goose, but he doesn't really accomplish much in the grand sceheme of things. Oh well. I guess that's what Road Warrior is for...

END

Directed by: George Miller. Written by: George Miller & James McCausland. Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns.