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Mad Max is overrated
giratalkialga
Posts: 240 Forum Member
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*I'll be discussing plot points from Mad Max and The Road Warrior below, so here's your spoiler warning*
(I haven't seen MM:BT yet so no spoilers for that film please)
*starting discussion in 3, 2, 1*
Mad Max
I can understand why Mad Max became so popular back in 1979; there was nothing quite like it in terms of the impressive car chase sequences and adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end.
The plot and pacing is all over the place; I was expecting the 'revenge' to start 30 minutes in, like a normal, well-paced film, but why on earth do they save the bulk of the action for the last 20 minutes? Why advertise your film as an action epic and then waste our time with Max's family holiday?
Another annoying waste is the Acolyte's motives; Nightrider's death was the perfect motivation for Toecutter and co. to go after Max.
I was expecting them to attack Jessie and Sprog at their house when Max was out on the job, and then waited for Max to come back later to see the damage for himself. That would've been so much better than the wasted ice-cream encounter we got.
And so much for giving us the impression of a ruthless, brutal motorcycle gang when their plan is almost stopped single-handedly by an elderly lady.
Here are two more complaints I could think of before I move on to Mad Max 2:
1) What was up with the gay stereotypes? I have no problem with gay people of course but Fifi seemed forced and out of place with the macho image of the rest of the characters and film.
2) You could tell that the car chase at the end was rushed and Miller couldn't get it quite how he wanted due to budget constraints which is solely down to the moment when Max kills 5 bikers in 1 hit. Very lazy choreography if you ask me.
Road Warrior
This in many ways a much better film than the first. If the first film is a rough draft, then the second film is the finished product. The script and pacing is much tighter and the film moves along at a nice pace.
Miller's vision of a deserted, post-apocalyptic wasteland was finally realized successfully in this film, mainly due to the visual aesthetic and brutality of the Humungus' gang, whose savage mentality is more realistic in the setting compared to 1's Acolytes, who carried out their behavior for fun rather than for survival.
The main problem that stopped me from liking this film as much as I should was the Feral Kid, who really spoiled the final battle (and in general the rest of the film) with the grunting, rolling, biting and other annoying behaviour.
Action films with child characters have them because the film would have some sort of appeal to them and because they are required for the story to work; e.g. Aliens is another I could think of, and Newt helps with the mother/daughter symbolism between her and Ripley. T2 is another good example. Road Warrior would've been completely fine without Feral Kid; this film isn't aimed at kids in the slightest, and the final chase would've been far better if Max had been able to use his shotgun a bit more. Instead, we get the kid grunting and biting all the way along, which ruins the dark atmosphere of the film and the intense atmosphere of the chase.
The second, much smaller problem, is how easily Wez and Humungus are killed considering how strong and overbearing they are. A standoff between Max and Humungus would make a far better ending than the underwhelming and disappointing crash that we got in the end.
I can only hope that Fury Road is the fleshed-out, large-scale, serious epic that I was expecting from the first two films, rather than the schlocky and overly silly experience that I got from watching the first two.
(Road Warrior isn't completely awful; I still quite like how much more effort was put into the story than the first (I still have no idea how it got 91% on RT).
(I haven't seen MM:BT yet so no spoilers for that film please)
*starting discussion in 3, 2, 1*
Mad Max
I can understand why Mad Max became so popular back in 1979; there was nothing quite like it in terms of the impressive car chase sequences and adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end.
The plot and pacing is all over the place; I was expecting the 'revenge' to start 30 minutes in, like a normal, well-paced film, but why on earth do they save the bulk of the action for the last 20 minutes? Why advertise your film as an action epic and then waste our time with Max's family holiday?
Another annoying waste is the Acolyte's motives; Nightrider's death was the perfect motivation for Toecutter and co. to go after Max.
I was expecting them to attack Jessie and Sprog at their house when Max was out on the job, and then waited for Max to come back later to see the damage for himself. That would've been so much better than the wasted ice-cream encounter we got.
And so much for giving us the impression of a ruthless, brutal motorcycle gang when their plan is almost stopped single-handedly by an elderly lady.
Here are two more complaints I could think of before I move on to Mad Max 2:
1) What was up with the gay stereotypes? I have no problem with gay people of course but Fifi seemed forced and out of place with the macho image of the rest of the characters and film.
2) You could tell that the car chase at the end was rushed and Miller couldn't get it quite how he wanted due to budget constraints which is solely down to the moment when Max kills 5 bikers in 1 hit. Very lazy choreography if you ask me.
Road Warrior
This in many ways a much better film than the first. If the first film is a rough draft, then the second film is the finished product. The script and pacing is much tighter and the film moves along at a nice pace.
Miller's vision of a deserted, post-apocalyptic wasteland was finally realized successfully in this film, mainly due to the visual aesthetic and brutality of the Humungus' gang, whose savage mentality is more realistic in the setting compared to 1's Acolytes, who carried out their behavior for fun rather than for survival.
The main problem that stopped me from liking this film as much as I should was the Feral Kid, who really spoiled the final battle (and in general the rest of the film) with the grunting, rolling, biting and other annoying behaviour.
Action films with child characters have them because the film would have some sort of appeal to them and because they are required for the story to work; e.g. Aliens is another I could think of, and Newt helps with the mother/daughter symbolism between her and Ripley. T2 is another good example. Road Warrior would've been completely fine without Feral Kid; this film isn't aimed at kids in the slightest, and the final chase would've been far better if Max had been able to use his shotgun a bit more. Instead, we get the kid grunting and biting all the way along, which ruins the dark atmosphere of the film and the intense atmosphere of the chase.
The second, much smaller problem, is how easily Wez and Humungus are killed considering how strong and overbearing they are. A standoff between Max and Humungus would make a far better ending than the underwhelming and disappointing crash that we got in the end.
I can only hope that Fury Road is the fleshed-out, large-scale, serious epic that I was expecting from the first two films, rather than the schlocky and overly silly experience that I got from watching the first two.
(Road Warrior isn't completely awful; I still quite like how much more effort was put into the story than the first (I still have no idea how it got 91% on RT).
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Comments
The 1981 film is the apotheosis of "this might hurt, actually this WILL hurt" action packed cinema. The stunt-work still knocks just about everything before and certainly since into a cocked hat (the union rules in Oz must state you need to be injured to get paid!). Gibson was never more just right, the humour is spot on, editing, direction and the cinematography of the desert is first rate.
If you're expecting Fury Road to be fleshed out prepare to be disappointed. People who have seen it in early test screenings are praising the action very highly but saying it's just basically a 2 hour chase. And Max is not only even more taciturn than Gibson's portrayal but he's just basically along for the ride as opposed to having a proper character arc like in Road Warrior. Burnt out selfish loner to regaining some humanity via the feral kid.
Personally I think Mad Max (1979) has a lot of problems which is hardly surprising considering the low budget but considering it was shot on a shoestring budget by a first time director you have to give it some praise. I still think that opening sequence with the Nightrider has dated extremely well. The way some of those scenes are filmed feels like you're on the road yourself. The main problem for me is it action wise it peaks with that scene and by the time of Max's revenge when you really want him to unleash hell on the s**ts for what they did to Goose, and his wife and kid, it feels like it fizzles out which makes me wonder why with a low budget George Miller would have the highlight action sequence at the beginning.
Now Road Warrior is the only in the trilogy I think is perfect. It is deliberately bare bones in it's plot but it's not just non-stop action like the new one seems to be, it has a purpose and the stunts still look amazing. Mel brings so much to it without talking much and it has a offbeat sense of humour throughout.
They're cult classics that aren't for everyone.
I do love me some mindless action fun so I'll probably still see Fury Road; it doesn't look like they'll be an annoying kid this time around.
Which in no way reflects kids of the era the film was made in till um today and onwards really. Oh no...
Anyway yes the first one is very low budget and sparse, but the 2nd is a classic, the 3rd bonkers but enjoyable. I'll reserve judgement on the latest one till I've seen it.
He's also the narrator, which suggests he was able to eventually become civilised, giving the ending a kind of hope.
Road Warrior and Thunderdome...same character?
I would hold onto that verdict until you have watched Fury Road, because it's the definitive article in my opinion, and is an absolute belter.
Yeah, it's stunning.
Shockingly so. I'm a bit jaded with modern blockbusters, as the ubiquitous CGI means there aren't many surprises any more. Fury Road filled me with that kind of excited, stupid-grin-face joy i haven't felt whilst watching a movie since I was a kid. It's ace.
http://goo.gl/sgufts
Much of the film is taken up with other stuff and I enjoyed those quieter moments where Max and his wife get away from it all for a while - at a point where he's thinking of quitting the force, worried that he's liable to turn into one of the bad guys. It kind of underpinned the rather chaotic nature of the police force, as if it had been hastily knocked together after some unspecified breakdown of society; they were forced to make do with what resources they had, including a police HQ running out of what seemed to be an old abandoned warehouse or factory.
MM2 (or Road Warrior if you prefer) is the best of the original trilogy and I thought Feral Kid was fine, allowing Max to show a little bit of humanity, e.g. giving the kid the music box. The gyro guy was great as well (Bruce Spence is always good...). The redemption angle, while an old film cliché, was well worked and the bad guys were menacing enough and the eventual reveal of the contents of the tanker truck was a good twist.
Thunderdome was pretty awful, though.
The opening shot alone you could tell a lot just from what was shown.
I take back what I said about Road Warrior after re-watching it with a different mindset and different expectations and enjoyed it a lot more that way.