The post-apocalypse genre is a close cousin to horror, and so I am always happy to cover it on my blog. One of the greatest post-apocalyptic film franchises is Mad Max, a film which began in 1979 with a movie that I would more call 'apocalyptic' rather than 'post'. It was the subsequent sequels that more fit that moniker. I've always enjoyed the series, and it was due to my father that I am here writing a review of the original film. While on holiday in Australia recently, he visited the outback location where Mad Max: Road Warrior was filmed, and so I ended up getting him a Blu-ray boxset of the films for Christmas.
Mad Max takes place in an Australia that is on the brink of complete societal collapse, due to drastic worldwide fuel shortages. The police have been forced to adapt to this new world of roving gangs and increased crime, and so they all drive around in souped up muscle cars, with the old laws and rules only loosely followed. Max (Mel Gibson - Lethal Weapon series, Braveheart) is a cop, and after causing the death of a man calling himself 'The Nightrider', who had stolen a police car, he gets the attention of a psychotic biker gang, led by a man named Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne - Mad Max: Fury Road). Toecutter vows revenge on Max, and more by coincidence than planning, the gang begin to destroy everything that Max holds dear.
Mad Max is a film that teeters on the edge of being pure B-movie pulp, yet manages to stand slightly above that. There is a cartoony feel to the world that makes characters seem larger than life. Out of all the films, this was the one where some semblance of the normal world still existed, something that is alluded to in the iconic intro test that simply states 'A few years from now...'. I like how the unfolding apocalypse is never implicitly stated, with later entries adding in the suggestion that the world's oceans have also started drying up, explaining why everything later becomes desert. This is also a film very much of its time, the civilian population, in particular the younger characters have a hippy vibe to them, with their brightly painted vehicles.
Much of the movie takes place on the road, and features various vehicle chases, even opening on a thrilling police chase. Events sprint around from place to place, with story beats often rushed over in the race to the next action scene. I loved some of the more downbeat moments, for me my favourite scenes took place within the chaotic Halls of Justice. Here, the police are shown to be as obsessed with cars just as much as the criminals are. With the addiction characters have to driving it is no wonder that by the time of Fury Road this addiction has become transformed into a religion.
There are plenty of violent moments throughout the film, but it is less gory than I remember. There are implied rape scenes, brutal kills, but a lot of this takes place between scenes, or occurs off camera. What I did love were the two moments where people get hit by vehicles, and mixed in with their death is a close up image of eyeballs literally popping out of the victim's head in surprise, it just adds to the comic book feel. The plot is a typical one of revenge, but remained entertaining, all the way up to the iconic ending where Max offers the final biker a hard choice.
Despite the chequered future that star Mel Gibson went on to have, Mad Max remains a pure classic apocalyptic action movie. It may be different in feel to the more wild later entries, but it has a wonderful and crazy vibe, the sometimes rushed feel to the way the story is told only adds to its charms.
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