Mad Max

Okay, I just rented this and saw it with my brother. I cannot understand how bad it was; my brain simply will not fathom it.

These films [Mad Max and its sequels] have something of a cult following, I understand, and I've seen the ThunderDome one, which seems more along the lines of it's cult status. The original Mad Max, however, is indecipherable rubbish. It's almost as if it was written with a random dialogue generator, it seems like it was dubbed, and the score was performed by a box of instrument-wielding monkeys. There's no actual story, per se, just a string of semi-related events and motivations, and after a matter of time, it simply ends. The characters were a bunch of crazy hooligans, except Gibson who's crazy but not a hooligan, and who eventually goes "mad", I'm to assume.

I want to know why this movie was ever popular...if there's some mystic link of knowledge I'm missing that's needed to enjoy this movie. I don't think there is; I think it just sucks -hard.

Any opinions?

I liked em, of course that was years ago, so I don't know how well they hold up, but I'm looking forward to the new sequel in the works.

Original was a pretty simple movie. Cop kills gang leader(Unbeknownst to him), gang comes to town,kills cops friend. Cop quits,gang kills cop's wife and kid, cop goes rogue and kills gang.

Thats really all there is too it. The original film is mostly heralded by car junkies as the stunts and speed are all as real as they look. If you thought it was dubbed, then it probably was. When first brought to the US(This was a low budget Austrailian film) the distributers thought people wouldn't take kindly to the Austrailian accents so they dubbed it. The somewhat new special edition dvd remedied this though. I dissagree on the score though. it may be over the top but I think it's great. The movie is pretty oddball and originally I didn't like it but overtime it grew on me.


The series hit it big in the US with the release of The Road Warrior(Mad Max 2 everywhere else). They moved the series into a post apocalyptic wasteland and set the standard for every post apoclayptic related movie,game,comic, or whathaveyou ( Just about everything PA movies and the like are known for is ripped from this movie). The movies story is simple and plays out somewhat like a western but it's the action that carries this film. It's non-stop, no facy cgi, all the real deal(It was also a low budget movie to some extent but doesn't come off like one) with fancy crashes and people getting mangled in various ways. Art direction is fantastic(Time has proven this without a doubt), soundtrack is still great and all the characters are very memorable and well done. If you must watch anything from this series, watch this one.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was the eventual big budget sequel. It was done by two directors this time and it shows. The movie goes from a great beginning with lots of cool sets,action and dark humour to an 80's child movie, to an over the top comedy parady of The Road Warrior. Tina Turner actually has a great screen presence and one of the few saving graces of this movie. Going "Beyond Thunderdome" is basically where this movie takes a shit in more ways than one. I've seen this so many times throughout history that it's terribleness has been nulled so I accept it.

Part 4 is in the making though Mel is getting old so they need to hurry up.

Theres your rushed history lesson on Mad Max.

They should have never made Thunderdome...

It's just the first movie that baffles me. The story is indeed simple, but the way it's handled is utterly bizarre. Chojin's synopsis is right-on, but the way the movie presents the "cops" and "criminals" was just too far out sometimes, and the setting had absolutely no explanation. I'm sure alot of it had to do with the terrible dubbing, but that's not my fault.

I know the next movies set precedents...I'm just surprised they were ever made with how the first one was.

edit: Also, I find it funny you mention it a movie for speed freaks, when they were always speeding up the footage to give that effect. It was almost comedic, but usually just sad.

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Originally posted by FuryFox
It's just the first movie that baffles me. The story is indeed simple, but the way it's handled is utterly bizarre. Chojin's synopsis is right-on, but the way the movie presents the "cops" and "criminals" was just too far out sometimes, and the setting had absolutely no explanation. I'm sure alot of it had to do with the terrible dubbing, but that's not my fault.

I know the next movies set precedents...I'm just surprised they were ever made with how the first one was.

edit: Also, I find it funny you mention it a movie for speed freaks, when they were always speeding up the footage to give that effect. It was almost comedic, but usually just sad.

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Speed up must have been in the Tv version you saw or soemthing as I'm quite sure they didn't use speed up in the first Mad Max(Care to say which scene it was so I can check?). Stuff like the night riders car going super speed and blowing up was real and you can see the actual rocket they put in the back to speed it up. There were two scenes in the Road Warrior where they used speedup so I may just not be remembering the scene in question.


As for it being too far out, yes it is. As for the setting, the movie is supposed to be set in the near future at a point where the world is fuct and the shit is about to hit the fan .Worlds at war, and theres very little manpower to stop madmen from doing what they want(Yes I know the movie barely hints at this and I wouldn't have known either if I hadn't seen RW). The bikers actually come off as very disturbing and I really wouldn't want to meet up with any of them. So I'd say they did a good job and presenting them as drugged out fucks or whatever their problem was.

I'm not really trying to defend this movie though. As I said before, I didn't like the movie at first either and took literally 10+ years before I found myself enjoying it. I'm just trying to make more sense of it all for ya.

I still love 'em all. :D

Hmm, The only Mad Max movie that I like is Road Warrior. I found original Mad Max too boring, and less said about Thunderdome the better.

Its good that those movies made Mel Gibson famous, but I honestly could live without them.

Who runs barter-town????!!!!

They keep making out sequels like there's nothing but desert compared to the near-deserted towns of the original. I want to see stuff like open fields and quiet locals like the first so it doesn't look so dreck and such.

Plus it'll help if max became a bountyhunter simular to his "cop" character.