Review: Mad Max (1979) · 7:35pm Aug 5th, 2015
George Miller's directorial debut is a surprisingly well put together film that manages to provide both great action and great character drama, while also providing a great piece of entertainment.
One would be shocked to find out that this film's budget was a mere $350,000, which is especially shocking when one sees how much they were able to do with it. Miller crafts a well paced and put together film that balances the drama and the action perfectly. For one thing, his handling of action is excellent. Its assured, and gleefully devoid of disorienting shaky cam, instead preferring an intimate hand held style that puts the audience right in the drivers seat for much of the action. He also manages to tell the story with almost pure visuals, which helps avoid awkward exposition. One doesn't need to be told outright how this world got to be teetering on the edge of chaos, since the film does it the visuals. Gas is rare, and roving gangs race down the highways, seeking to feed their love of chaos anyway they can.
Miller's screenplay also takes time to develop the characters, so that we care about Max. Miller allows the film to really examine their private lives, helping us bond with them, so that when Max's family is killed, it has real impact and tragedy to it.
Mel Gibson gives a great, understated performance here, making Max feel fleshed out and relatable. This feels like the exact same Max from Fury Road, which is great to see, since I saw Fury Road first. Gibson's confidence in the part also makes the scenes of Max dealing with the death of his family that more potent, since we feel his relationship with them.
Shout out to Hugh Keays-Byrne as the surprisingly eloquent yet malevolent Toecutter, who leads his roving biker gang with a dark magnetism enhanced by his large build and intense eyes. He doesn't speak much, but when he does, it reveals a real mind underneath, and that makes the evil he does more disturbing, because he isn't a boorish animal.
Also, the car chases set the bar for great action. They're fast paced and visceral, a fact helped by it being REAL cars in REAL crashes. Its also able to show violence without being graphic or gratuitous, which is a big bonus in my book.
So yeah, Mad Max is an awesome movie, and a solid favorite of mine.
5 out of 5
It's films like this that make it hard for me to take Dad seriously when he says to enjoy a movie "for what it is." Like having a low budget is an excuse for low quality.
Glad to see a recent review of the film where the reviewer actually enjoy it! I was starting to worry since after Fury Road people have went back to watch the original three and have dumped on Max's debut if you will. Read way too many new reviews putting it down for how "slow" the movie goes along and its shallow acting and script.
3302533 oh please.
I'm the guy who finds Stanley Kubrick's three hour rumination on ambition and the class system in 18th century England, Barry Lyndon, to be awesome.