Review of Mad Max 2 (1981) by Brandon S — 16 Jun 2011

Mad Max 2, or The Road Warrior, as it is known in the US, is a great action film. Even though it was made a generation ago, it's set in a near apocalyptic future where oil has run out and civilization has crumbled, so it might well be a movie released today. When it was released in the 80's it was a very exciting film to watch, with all its car stunts and non stop action. The Australian film was also one of the first films that Mel Gibson did (the latest being reviewed Mad Max), and with the iconic character of Max the little mad one, both actor and creation became starts and an ingrained part of our culture. Mad Max 2 was actually the sequel to the previous Mad Max, another Australian production, both directed by George Miller, and its success pushed the wave of the Australian invasion. Subsequently, the first Mad Max was re-released in the US, and a third sequel was later made and released. Since most people in the US hadn't seen the first Mad Max before, most people experienced this second movie first, as a standalone piece.

The movie starts with the original Mad Max 2 title card which is great, as it lets you know immediately it's the version as it originally was, intact. After a brief "into", we're literally thrown into the widescreen action and it barely stops from them on. We instantly are aware the future is dangerous, we need gas, and the savage remnants of humanity aren't playing nice. And it's gonna take the hardiest, cleverest, maybe maddest of persons to survive. And Max is all of them. All he wants it gas to keep moving on and surviving. But sometimes you need to make pacts with others to get what you want. So Max has to weight joining forces with a group of survivors for the time being. And here lies the excuse for a story full of car chases, car crashes, stunt doubles flying through the air and audiences saying did I really see that happen? Not a CGI effect in sight on those days, even the night scenes were shot at night. The movie has some blood and stunts that look so realistic, you wondered how many people were getting hurt, plus some nudity in a few brief shots.

With creepy characters galore, and the slightly different accents and cultural perspective of an Australian production, Max was different and a lot whole of fun, it was a very fresh movie back then, and although now in the jaded CGI-ed 21st century we're used to more visually complex extravaganzas, the passage of time makes watching Max a strange retro/futuro experience. I saw the film a while back, and this time it was almost like watching a middle-ages movie set in the future, no crazy gadgets, no zap guns, just human real action and violence, with a Mad Max in the middle of it tying it up. The car sequences are still impressive and "villains" are still outrageous. After you watch the movie, knowing there's a "prequel", you want to watch some more cool car action, and you feel ready to pop in another Mad Max movie. In other words, fully satisfying and leaves you wanting for more. In a literal sense, they almost never do them like these no more.