Going Mad for Max - Reviewing the Mad Max Trilogy

Greetings and salutations, folks! It's been a while, hasn't it? As much as I'd love to keep up with this film review blog, things have been kinda busy lately. I've been serving as the head editor for a brand spankin' new TV review/news site called ShowVote. If you haven't already, you should definitely give it a looksee; we've got some cool stuff in store for you.

But, anyway, let me get to the point. I'm MAD. That's a fact!! I found out I won't be seeing Mad Max: Fury Road until tomorrow (Saturday, May 16) and I don't want to wait any longer! In order to ease my nerves as I countdown the hours to the screening, I've decided to take a look back at the original trilogy. Here's what I thought. 

MAD MAX (1979)

I don’t know what I was expecting when I sat down to watch Mad Max for the first time. Judging from the hype surrounding the film that put both director George Miller and star Mel Gibson on the map as well as its glowing reputation, I anticipated a rollicking action flick with car chases galore. But take away the hype, the nostalgia factor, and the unquestionable visual influence it’s had on other action movies and you’ll find Mad Max is a surprisingly tame viewing experience.

Really, the most impressive thing about the film is its history. Originally a doctor, Miller had never directed a film prior to Mad Max. It was made on a shoestring budget of roughly $400,000 (in 1979 Australian dollars) and went on to become one of Australia’s highest grossing films ever, bringing in about $100 million worldwide. Considering the minimal resources at hand and the limited experience of everyone involved, Mad Max is impressive. However, it is lacking in far too many categories to earn a wholehearted recommendation. It’s actually, dare I say it, kind of dull. It contains none of the wit, excitement, or creativity found in its vastly superior sequel The Road Warrior, and barely stands on its own two feet as a satisfying viewing experience.

It’s a bit odd that the film advertises itself as a revenge flick, seeing as how Max doesn’t really engage in his personal vendetta until the final 15 minutes of the runtime. (The title ‘Mad Max,’ then, becomes a bit of a cop-out – he doesn’t even get mad until the very end!) And with the exception of those final moments and the extended car chase sequence that opens the film, the rest is a bit of a slog. The whole thing feels like a first act with an inciting incident an hour into it and a rushed 2nd and 3rd act in its final 30 minutes. Sure there are colorful characters - an unhinged performance from Hugh Keays-Byrne as the main villain Toecutter gives the film a much-needed energy boost - but for the most part, Mad Max has a tendency to drag...and I don’t mean like the races. Its screenplay is about as bare-bones as it gets, containing neither a compelling story or interesting characters, and the action - what little there is -  just isn’t satisfying enough to hold up the rest of the picture.

And what about Max himself? Well, he’s a bit of a cipher. Mel Gibson exudes star presence, but the role doesn’t offer much in the way of charisma. He spends a lot of time looking worried and running around, but he doesn’t really do much until the end. He’s more of a Sad Max than a Mad Max. (*Cue Audience Laugh Track*)

Despite its shortcomings, Mad Max should be commended for putting the Australian film industry on the map and for its visual influence. It’s also worth checking out to see the advent of not only Miller’s career, but Gibson’s as well. Outside of those things, its status as a cinematic classic doesn’t feel justified.

FINAL RATING: 3/5

THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)

Now that’s more like it.

Where my viewing of Mad Max left me feeling underwhelmed and a little sleepy, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior left me feeling exhilarated and exuberant. It’s clear from the first frame why this one has been hailed as not only the best of the trilogy (though it won’t be a trilogy for much longer) but as one of the most beloved action films of all time. It’s a thrill ride of the finest order, wrought with excitement, cute dogs, lethal boomerangs, explosions, fast cars - everything a growing boy needs! Lots of films over the years have tried to match its level of frantic energy, but few have come close. The Road Warrior stands alone as a primal force of action cinema.

The setting is not only desolate, but an emotional vacuum. A waste bin for hope and desire. Some time in the not-too-distant future, the economy has collapsed resulting in war and chaos. The world has fallen apart and all that remains is the desert and the road. Both are ruled by scavengers and madmen, hellbent on wreaking havoc and destruction wherever they may roam. Gasoline is more precious than any other resource and if you don’t have a car with a full tank to keep you on the move, you’d better get the hell out of the way.

Who do you reckon is at the center of it all? Mad Max, bitches. Much to my delight, Max starts out mad and stays that way through pretty much the entire film. (And this time he’s got a doggy with him! I award this movie 5,000 points!) With the aid of the Gyro Captain, a creepy looking fella with a gnarly flying contraption and even gnarlier teeth, he stumbles upon an oil-refinery which doubles as a small settlement for a band of survivors. The community is under constant attack by the fearsome mohawk-sporting Wez and the hockey-masked maniac Humungus. Yes, this is the kind of movie that has characters named Humungus. Max casts his lot in with the settlers to help them escape with their gasoline, as long as he gets to keep a large portion for himself. This results in a 15 minute chase scene near the film’s end that goes down as one of the best ever committed to celluloid.

Where Mad Max 1 felt unfocused and lacking in the way of action or compelling story content, The Road Warrior contains enough action for the both of them and it pays little mind to plot or nuance, opting instead to run on pure adrenaline. That might sound like a knock of sorts, but the truth is that it works wonders. The simple plot keeps the film from getting bogged down by extraneous detail and clears the way for breathtaking action and car chase sequences. In some ways, Mad Max 1 feels like an extended appetizer with The Road Warrior serving as the main course.

Not only does The Road Warrior feel more focused than its predecessor, it also has a stronger sense of identity. Tonally and aesthetically, each Mad Max film feels like it could be its own standalone film, but this one stands head and shoulders above the others as being the most distinct. The vast wasteland, unforgettable characters, and incredible art direction are captured with striking clarity by George Miller who is aided this time around by cinematographer Dean Semler. Miller’s direction seems more refined here, but still maintains the manic, untrained energy of his work in the original Mad Max.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call The Road Warrior the greatest action film ever made, it certainly belongs on any list of great action films. Of the first three Mad Max films, it is the only one I would recommend checking out without hesitation. Which I guess brings us to the third and, for a long time, final Mad Max film...

FINAL RATING: 4/5

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985)

What the hell was that?

After watching Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome for the first time, I contacted my friend Matt to express my disappointment about there being barely any Thunderdome in the movie.

His sardonic response: “Well, technically you got exactly what the movie title was advertising. It’s BEYOND Thunderdome. So you get to see Thunderdome briefly and then you never get to see it again!”

What a shame, because the Thunderdome sequence is the movie’s only good one. The rest is a godawful mess. I guess after swinging the quality pendulum so far in the ‘good’ direction with The Road Warrior, things were bound to swing even further in the opposite direction.

Mad Max #3 feels as if George Miller wanted to make a movie about one thing...and then decided to throw in a couple totally different ideas for good measure. Then co-director George Ogilvie strolls in and decides he wants to throw in a few more of his own ideas as well and they just combined it all into a total wreck of a story, added a car chase at the end, and slapped the ‘Mad Max’ title on it to earn some easy bucks. It’s undoubtedly the weakest entry in the Mad Max series and is flat out awful. Not even Tina Turner’s ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ can save this one.

Fifteen years after the events of The Road Warrior, Max (who only looks one or two years older, even with his unruly Braveheart haircut) comes across Bartertown, a remote city run by Aunty Entity a.k.a. Tina Turner. His transport is stolen and in order to get it back, he strikes a deal with Aunty to kill Master Blaster. (Miller’s talent for naming characters remains unparalleled.) Master Blaster is actually two men, one (Master) is a midget on the back of a much larger, armored man (Blaster).  The dude’s a bit of a pain in the ass for Aunty. She may run Bartertown, but he’s the only one who knows how to operate the town's power. He taunts her by switching it off and forcing Auntie to announce that he is the ruler of Bartertown before he’ll switch it back on.

At Auntie’s bidding, Max challenges Master Blaster to a throw-down in the Thunderdome, an arena/cage where ‘two men enter, one man leaves.’ The two are strapped into bungee-like contraptions that allow them to hop around like a drunken Spider-Man. An assortment of weapons are strapped to the walls of the cage to be used at their leisure. It's kind of great.

So, everything I’ve described above makes up about the first thirty or so minutes of Beyond Thunderdome, and they are the film’s best by far. The second act switches gears entirely with Max getting banished to the desert for not killing his foe in the Thunderdome. He stumbles on a settlement run by a bunch of kids pulled straight from every awful kid-pandering 80s movie ever made and, for some reason, he spends the remainder of the movie trying to help them.

I think all this kid stuff is at the core of what makes Beyond Thunderdome’s so lame. First of all, the film is rated PG-13 where the first two were rated R, so the level of unflinching violence and mayhem is toned down. Second, the kids’ storyline feels so unrelated to everything that’s been set up in the film’s first act that it’s essentially its own movie. Max contributes very little to this second act. The third act deals with Max trying to get all the kids to a safe place. He steals Master from Bartertown for some reason and (FINALLY) a car chase ensues, one that isn’t nearly as exciting as the ones in The Road Warrior or even Mad Max 1. The overall picture is so thematically jumbled and all over the place, it’s hard to get a solid footing. The lackluster action helps nothing.

With a title like ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,’ I would hope for something even more madcap than even The Road Warrior, but instead, Beyond Thunderdome feels lifeless and thematically castrated. It’s a shame the trilogy had to go out with such a resounding whimper of a sigh. But, perhaps hope is not lost...for another road looms on the horizon...a Fury Road, one might call it.

FINAL RATING: 2/5

There you have it. How'd I do? Am I on-point with my critiques or totally off my rocker? Or both?