Mad Max (1979), 3.25/4 stars.
Strangely, I'd never seen this one before. Twenty five years ago I attempted to watch a poor version on VHS. The panoramic views of mayhem in the Australian outback had been horizontally squeezed so that everyone looked about eight feet tall, the transfer was so muddy that it might as well have been in black and white, and (worst of all) it was dubbed into American English. So I while I'd seen it, I hadn't seen it.
So what makes this movie so good? It shows a recognizable (then) near-future where things are going to hell in a plausible way. The story is good enough to keep things rolling and mostly makes sense. The stunts are 100%-on and 100% jaw-dropping, especially by the standards and film technology of the day. Even with all of the action, there is substantial character development going on. But most of all, it pushed the movie envelope in both cinematography and brutality, while keeping things human. And the cars, oh man, the cars.
What's not to like? Sometimes the music is a tad intrusive and cheesy. The family scenes, needed as they are to build the characters, drag on at times. Some of the hospital scenes are played more for shock value than dramatic development. And why the harmless child-like giant guy in one scene? I mean, why?
Ah well. Putting all that aside, it's a fine film, beautifully shot, and put together with enthusiasm beating out glib slickness at every turn. It knows when to show the violence, when to build the tension, and when to only hint at the violence (e.g., a child's toy and shoe bouncing down an empty road – you'll know the scene). It's the bridge between car-crazy exploitation movies of the early 70's and post-apocalyptic 80's movies like Terminator. It went on to inspire works as diverse as Watchmen and Saw. And now it's restored and out on Blu-Ray, and finally worth watching.
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