Mad Max

Mel Gibson is Mad Max in, well, "Mad Max!" This is the film that made Mel an international superstar. In his starring debut, Mel plays Max, a leather-clad cop in the near future who fights to control security on the road from vicious bikers and road thugs. When the thugs lead by the psychotic Toecutter kill Max's wife and baby, our hero is livid with vengeance. Armed with his armor-plated muscle car and a sawed-off shotgun, Max wreaks turbo-powered revenge on the murderous punks.

Though a bit dated compared with the action films we have today, "Mad Max" still stands out as a very impressive movie. For one thing, this film had a tiny budget. Well, as proven in "El Mariachi," a movie doesn't need a $1 million budget if you have a creative story and imagination. "Mad Max" stands out as a classic low-budget flick that made it big without the intense u

The film is a drama with action and adventure elements. Unlike later films where the apocalyptic and ultra-violent world is already established, this one is much more "down to earth". There is a standard civilization here, however, there are violent criminals. The film shows experienced police officers facing a sinister motorcycle gang. There are a lot of cool chase scenes here, which are the highlight of the film.

The performances range from simple to some good. Highlight goes to Mel Gibson, who is charismatic and does well in the role.

The villains are detestable, and from the second to the third act we hope that Max can stop everyone in his path. The ending of the film is brutal, fun and remarkable, and certainly inspired a famous series of horror films involving a cutting saw (I think you already know what I'm talking about). If the film had a little more action in the first act, and some more interesting characters besides Mel Gibson and two or three others, I would give it a higher rating. Either way, it's a cool movie.

After not seeing it for about seven years, I just saw it on DVD for the first time. I remembered it as an exciting near-chaos-future adventure with highway cops in muscle cars and one insane biker gang. It's great how it keeps on standing the test of time. High speed and raw power are of every age, past and future. The way the highway action is shot in this movie simply stays exhilarating, putting it in the top ranking of best high-speed-chase movies ever. Seeing the camera follow the highway marker at high speed, along with the sound of a bike- or V8-engine delivers a Mad and chaotic but really cool result. The pace of the movie remains considerably high, without many slow moments.

Some aspects of the movie have (understandably) dated. Obviously the 70's clothing and hair styles. Sometimes the acting is a little over the top, and some characters could come directly from a comic book. And of course the story is not that deep or difficult. It's partly action-thriller, partly science fiction adventure. All weaknesses are covered and compensated by lots of a-moral fun though.

At the heart of this one of a kind look movie, there is a hero character named Max. This speed-demon-cop is at the top of his game on the highway, ruthlessly dealing with maniacs ravaging his jurisdiction. But he is also a happy family man with his wife and son. This duality makes the character human, timeless and very memorable. In some scenes you can clearly see Mel Gibson was only just getting into acting. For a rookie he was doing a good job nonetheless.

Others strengths lie within the scary nature of the biker gang. An extravagant rag-tag band of maniacs, led by the iconic villain The ToeCutter. To this day, their actions remain tough and very disturbing. It will have you staring at the screen dead serious, making Max' battle against them even more gratifying.

There is much to say about this movie, but first and foremost it is a must see. A cult classic still as enjoyable as it was nearly 30 years ago.

Honestly I have to admit I was left slightly bewildered after watching this film for the first time in many many years.

I didn't really get the post apocalyptic vibe from this film, granted it's incredibly low budget but still it felt more like an outback set film.

I also found some of the musical choices a bit odd. The scenes with Max and his family had this TV movie vibe thanks to the bizarre choice of music. Also the music at times drowning out the dialogue was very off putting.

I did enjoy elements of this film, in particular the set pieces and action parts of this film, despite it being a low budget affair I have to say I was impressed. It's also worth bearing in mind this film was made in the late 1970's so for me that makes the action scenes all that more impressive.

Mad Max is a slightly odd low budget action flick that has a certain charm but is let down by down by questionable editing, musical score and acting.

Not many low budget flicks age very well but Mad Max certainly has.

I watched it again recently, as I only had vague memories of watching it years ago, but I found it to hold up well. Only by reading the other user comments did I discover that it had been dubbed! What a load of crap. Why would a movie in English be dubbed in English! If you cant understand Aussie accents, you dont deserve the pleasure of seeing this movie. I cant imagine this movie having the same effect without the Australian accents.

What George Miller did with this fairly simple script is remakable. The camera angles and speeds with which this film moves along at times were thrilling, Not to mention the great stunts and even the barbaric humour (the ripped off arm!).

The car which Mel Gibson eventually gets revenge in (an Aussie Ford coupe) looked as menacing as a car could! built for the movie for A$35 Grand, a replica was used for the final crash 'n burn scenes of Mad Max 2. The original car was salvaged and is still around somewhere, appearing at car shows in the late 80's.