Mad Max 4

Discussion
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[reply]Yeah, I’m kind of in the same boat. I don’t even know if I’ve seen all three.

A quick TV guide style synopsis for you, because I have nothing better to do right now . . .

MAD MAX: The city is in chaos and overrun by a gang of nasty bikers. This is the film where Max Rockatansky becomes MAD Max after his family is killed (also setting the template for almost every future Mel Gibson movie to come). It is NOT a post-apocalyptic film. It is set DURING the collapse/decay of a society.

ROAD WARRIOR: AKA Mad Max 2, Max is now a gnarly ass warrior of the wasteland. The film is post-apocalypse and the residents of this realm are scavengers both good and bad, trying to scrape by and survive. The “good guys” are working an oil plant that is under siege from LORD HUMUNGUS (pretty much the coolest villain of all time). Max arrives as their only hope (yeah, it’s like that).

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME
Auntie Entity (Tina Turner) and her awesome chainmail-clad chocotitties have created a new civilization which thrives on its dysfunctional functionality. BARTERTOWN is powered by methane energy, made possible by a super smart midget (Master) who rides atop a super dumb megastrong retard (Blaster). Yeah, that’s right, MASTERBLASTER, bitches!!! Max is tasked with going head to head with MasterBlaster in Thunderdome (the arena of death where disputes are settled).[/reply]

You just summed them up perfectly. I do think that people could be disappointed by the first film if they go in thinking it’s gonna be another insane chase movie, but as its own film it’s great. What stunts there are, they’re fantastic. I still can’t believe the dude who goes flying end over end off his motorbike. Fucking insane.

Mad Max 2 has been well covered, i think pretty much everyone has checked it out. What more needs to be said? Total classic, bad-ass craziness, but with plenty of humanity among all the innocent people being shot with arrows by motorbike dudes in assless chaps.

Beyond Thunderdome: initially i was disappointed with this one and didn’t watch it repeatedly like i did with the first two. I ended up catching it on tv a few years ago and was blown away by the quality of the stunts and by the film in general. Again, it’s a great film in its own right, it’s just that Mad Max II looms so large over the 1st and 3rd films. At least in 1985 you’d only have been waiting for 4 years or so for that sequel, it wouldn’t have been that painful if you hated it. Imagine the people who’d waited 30 years for another sequel, since Beyond Thunderdome, and hated Fury Road. Hahaha, poor bastards.

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Imma just buy the BluRay set of all three old movies, I’m so in love with this new one I can’t imagine the same guy not doing awesome work!

The bluray box set is always available cheap, probably even moreso now that WB will want to capitalize on Fury Road. Definitely worth a purchase, although the films are (especially the first one) a bit more “subdued” than Fury Road [:)]

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Imma just buy the BluRay set of all three old movies, I’m so in love with this new one I can’t imagine the same guy not doing awesome work!

They are all awesome. And you will definitely NOT be disappointed. #2 and #3 are well packed with REAL legit action, gnarly vehicles, ugly villains, leather and spikes.

#1 aged the least well, I think, and would be the hardest for someone who grew up in the later days of cinema magic to really get into, but don’t get me wrong, that is society’s fault, not the film’s. The movie is still AWESOME, and the villains are deranged and wonderful. Plus, young Mel is really sexy. It’s also cool that you see some hope and joy in MAX in the first one as he is looking forward to just getting shit together and enjoying a future with his family . . . . well, yeah, things don’t always work out that way.

I THINK all the recent pressings of MAD MAX have the original Australian voices, but take care if you’re looking at old copies of the film. When it was first served to us Americans (and in our VHS and so forth) I guess they figured we would be unable to understand Australian, so they dubbed all the voices with cheesy stock American voices. This alone will age the film worse than it naturally would. Like I said, the chances of getting a dumb-voiced version is probably slim, but just be aware.

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Ordered them on Amazon, really looking forward to them! I don’t need modern balls to the wall action (in fact, I’m not usually that I to it, it’s just Fury Road did it better than anything) so I suspect I’ll be happy!

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Thunderdome - while I do like it - feels like a film that Hollywood ‘got its hands on’ - with the inclusion of Tina Turner music (I actually like both songs), and Turner herself. The part of the film I like the least is the children, the silly choreographed bits during the Captain Walker story (as if they had rehearsed it a hundred times), their relentless chanting and shouting, and the whole Lord of the Flies vibe.

Also, too many lives were spared in this one, a sure sign of being tamed to achieve a PG-13 rating, and the death of Ironbar took way too fucking long. That guy should not have survived the head-on collision when he was in front of the train, that was ridiculous. It would also have been nice to see a previous fight inside of Thunderdome before Max went in there. We get one fight in a place that’s in the title of the movie.

The dumbest factoid about Thunderdome is that Bruce Spence’s character Jedediah The Pilot is actually a different person than the Gyro Captain from Road Warrior. Miller was trying to find an actor for Jedediah, and decided to go with Spence. It is one of those ‘big debates’ among Mad Max fans, but I think it’s obvious that they are the same person.

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The dumbest factoid about Thunderdome is that Bruce Spence’s character Jedediah The Pilot is actually a different person than the Gyro Captain from Road Warrior. Miller was trying to find an actor for Jedediah, and decided to go with Spence. It is one of those ‘big debates’ among Mad Max fans, but I think it’s obvious that they are the same person.

1002

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I’d never even heard that, but thanks for sharing.

I can accept that Miller may have had it written originally as a different character, but making the choice to cast Spence, who is playing EXACTLY the same character as in Road Warrior, makes it by default . . . . THE SAME CHARACTER.

I like knowing ABOUT this “controversy” but I will not entertain anyone’s arguments for it actually being a different person. Because it’s not.

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not having a DVD player, I scoped out the google play store…the first 3 are up there for $2 a rental each. will certainly be watching them when I get the time.

132

I’m going to have to play Devil’s Advocate here and rain on your collective parades somewhat.

Cos what I’m going to write about this god forsaken abortion of a film is going to cause absolute mayhem.

Gee, what a way to start off again.

Oh well…

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Peligrolsen doesn’t like the big mega blockbuster that 99% of viewers absolutely adored. Wow. Shocking. What controversy.

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You want me to be honest and write from the heart? Or do you want me to fall inline and write only in ways that get the “nod” of approval?

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I’m interested in hearing what you didn’t like about it. the arts are always subjective anyway.

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Turn down the emo, Pel. I’m not telling you what to write. I was only having a laugh at the predictability of your dislike of this film.

And, yes, I am interested to read your comments either way.

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saw it today at the Vista theater…a 40 min drive from my house but AWESOME theater…love the ancient Egyptian theme, massive amounts of leg room (seriously, they can fit 2 rows in front of you between rows) and $6 for afternoon movies? can’t beat it. this will be my go to place for new releases for sure.

Great theater. It’s right down the street from me, but I only recently visited for the first time for the Tusk premiere. I know: bad movie geek. Can’t help it, I’m an Arclight snob.

Fun fact: This is the theater where Clarence and Alabama meet in True Romance.

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Alright. This is “real” guys. This is me. This is from the heart.

I love Mad Max. I love it to death. I’ve been in love with these films for longer than many of you here have been alive. Trust me when I say that I met the news that Mad Max 4 was finally nearing completion with a heady mix of anticipation and outright dread - such was my emotional investment in this series.

I first saw (a HEAVILY censored) Mad Max on late night television some 32 years ago and from that moment on - I was hooked. Experiencing that for the first time as a bleary eyed 9 year old (up way past his bedtime) was unforgettable. I’d put it right up there with the first time I saw Kiss on tv (performing Hard Luck Woman…still remember it) or the first time I saw Star Wars (and hid behind a chair each and every time Darth Vader came on set).

I taped it and would watch it (when everyone else had gone to bed) repeatedly until about the age of 15. There was something so compelling about what was, at heart, a very simple and straight forward story:

Man loses wife and kids during time of great upheaval. Man goes on warpath.

In a nutshell. But it had heart and soul. I journeyed with Max all the way - first in awe at his street smarts and effortless cool as he mowed down the bad guys, and later in anguish as all that he held dear slipped through his fingers.

The Road Warrior was next. And again, I was equally hooked on Max, if not moreso this time round (mostly because in this one Max was so downright cool looking and so downright badass). With The Road Warrior, the world of Max Rockatansky had gone to hell. In this film, Max was an empty shell - part Terminator, part Dirty Harry. A fire burned in his eyes that left me captivated from the get go. Half alive half in limbo, tunnelling through a world of unimaginable destruction and unthinkable horrors.

It was everything a 12 year old me could wish for.

Then Thunderdome came- eh, not loving this so much. Some badassery here and there and some cringeworthy side plot about some feral desert nomad children which left me feeling rather empty. But I digress. No need to pour over old wounds.

So it was with much anticipation (not to mention that feeling of dread again) that I took a seat in a mostly empty theatre on a Wednesday lunchtime to watch the latest installment in a franchise that had so shaped and defined my childhood.

But two hours later, when I finally emerged form the confines of the local cinemaplex, I was completely and utterly unmoved. It was as if the whole thing never happened. And my mate whom I saw it with (also a one time huge Mad Max fan) thought it was the worst film he had “seen in probably the last 10 years of going to the cinema”.

What the fuck was George Miller thinking??

Mad Max 4 is a train wreck.

A few weeks before, I had been to see Avengers: Age Of Ultron at the movies. And I hated. It was big, dumb, load and empty.

And I loathed Mad Max 4 for ALL the same reasons. Big, dumb, loud and empty. This film was nothing. An empty shell, devoid of all intelligence, devoid of all emotion, devoid of all pathos.

What “storyline” there was I could have written on the back of a box of matches. The one dimesional characters and the (rather excruciating) dialogue was utterly pathetic. Acting was as wooden as ANYTHING that came out of The Phantom Menace. The “brides” in this film, are as poorly conceived and as poorly acted as just about anything I have seen in cinema. And I’ve Seen Transformers: Age Of Extinction.

I went in expecting a continuation of the Mad Max franchise. What I got was a two hour live action cartoon - an excuse to wheel out a bunch of “badass” monster trucks and race them across a patch of desert.

Big fucking deal.

Hollow empty cardboard cutout “characters” reading their lines (and painfully so!!) in turn. Even Max himself (a woefully miscast Tom Hardy) was reduced to a mere side character- IN HIS OWN FREAKIN FILM!! We get absolutely no emotional engagement here from Tom Hardy’s flimsy embodiment of the titular character. A few grunts, the same furrowed, worried expression throughout the ENTIRE film and a few half assed action sequences.

How the fuck am I supposed to even care for THIS particular reincarnation of Max Rockatansky?!?!?

The only saving grace was Charlize Theron, whom I believe put in a more than worthy performance as Imperator Furiosa.

If Mel Gibson were dead, he’d be turning in his grave. Or maybe he already is!!

139

At least you’re original.
Every other negative review of the film I’ve seen (which is about a grand total of four) hinges on the fact that it has more to do with all those yucky girls than Mad Max.

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Mad Max 4 is a train wreck.

A few weeks before, I had been to see Avengers: Age Of Ultron at the movies. And I hated. It was big, dumb, load and empty.

And I loathed Mad Max 4 for ALL the same reasons. Big, dumb, loud and empty.

Why do you torture yourself? If we know you are going to hate blockbuster movies how come you don’t? why would you even bother let alone waste your money on something that is sure to disappoint you?

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good review, Peligro.

my perspective is different because I haven’t seen the originals (yet) , but I do agree with your assessment of the lack of character investment/development. I was also wishing we had more Max action and badassness, but was satisfied with what we got (again, that may have been different if I saw the others) . however, with that said, I was along for the ride. and once I started to get into it, I was hooked. easily. now more than ever I want to go and watch the other films. I’m sure everyone else who’s never saw the originals but saw Fury Road feel the same…which is great.

I did feel it was a big blockbuster action movie, but I also felt it had an indie feel to it too at times…maybe because the characters aren’t really so “hollywood” looking (except the brides of course) . I didn’t like the new Avengers film, but can’t compare it to this.

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[reply]saw it today at the Vista theater…a 40 min drive from my house but AWESOME theater…love the ancient Egyptian theme, massive amounts of leg room (seriously, they can fit 2 rows in front of you between rows) and $6 for afternoon movies? can’t beat it. this will be my go to place for new releases for sure.

Great theater. It’s right down the street from me, but I only recently visited for the first time for the Tusk premiere. I know: bad movie geek. Can’t help it, I’m an Arclight snob.

Fun fact: This is the theater where Clarence and Alabama meet in True Romance.[/reply]

haha, that’s exactly why I wanted to go there, because I saw it in True Romance! another one of those geeking out moments for me visiting a film location (and this time seeing a film there )

Arclight is on my list of places to check out as well. since you like it, I’m sure it’s a great place.

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I can appreciate some of Peligro’s sentiments, but I’ve been following the story of this movie’s development from long ago, so I was pretty well prepared that it was going to be a “2-hour-car-chase” which Miller has always been upfront about.

I’m pretty jaded about new movies and hate most stuff that comes out too. That being said, I temper my expectations for everything.

Fury Road, though, for me, didn’t need a complex story or development of characters or any of that. Max has been reduced to the absolute basest of human form and explains that his entire existence is now merely SURVIVAL.

The movie to me is more of a snapshot of a day or two in the life of Max. A busy day, obviously, and that leaves no room for explaining backstories and such.

I think the lack of garnishing is what makes me love this film more. There are times when there is just weird stuff that no one explains, but that made it feel more authentic to me. My friend and I were trying to figure out if Nux needed blood because he has a disease or if it was just a bit of “boost” for him to hop him up for battle or what. But we both felt that it would have been retarded to take the cliche route of him just explaining something that is an everyday occurrence in that world.

I don’t think it is the best Mad Max film. But it is a Mad Max film and it is great. It had leather and spikes and crazy vehicles and violence and it looked AWESOME. That is well enough for me.

The Mad Max “story” has already been told. I’m quite happy with just seeing him ride into battle again . . .

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^exactly

in a way, if there was a more “fleshed out story” it actually could have taken away from the essence of the film