Mad Max

Staring: Mel Gibson

Review by The Ranting WolfCastle

    Most of the time the plot is an important aspect of movie making.   "Mad Max" doesn't really have one, but then again, maybe it does.   Right now I'm so baffled about this movie, I don't really know what to say.   It was made in 1979, so my standards are way higher than this movie can fulfill, but I'll try to keep an open mind while writing this.

    Gibson stars as Max, a MFP, it's some kind of police officer.   I don't know what the MF stands for.  My friend suggested "Mother Fucking" but we both doubt that's what it really means.  This film is set in the near future, "a few years from now."  Complete anarchy has overcome Australia.  Biker thugs pretty much run the place, and Max and his police comrades are set to stop them.  Pretty much everyone close to Max is killed or maimed by the bikers.  So he kills them all.

    The thing about this movie, is they use the majority of their time as character buildup.  The first hour is just obscure happenings.  First they kill a biker that stole a police car, then the other bikers get pissed and burn Max's police pal.  I don't think he dies but he ends up looking like burnt chicken.   Max gets pissed but decides to take some time off.  Now, all of that takes about an hour.  And that's where the plot starts.  I enjoyed the whole thing, but it ends forty five minutes after it starts.  I'm still at a loss for words.   I just don't really know what to say.

    I can tell you that the music is cheesy, if that matters at all.   It's kind of funny though, the hero kills somebody, then it cuts to a close-up of him, and the music does a funny little hero riff.  Neat.  Another thing with music in movies, is you can always tell what's going to happen, why do they do that?   The minute the big bass, evil type music starts, you know someone's about to get jacked.  I'm so confused right now.

    I don't like Max's wife either.  She can't act.  Besides that everyone is okay. 

    I guess that's it.  I wish I could tell you more, but I think I've told you about everything.  I like the movie, I just think it should have lasted longer.  The thing is, it's about an hour and half long, so that's normal.  They just should have dedicated a little more time to him finding the bad guys and killing them, as opposed to setting up the story line.  That's pretty much my only complaint, but if I gave it more than a fifty, I just wouldn't feel right.  This review really sucked, I'm sorry.  The movie is entertaining but I just don't know what to say.

50%