Mad Max is a franchise that was brought to my full attention, as I am sure is the case with a lot of people, with the release of the highly acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015. I am probably in the minority of people who believe that this film is just okay and is not a masterpiece as many people claimed on its release, but this is possibly due to me watching it on my tv at home and not in the cinema meaning that a lot of the huge action set pieces were lost on me. However, it did grab my interest enough for me to seek out the original Mad Max (1979), although not enough for me to watch it straight away and instead wait 3 years. But I did finally sit down and watch this film, and, after first viewing, I am unsure how I feel about it. I am still trying to decide whether I like it or dislike it, at the time of writing I am still undecided. The film follows the titular Max (Mel Gibson) who is a road cop in a semi-dystopian Australia where extremely violent gangs roam, raping and pillaging whenever and whoever they see fit. Max and his partner, Goose (Steve Bisley), are both involved with the pursuit and death of one gang’s leader, Nightrider (Vincent Gil), and as a result are both targeted by the gang who are seeking revenge. Goose is killed horrifically by the gang which leads Max to leave the force and try to start a more peaceful life with his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and his infant son. However, the gang continues to hunt them down and kill Jessie and the child. Max becomes mad with rage and goes on his own revenge quest, hunting down all the gang members and killing them all in cold blood.
Now from that plot summary you may think that where Max goes on his revenge mission is where the film kicks in. After all, most of the plot summaries that I write for these reviews do that in order to not spoil the bulk of the film I am reviewing. However, in this case, that summery is the whole plot. From start to finish they are the major plot points without giving specific details that would ruin it. And this is one of my major problems with the film, the plot is weak and poorly paced. The story is not a new one. The revenge tale that the film tells us a tale as old as time, except the problem with this film is that the revenge arc starts with 18 minutes of the film left. I am not even kidding, 18 minutes to the end when Max goes on his revenge plot. This is seemingly due to the wish of the filmmakers to give Max a family to avenge, but they already have Goose who could act as the person who Max seeks to avenge. This would make the plot flow better rather than feeling like a film of two halves. And another problem with the fact that the revenge arc starts so let is that the actually act of revenge that Max performs falls flat and is anti-climactic, especially with the death of the gang's new leader, Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Toecutter is shown to be a brutal and sadistic murderer throughout the film, and he meets his end by being hit by a truck. A truck that Max wasn't even driving. Boooooooo.
The plot and pacing are big problems for me, but if you have seen the film you probably already know that this probably wasn't the main focus of director George Miller, as was also the case with Mad Max: Fury Road. The film is very much style over substance. The setting, costume design, acting style and stunts are the focus of the film. The world where the story is taking place takes the main focus of the film whereas the plot takes the backseat and is just there to give the film structure. And this is not something I necessarily see as a bad thing, mainly because the style of the film is something I really like. The stunts and car crashes have to be praised. For a film with such a small budget these stunts are superbly choregraphed, shot and are performed to perfection and Miller and the crew must be praised for this. The acting style is that if caricature, cops are stereotypical cops and the gang are stereotypically evil. Toecutter is especially entertaining as he is the perfect amount of over the top while still remaining menacing. The characters match this dystopian world that they inhabit, which is designed in a way where it feels close enough to real life that you can imagine that if society just went one step more over the edge this could be the result, and this is the main theme of the film with Max even saying as much. Everything is just exaggerated enough from our own world that you can buy in and feel like all the characters belong in this dystopian future. But it is the costume design that steals the show. All the gang are dressed in extravagant furs and leathers and seemingly take their style very seriously, which is a funny juxtaposition to the violent nature of what they do. But what fully sells this film to me is the sheer amount of leather jackets. I myself love a leather jacket and so watching this film just got me thinking about how many more styles of jacket I should buy in the near future. The style of the film is what people remember about it, and I will be no different. When I remember this film, I will remember the image of a leather clad Max driving stone faced in his black, suped up car on his way to violently murder the gang members, not necessarily the story that led him to that point.
In writing this review I went through liking and disliking this film. Writing about the plot and pacing of the film made me really think that I didn’t like this film, that it was pretty forgettable and that it is a film that I won't see myself coming back to. However, then I started to write about the style of the film and my opinion flipped again and I felt like maybe I liked this film. It is a rare occasion where I am undecided on whether I like a film or not, but it does sometimes happen, and Mad Max will be joining that exclusive group of films which I am still unsure as to whether I like. What I am sure I can say about this film is that it is not a great film in any case, but I do recommend giving it a watch mainly, so you can see whether you have the same reaction as I do to it, or whether you think I’m mad (haha).