Product: Mad Max (1979)
Rating: 4.0
An Outlaw Biker's Worst Nightmare
Mad Max is a very imaginative, wild, and satisfying film. It's sequel The Road Warrior is a bit more thrilling, but Mad Max delivers the goods. The film is set in the post apocolyptic Australia, where savage biker gangs and outlaw drivers rule the roads. The film begins with policeman Max Rockantsky(Mel Gibson) who engages in a thrilling highway chase between him and a crazy driver called Nightrider. When Nightrider is killed in a firey crash, his psychopathic friend, Toecutter, is enraged, and wants revenge in blood, Rockantsky blood. Toecutter and his vicious biker gang are known for terrorizing towns, tying people to speeding motorcycles, and much worse (as seen in the film). For a while in the film, they stalk Max, his wife Jessie, and his infant son in very weird, creepy scenes. Then when Toecutter and the gang run Jessie and her baby down on their motorbikes, Max is beyond enraged, thus becoming the title character, Mad Max. The end of the film is a sensationalized thrillfest as Max dawns his leather road outfit, two guns, and hunts down the gang in his new Police Interceptor, running some down, shooting one, and I won't mention what happens to Toecutter. Mad Max is very bizarre, very brutal, and very very entertaining. The stunts are quite impressive, the villains are very well cast (particularly Toecutter and Johnny)and Mel Gibson is the ultimate Mad Max. The only snag: the film goes at a snail's pace. Otherwise, go rent this movie, make some popcorn, and get ready to hit the road.