Product: Mad Max (1979)
Rating: 4.0
An action classic returns...
I saw "Mad Max" almost a decade ago on local TV, and despite being edited for television, it was a shocking and intense movie. Besides the simple plot, this film manages to work just as well as when I first saw it. The violence is this film is rather tame, often cutting away to show something that may be not as gory, but is just as shocking. The chases in this film are incredible (and the more surprising since this was made before the advent of CGI). The new DVD release has some rather interesting treats, such as the original Australian audio, as opposed to the dubbed version that floats around on television (the fact there doesn't seem to be a problem with understanding the dialogue in the original track makes me wonder why it hasn't been released like this in the U.S. for so long), plus you can pick between seeing the film in Widescreen or Pan&Scan (widescreen...no contest on how I watch it), a documentary on the film's influence, and a commentary by members of the crew (who explain some of the more startling sequences in the movie). For the price, "Mad Max" is definitely worth checking out.