Product: Mad Max (1979)
Rating: 4.0
A decent BD release, but room for improvement
I've been a fan of "Mad Max" since seeing it in the theater in 1980, and I pre-ordered this Blu-ray as soon as it was announced. The movie itself has been reviewed extensively elsewhere, so my review will cover, briefly, the Blu-ray disc only. I played it on aJVC XVBP11 Blu-ray Playerand watched it on aPanasonic TC-L32X2 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTVand, more recently, on aPanasonic VIERA TC-P42S30 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV.720p Comments:Overall it looks very dark. They didn't digitally correct any of the color errors (that is, spots in the movie where the film has color damage--it's really obvious after Max drags himself back to the car). The color is richer than on the DVD; skin tones look accurate, but the clouds look pinkish. And it's grainy, but still clearer than ever. You can actually read the graffiti on the high-fatality road sign, and read all the port rules on the beach sign. It's going to be a treasure trove for costumers and prop makers! The BD is definitely an improvement over the DVD in terms of clarity, but the price of that clarity seems to be all the visual noise that's now visible. (In many of the scenes where open blue sky is the backdrop, the sky tends to flicker.) I checked some scenes on the DVD and the color shifting and noise are there, too--it's just not as noticeable as on the BD. I suspect it's the very same source print.1080p Comments:Before I owned the 1080p plasma, I thought that having all that additional resolution would just make the bad qualities of the transfer that much more obvious. I was wrong. Frankly, it looks pretty amazing. There was less flickering of the sky, and print damage was much less obvious. The film still appears grainy, and overall the color is somewhat dull, but it IS a 30-year-old low-budget movie--a lot of which seems to have been shot on overcast days.Additional Disc Comments:The disc menu is odd: The footage is from the movie but the sound is sourced from who-knows-where (most of it is not from the movie, and doesn't even really match the visuals). And would someone tell me why they insist on including the abominable American dub in every release? (The only redeeming feature of the American dub--aside from its comedy value--is that some engine sounds were beefed up, and the characters' voices don't get lost in the mix as they do in the original.) The default audio is the original Australian track in 5.1 DTS HD. There's also a mono mix for you traditionalists.The DVD included in the set is the exact same one from theMad Max (Special Edition) DVD. (I compared them and the markings/numbers are identical.) Compared to the BD, it now looks a little washed-out. The chapter breaks appear to be the same for both discs.Conclusion:The question is, is this BD release worth the money? Well, if you're a die-hard completist or a hard-core fan like I am, the answer is yes. If you have a 1080p TV, then the answer is YES! If you're looking for the definitive Blu-ray release of Mad Max that's the best it's ever going to get, I'd say wait (or buy used). Maybe someday we'll get a loving, caring, comprehensive digital restoration by someone who doesn't care just about the sales numbers. But who knows how long that might take?