Product: Mad Max (1979)
Rating: 5.0
Unsettling vision of a possible future
The deterioration of society is the basis of the first Mad Max film. A dark vision of the near future, the film's low budget works in its favour: it feels real, props look suitably well-worn and there are no unbelievable settings or overblown special effects. The world the film is set in, with industrial decay, vast empty motorways and gangs of low-life bikers terrorising the remaining decent people left, is a deeply disturbing proposition. Mel Gibson, who looks remarkably young (he was 22) plays the title role - police officer Max Rockatansky of the Main Force Patrol, a specialised unit whose task is to rid the roads of the biker gangs who have brought anarchy to the cultural wasteland that they roam. Gibson's character has a wife and young son. They, like his colleague and friend, MFP Officer Jim Goose, are eventually hunted down and brutally murdered by the psychotic gang leader Toecutter, who holds Max responsible for the death of a gang member. The film moves towards its inevitable conclusion - Max is without all that was important in his life, so takes to the road once more in vigilante mode. This is a very unsettling film, devoid of Hollywood sensationalism. Two sequels followed, but the original movie, for me, has the greatest impact: a stark and gritty nightmare in a barbaric world that seems all too close to home.