Film Review — Mad Max
★★★☆☆ Idiosyncratic revenge classic has a clunky gearbox
In the midst of a crumbling society, a rogue law enforcement officer wages war with a motorbike gang and their deranged leader.
Blood splatters onto crushed chrome in George Miller’s anarchic feature debut, a rip-roaring actioner with a noticeable western vibe and absolutely no room for passengers.
Despite its violent premise and concerns about copycat crimes, most of the harder stuff is merely implied. The film’s ultra-low budget unintentionally enhances the carnage with kinetic, machine-gun-like editing, forcing the audience to fill in the horrific gaps in their minds. Cheap, but very effective.
While it wows with its high-octane thrills, Mad Max wobbles off course with its plotting — the final act feels incorrectly assembled and unnecessarily rushed — as well as an ill-fitting Brian May (not that one) score that frequently overwhelms the film’s crucial quiet moments.
In his first leading role, Mel Gibson is a mostly silent protagonist, demonstrating early glimpses of his blockbuster-destined talent mostly with baby-faced expressions. Steve Bisley lends the picture its considerable Aussie charm, while Hugh Keays-Byrne makes an impact with a fly curiously never far away from his ominous, cult-like gang leader.
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