Mad Max (1979) Thoughts
After watching Fury Road, I decided to take a look at the other films in the Mad Max series. Partly it was out of a general interest in where the franchise started, but it was also out of interest in Max's backstory. We get some of that in Fury Road, but it made the most sense to take an actual look at the story. So, I'm watching them in chronological order, starting with the 1979 Mad Max.
Multiple people told me to skip this movie, to not bother with it at all and move straight on to Road Warror. I'm glad that I didn't! It was interesting. As far as I can tell, part of whether or not one will enjoy this film depends on whether they know what they're getting into, and what their expectations are.
Mad Max is certainly not Fury Road. It's also not The Road Warrior. It's a film that was made on a shoestring budget in the late 1970s. The lack of budget definitely shows. But the dedication that Miller and Kennedy had to this project also shows, too.
What you get: Car chases, bleak Australian landscape, and some neat practical effects and stunts. It certainly isn't shiny and chrome on the effects side of things, but that works to the film's advantage. By that I mean - it isn't pretty, but because most (all?) of the effects are practical, it's very visually believable. My eyes could accept what was happening on the screen, and that's because it actually was happening. While Miller might have been able to do more with a better budget, I feel like he managed to take what he had and really make it work.
The film is set shortly after society starts to break down. In some respects, that makes it pretty unnerving, because it's a world that's recognizable. Unlike Road Warrior, which is very post-apocalyptic, and Fury Road, which takes the apocalypse even further, Mad Max looks like the real world (well, late 70s world) with a few adjustments. The area where the breakdown is most obvious is in the Court of Justice and its associated police force; things have really unravelled there. But the rest of the world is trying to carry on as normal, and almost looks normal - almost. It isn't comfortable, but that's a good thing. This aspect of the film feels close, immediate - it's a believable vision of a screwed up future. People trying to keep going even as society falls apart, that's believable. With the later films, the distance from the current ("current") world requires more of a stretch of the imagination, due to the temporal distance after the change.
In Fury Road, I loved Max as a character, and I wasn't sure whether or not I would like the Max of the earlier films. As far as Mad Max goes, I found him all right. He doesn't grab me the way Fury Road's Max does, but I don't dislike him. What I find most compelling is his relationship with his wife Jessie; they work well together, and I find them convincing as an illustration of a happy relationship. It helps that Jessie herself is pretty likeable, too. Not that she's amazing, but she's kind, and tough in her own way, and she has a sense of humour. I like that. I also like Max's friendship with Goose; they make quite a team, and Max's reaction to Goose's death was pretty convincing, I feel.
Also: I like that this film had an elderly lady with a shotgun. May might not be quite like the women in Fury Road's Vuvalini gang, but she's a tough old gal and I appreciate her.
The violence in this film bothered me more than the violence in Fury Road. While both are violent films, I'm pretty sure Mad Max has more direct on-screen violence, and sexual violence is more visually present. In Fury Road it's something that is acknowledged, it's the major force behind the plot; it isn't incidental to the plot. Anyway - what I'm getting down to is, I had to fastforward a couple of scenes in this, while in Fury Road, I wouldn't have needed to, even if I could have done so. The IMDB page for Mad Max has a pretty detailed content advisory on the relevant scenes, and it's pretty easy to figure out when they're coming. ...Also, for those who are particular about it: the dog dies. Not onscreen, but the aftermath is shown.
Would I recommend this film? Well, not necessarily. Not without caveats. As I mentioned above, it is a 1979 film made on a shoestring budget, and it shows. If one expects it to be as good with its portrayal of women as Fury Road is, they will be disappointed. The film is also a tad slow at times. Also, this is obviously not a film for anybody who hates car chases.
However, it does have some things to recommend to it. As I mentioned earlier, the practical effects are neat if you like that kind of thing. If one is interested in Max's backstory, it's a good idea to give this a watch, because it gives all of the context for that. I didn't dislike Max, and I like the way his relationship with his wife was portrayed. The portrayal of a society teetering on the edge of collapse is very interesting - it isn't quite post-apocalyptic yet. More like pre-apocalyptic. And the setting is something to recommend it, in itself, because it isn't so often that one sees apocalyptic films set in a place like Australia. That's pretty neat.
A lot of people told me to skip this film. Like, several said not to bother with it. But I think that if one keeps the above factors in mind, and the positives seem interesting enough to outweigh the negatives, then it would be worth giving this film a go. Would I watch it again? Well, maybe not, unless I needed to check something for fanfic purposes, or if I was in a very particular mood, or if I decided to do a rewatch of the entire series. But am I glad that I watched it? Yes, I am. I don't feel as if the hour and a half it took to watch this was a waste of my time. When you get down to it, that's not half bad at all.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3410614.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
Multiple people told me to skip this movie, to not bother with it at all and move straight on to Road Warror. I'm glad that I didn't! It was interesting. As far as I can tell, part of whether or not one will enjoy this film depends on whether they know what they're getting into, and what their expectations are.
Mad Max is certainly not Fury Road. It's also not The Road Warrior. It's a film that was made on a shoestring budget in the late 1970s. The lack of budget definitely shows. But the dedication that Miller and Kennedy had to this project also shows, too.
What you get: Car chases, bleak Australian landscape, and some neat practical effects and stunts. It certainly isn't shiny and chrome on the effects side of things, but that works to the film's advantage. By that I mean - it isn't pretty, but because most (all?) of the effects are practical, it's very visually believable. My eyes could accept what was happening on the screen, and that's because it actually was happening. While Miller might have been able to do more with a better budget, I feel like he managed to take what he had and really make it work.
The film is set shortly after society starts to break down. In some respects, that makes it pretty unnerving, because it's a world that's recognizable. Unlike Road Warrior, which is very post-apocalyptic, and Fury Road, which takes the apocalypse even further, Mad Max looks like the real world (well, late 70s world) with a few adjustments. The area where the breakdown is most obvious is in the Court of Justice and its associated police force; things have really unravelled there. But the rest of the world is trying to carry on as normal, and almost looks normal - almost. It isn't comfortable, but that's a good thing. This aspect of the film feels close, immediate - it's a believable vision of a screwed up future. People trying to keep going even as society falls apart, that's believable. With the later films, the distance from the current ("current") world requires more of a stretch of the imagination, due to the temporal distance after the change.
In Fury Road, I loved Max as a character, and I wasn't sure whether or not I would like the Max of the earlier films. As far as Mad Max goes, I found him all right. He doesn't grab me the way Fury Road's Max does, but I don't dislike him. What I find most compelling is his relationship with his wife Jessie; they work well together, and I find them convincing as an illustration of a happy relationship. It helps that Jessie herself is pretty likeable, too. Not that she's amazing, but she's kind, and tough in her own way, and she has a sense of humour. I like that. I also like Max's friendship with Goose; they make quite a team, and Max's reaction to Goose's death was pretty convincing, I feel.
Also: I like that this film had an elderly lady with a shotgun. May might not be quite like the women in Fury Road's Vuvalini gang, but she's a tough old gal and I appreciate her.
The violence in this film bothered me more than the violence in Fury Road. While both are violent films, I'm pretty sure Mad Max has more direct on-screen violence, and sexual violence is more visually present. In Fury Road it's something that is acknowledged, it's the major force behind the plot; it isn't incidental to the plot. Anyway - what I'm getting down to is, I had to fastforward a couple of scenes in this, while in Fury Road, I wouldn't have needed to, even if I could have done so. The IMDB page for Mad Max has a pretty detailed content advisory on the relevant scenes, and it's pretty easy to figure out when they're coming. ...Also, for those who are particular about it: the dog dies. Not onscreen, but the aftermath is shown.
Would I recommend this film? Well, not necessarily. Not without caveats. As I mentioned above, it is a 1979 film made on a shoestring budget, and it shows. If one expects it to be as good with its portrayal of women as Fury Road is, they will be disappointed. The film is also a tad slow at times. Also, this is obviously not a film for anybody who hates car chases.
However, it does have some things to recommend to it. As I mentioned earlier, the practical effects are neat if you like that kind of thing. If one is interested in Max's backstory, it's a good idea to give this a watch, because it gives all of the context for that. I didn't dislike Max, and I like the way his relationship with his wife was portrayed. The portrayal of a society teetering on the edge of collapse is very interesting - it isn't quite post-apocalyptic yet. More like pre-apocalyptic. And the setting is something to recommend it, in itself, because it isn't so often that one sees apocalyptic films set in a place like Australia. That's pretty neat.
A lot of people told me to skip this film. Like, several said not to bother with it. But I think that if one keeps the above factors in mind, and the positives seem interesting enough to outweigh the negatives, then it would be worth giving this film a go. Would I watch it again? Well, maybe not, unless I needed to check something for fanfic purposes, or if I was in a very particular mood, or if I decided to do a rewatch of the entire series. But am I glad that I watched it? Yes, I am. I don't feel as if the hour and a half it took to watch this was a waste of my time. When you get down to it, that's not half bad at all.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3410614.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.