The Road Warrior -Mad Max 2- (1981)
You know, writing these things is difficult. It’s difficult for me to get up and just do it. That’s partly why I’ve been doing it in the first place. I need practice at motivating myself to write. It’s nice to do it in this informal venue where I can type an intro like this and get away with it, because man it got me going. When you don’t want to write, nothing better for actually getting you to like a short rant about how you don’t want to write. It’s crazy that way.
So how about that movie The Road Warrior? That’s actually just the name they retitled it with when they brought it to America because they wanted to distance it from the original Mad Max, which this movie was a sequel to. I’m sure somewhere on the internet is evidence of people getting far too upset over what the title of the movie is. If one of you is reading, I’m going to use the American title throughout this. Just a warning so if that really grinds your shit, you can leave. Okay. Now that we’re alone…
The Road Warrior is an Australian production directed by George Miller. Despite great success and directing all three Mad Max films, Miller hasn’t really done a whole heck of a lot. He produced and wrote the screenplay for Babe, which I’ve always thought was a fun movie. He also produced and directed Happy Feet, which is a little odd. Those are the three main things he’s worked on, and not much outside of that. Seems like somewhat of a short resume for the director of one of the most celebrated action movies ever made. It’s also quite probably the most famous Australian film ever. It does seem he’s directing the new Justice League movie to arrive in 2011, so I’m looking forward to that. As long as the future of The Road Warrior doesn’t come true first.
The movie takes place in the very near future when most of society has broken down due to war and energy crisis. (eek) Max lost his family to a biker gang in the first movie, and now wanders the wastes of central Australia looking for gas and trying not to die. All he wants to do is be left alone, but due to circumstances beyond his control he might not get that chance. It’s a great movie and you should definitely check it out. As usual it’s on Netflix and available wherever fine movies are sold. Or whatever.
Spoiler-Time to begin the fun.
At some point I’m glad I can’t get too in depth, because I think if one analyzes anything too much it’s not really a good thing. However, I do wish I had some notes on this movie so I didn’t have to speak in broad generalities as much, but I’ll do my best with two recent viewings under my belt.
I almost shouldn’t need to tell you about the amazing stunt action sequences in this movie. They’re just a tidge famous at this point. The whole movie is basically one big chase sequence, and it ends in fantastic glory with the final oil tanker bit. It’s even more impressive for the way it was done. All stunt driving at actual speed and not a bit of green screen in the whole mess. With all of that going on they managed such detail in a production with such a low budget. All the vehicles used were fully functional, and every prop had thought behind it. It probably helped that the setting was post-apocalyptic so everything could and should look like crap. For an example, though, of the detail just look at Max’s clothes. He’s missing one sleeve on his jacket because they cut it off in the last movie to tend to his arm after it was run over by a motorcycle. Similarly he wears a leg brace because he was shot in the kneecap in the previous film. It amazes me to no end that little things like that were kept consistent between films when most films can’t keep their stuff straight between shots.
Indeed, I would say it’s the detail of the film that puts it at a place above many other action films. The detail and the quiet moments. There are quite a few of those quiet moments, because there really isn’t that much talking in the movie. Most of the stuff is communicated visually, and it’s extremely well done. The scene with the Gyro Captain and the dog fighting over the dog food can is one instance I can think of. The entire relationship between Max and the Feral Kid is another. Neither of them speak in those encounters, and yet there the relationship is. Formed with nothing but a hurdy-gurdy playing “Happy Birthday” and some facial expressions. That’s great filmmaking. (Yes I had to look up what that thing is. I wanted to call it a music box, but I knew that wasn’t right.)
The other thing I loved about the movie was the great cinematography. It’s not often in action movies that you can get these great wide open shots. Some of the locations they shot this on were quite scenic. The sky seems to go on forever at times, and gave me a sense not unlike how I felt standing in the Gobi Desert. Since I have the movie on Blu-Ray and don’t know how to screencap it, I’ll substitute one of the pictures I took there. I can do that because I’m in charge, you see.
I have a general weakness for that kind of stuff, as evidenced by the number of pictures I have like the one above. I appreciate that the film takes time out from the chases to be so visually interesting. Not just in the settings, but in the costumes and the characters we meet. Without much dialogue everyone has to be unique to look at so we keep track of who they are, and they do that very nicely. Though she never has a name, even in the credits, it’s not hard to know who “The Warrior Woman” is.
So there you have it. It’s a great movie and I’d say it’s a definite must-see. One last bit of advice is, if you have the ability, seek out the Blu-Ray of the movie. I’ve seen it so many times on TV and once or twice on DVD, but none of it can touch what they’ve done on the Blu version. I think these older movies are benefiting more from the format than the new ones, sometimes. With the new ones with great DVD masters it’s sometimes more subtle about where the improvements are. A side-by-side comparison will reveal exactly what’s up, but eyeballing it usually just tells you it looks better somehow. With this movie, even though it has been probably nearing on a couple years since I last saw it, I knew instantly that this version blasted the others with a shotgun. They must have cleaned up the original print. I hope this is a sign that the HD market will inspire more movies to get a restoration job that they probably should have already gotten. A bad print may fly on DVD, but on Blu-Ray studios have to do some work. I can’t see as that’s a bad thing.
Next up will be the start of my ravings about Godzilla, so watch for it. Catch you later.
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