The originalMad Maxis a low-budget, cult classic masterpiece that spawned one of the best action franchises ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its flaws, and those issues are even easier to see 45 years later. In just five movies,Mad Maxhas become one of the most recognizable and beloved action franchises in film. Everything about it, fromMad Max’s main villainsto the apocalypticworld ofMad Max, is a tenant of popular culture at large. The juggernaut of action thatMad Maxbecame is all due to the original film, but it’s not without flaws.
I’ve seen everyMad Maxmovie a dozen times, and I have a lot of love for the original film. There’s no overstating just what it did for action as a genre and movies as a whole, especially Australian cinema. Truly, the firstMad Maxwas a miracle, from its exceptionally low budget to its exceptionally high earnings, as well as the absolutely wonderful franchise it spawned. Even miracles can’t be perfect, though, and part of truly loving a movie is understanding how it could have been better. None of the problemsMad Maxhas made it anywhere near a bad film, but they’re worth discussing anyway.
Probably the biggest difference between the originalMad Maxand the rest of the series is the state of the world. In the later films, the world was very clearly a war-ravaged dystopia filled with people who were both desperate for survival and driven insane by the apocalyptic conditions.In the firstMad Max, however, there isn’t a very clear apocalyptic feel. The roads are filled with dangerous and deranged motorcycle gangs, but there’s still a dedicated police force, businesses like diners and mechanics are still open, and Max (Mel Gibson) and Jessie (Joanne Samuel) even take a vacation.
Who Killed The World In Mad Max
Mad Max is set in an apocalyptic world destroyed by a nuclear war over oil resources, while Mad Max: Fury Road emphasised the fight over water.
In many ways,Mad Maxplays more like a police drama than a post-apocalypse movie. That’s fine on its own, but nowadays theMad Maxfranchise is known almost exclusively for being set in a brutal wasteland.It’s hard to reconcile the first movie’s working hospitals and functional justice system with something likeFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga’s history men and organic mechanics. There’s such a divide that it almost feels like the firstMad Maxisn’t even part of the same series, which hasn’t helped it age as gracefully asMad Max 2: The Road Warriorhas.
A major part of theMad Maxfranchise is exploring the titular madness of its main character, Max Rockatansky. The firstMad Max, while it does show what caused Max to go mad, doesn’t actually devote much time to showing him being mad.Even after Jessie and Sprog’s death, Max doesn’t actually seem very insane. He does start torturing and mercilessly killing Toecutter’s (Hugh Keays-Byrne) men, but his rage rarely boils over. Max is cool as a cucumber for the final 20 minutes of the movie, and he runs bikers off the road and blows Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns) up with barely more than a flash of emotion.
If anyone in the original Mad Max fit the bill of being considered “mad,” it was Goose, not Max.
Max’s lack of madness is made even stranger by Jim Goose (Steve Bisley), who has a few scenes that show he’s much madder than Max. After Johnny the Boy was originally released from MFP custody, Max and Fifi (Roger Ward) had to physically restrain Goose to keep him from killing Johnny. In that scene, Goose was raving mad, nearly foaming at the mouth, and he hadn’t experienced half the trauma Max did.If anyone in the originalMad Maxfit the bill of being considered “mad,” it was Goose, not Max.
There Are Only 15 Minutes Where Max Is Anything But A Normal MFP Officer & Family Man
Max is not the most insane character in the movie, and a big reason for that is because he barely spends any time actually being “mad.” Jessie and Sprog die about an hour and 15 minutes intoMad Max, and the film is only an hour and 30 minutes long.For a movie literally titledMad Max, Gibson’s character only spends about 15% of the movie being mad. There’s simply not enough time for Max to truly convince the audience that he’s completely lost his mind.
Where Was The Original Mad Max Filmed? All Filming Locations Explained
George Miller’s Mad Max is a classic of the action genre, and Miller and company seized the state of Victoria, Australia, to make it memorable.
While the next three movies in theMad Maxfranchise would answer what Max’s madness actually looked like, it’s still a black mark against the first film that it didn’t answer such a question itself.It feels like just asMad Maxgets going and finally takes Max’s muzzle off, it ends. After so much buildup and all the tragedies Max endured, it would have been nice to get more time to bask in the transformation he experienced. Instead of diving into Max’s mental state and the effect killing Toecutter had on him, however,Mad Maxsimply cuts to the credits.
ThefirstMad Maxwas famously made on an absolutely bare-bones budgetof just 400,000 Australian dollars, or about 350,000 U.S. dollars.It’s certainly impressive that George Miller was able to start the entireMad Maxfranchise with such a small amount of money, but the limitations of that budget are sometimes plain to see in the original movie. Perhaps the clearest place the budget affects the film is in its action. Most of the chase scenes inMad Maxare just a handful of cars traveling down an empty highway in the Australian outback, aided by some very clearly sped-up footage.
Mad Max: The 15 Best Quotes From Max, In Chronological Order
Max Rockatansky is a movie legend, and these are his best quotes throughout all of the Mad Max films, in chronological order.
The firstMad Max’s budget is even worse in comparison to the rest of the franchise, but it was even bad in comparison to some of thebest low-budget action movies ever made.Mad Max’s budget, adjusted for inflation, would have been about $1.6 to $1.7 million today.For just a bit more money, films likeOldboy($3 million),Upgrade($3 million), andThe Raid($1.1 million) accomplished a lot more impressive action thanMad Maxdid. While those films had the benefit of being much more modern,Mad Max’s sometimes underwhelming action can’t be entirely blamed on its budget.
Particularly afterMad Max: Fury RoadandFuriosa, the franchise is known for high-octane, no-stop action. The firstMad Max, however, didn’t come close to the frenetic pacing of its later entries. Over half the film shows characters like Fifi or Toecutter talking about what they’re about to do rather than actually doing it.There’s also about 30 minutes between when Max decides to quit the MFP and when Jessie and Sprog actually died that could have benefited by being significantly trimmed down. It would be unrealistic to expectFury Road’s constant action out ofMad Max, but the original film still could have moved between scenes a bit more expeditiously.
It would be unrealistic to expect Fury Road’s constant action out of Mad Max, but the original film still could have moved between scenes a bit more expeditiously.
Toecutter’s gang also provides a bit of a pacing problem forMad Max. While some of the earlier scenes of the gang’s atrocities and their crimes against people traveling the roads were necessary to show how dangerous they were, they also could have happened more quickly.Mad Maxalso didn’t really need to establish their group dynamics so extensively, especially since Toecutter and Johnny the Boy were the only important members. The firstMad Maxis often criticized for dragging a bit, and that critique isn’t without merit.
5Max Got Out Of Some Tough Fights In A Somewhat Cheap Way
Max has two main battles on the road in the originalMad Max. The first was with the Nightrider inMad Max’s opening scene, and the second was with Toecutter towards the end.Despite being the main battles of the film, both the Nightrider’s and Toecutter’s deaths came about in dissatisfying ways. The Nightrider died because a truck had broken down behind a blind hill, and he didn’t have enough time to react, while Toecutter died because he took his eyes off the road and rammed into a truck. Essentially, all Max had to do was keep up with them until they killed themselves.
Mad Max: How Old Max Is In Every Movie
It is not easy to work out what age Mad Max is in The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, and Fury Road, but it can be done with some detective work.
The anticlimactic endings to Max’s biggest fights weakenMad Max. The Nightrider was supposed to demonstrate how Max was a significantly better officer than the other members of the MFP, and establish why Fifi did everything he could to keep him around. All it really proved, however, was that Max could drive faster than the rest of the MFP.Toecutter’s death was also the main emotional payoff ofMad Max, yet Max didn’t get to take his revenge himself. A random truck got that pleasure instead, and it weakened Max’s tale of revenge.
The originalMad Maxactually was a bit ahead of the time in the way it treated women in 1979. Jessie was able to take charge and protect both Sprog and herself from Toecutter’s gang, at least initially, and May (Sheila Florance) even put a shotgun in the main antagonist’s face and trapped the gang for a moment.The female characters inMad Maxwere much more capable than a lot of the film’s contemporaries, but that doesn’t change the fact that Jessie’s entire purpose is to die. Her character exists only to show what Max lost and explain why he went mad.
A lot of books, shows, and movies fridged female characters both before and after Mad Max, but that doesn’t excuse creating a female character solely to enhance a male character’s story.
Jessie’s death inMad Maxis an example of"fridging," comic’s worst trope. Fridging, also known as the “women in refrigerators” trope, is a problem because female characters are often given no depth or substantial development in favor of giving male leads a dark backstory.A lot of books, shows, and movies fridged female characters both before and afterMad Max, but that doesn’t excuse creating a female character solely to enhance a male character’s story. It looks even worse in hindsight, consideringFuriosa is the current face of theMad Maxfranchise.
One of the ways George Miller has explained the lack of a coherentMad Maxtimelineis to say that the films are retellings of folklore from the Wasteland, and that “the Road Warrior” isn’t Max Rockatansky, but rather a series of legendary heroes.That’s a fascinating and unique way to explain why there isn’t much continuity betweenMad Maxfilms - and why Max is capable of such legendary feats - but it doesn’t fit with the first movie. In fact, it makes the folk lore idea ofMad Maxharder to accept.
George Miller has said he was inspired by the receptionMad Maxhad around the globe and decided to view it as a folk tale. In Japan, audiences viewed Max as a samurai, in Scandinavia, as a Viking, and in the United States as a cowboy.
The originalMad Maxdoesn’t feel like a folk tale in the same way the later films do, and it makes it harder to believe his name was used for a common hero.All Max really does in the first film is wipe out a handful of bikers, whereas inThe Road Warriorhe takes on an entire gang almost single-handedly, and inFury Roadhe escorts the War Rig halfway across the continent. IfMad Maxis supposed to be the origin story of a legend that was retold and modified across the Wasteland, then Max isn’t a very legendary folk hero.
As the first film in a series of five movies, a handful of comics, and two video games,Mad Maxis a great start. As a prequel toThe Road Warrior, however, it flounders. At the end ofMad Max, Max is enraged and drives into the Outback in a slightly dystopian Australia. At the start ofThe Road Warrior, Max is still driving, but he’s now nearly silent and working his way through the wreckage of the world.Mad Maxcould have set up the rest of George Miller’s vision better, but it left a huge amount of world building and Max’s character development for the unseen space between movies.
Mad Max: The Wasteland
Release Date TBA
A big reason Miller’s folklore idea is so convincing is becauseMad Maxand the rest of the franchise feel so utterly disconnected.A big reason they feel so disconnected is because Miller went in an entirely different direction withThe Road Warriorand every subsequent movie, and the vision he went on to put on screen was barely hinted at inMad Max. Unfortunately, the entire franchise would have benefited by showing a bit of how Max became the Road Warrior and how the world died, rather than jamming it all into a quick (but still iconic) narrated recap at the start of the second movie.
Max’s MFP Roots Are Never Explored Again, He Never Mentions Jessie Or Sprog, & The Sequels Seemed To Forget About The Original
Mad Maxdoesn’t connect well toThe Road Warrior, but it is still the basis of the entire franchise and the start of the legend of Max Rockatansky. Unfortunately, the franchise seems to have forgotten how importantMad Maxwas.After 45 years and four new movies, there have only been a handful of references to the originalMad Max. TheMFP died out almost immediately inMad Max, Jessie and Sprog were never even mentioned again, and even the world itself seems to forget that just a few years prior there were working hospitals and legitimate police forces.
Every Mad Max Movie, Ranked Worst To Best
George Miller has made five Mad Max movies in the post-apocalyptic franchise, but their quality can vary. The Mad Max movies ranked reveals the best.
Part of the reason the franchise forgot aboutMad Maxwas unintentional.Lord Humungus' scrapped backstorywas supposed to reveal that he was Jim Goose, and his bandit gang would have been revealed as the remnants of the MFP.That isn’t the story thatThe Road Warriorpresented, though, and the rest of the films never even tried to circle back to Max’s roots. It is clear that the franchise outgrew the originalMad Maxvery quickly, but for such a beloved and influential movie to be forgotten entirely is still a harsh reality to face.
Mad Max
Cast
Mad Max is a 1979 sci-fi action film from director and writer George Miller. Mel Gibson stars as Max a police officer in the future who goes after a gang of vicious motorcycle thugs. The film led to a long-running franchise including The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, Fury Road, and Furiosa.
