This was the film which helped to kick start the entire post-apocalyptic wave of films which swept the world in the early '80s along with the sequel. Director George Miller uses every penny of the admittedly low budget to really deliver us the goods when it comes to action. There are lots of chase sequences and crashes, both motorbikes and cars. The large cult following is mainly down to the various high-powered vehicles on show, especially the special nitro-fuelled super car that Gibson uses at the end of the film to track down the enemies.

However I was surprised at the pacing of the film. It starts off well but things slow down a little in the middle, with not much happening at all. For instance, Gibson actually only becomes 'mad' right at the end of the film, for fifteen minutes, and half an hour is taken up with unnecessary dialogue and scene building with unimportant characters. It's not bad but not gripping either; I guess Miller was still learning the ropes. The plot is nothing new, and the futuristic setting only serves to make a little difference from the old revenge theme, used so much in Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and films with about a hundred other action stars.

The acting is all amateurish on the part of the biker gang, and real bikers were actually used as extras. The main baddie just seems too soft to be really scary, although the unusual characters are interesting to watch. I suppose that with Gibson being the only 'name' star (and he wasn't back then, either),the acting is forgivable. At least it's adequate and the actors and actresses acquit themselves with their respective parts well. Gibson, who went on to become a huge success with the LETHAL WEAPON films, is good in the part of Max, and it's surprising to see (well, hear) how strong his Aussie accent was back then.

The film is worth watching due to the eccentricity of the characters. MAD MAX is full of oddball people, familiar to viewers of low-budget cult Australian films like RAZORBACK and DEATH WARMED UP. The comedy aspect is also high, with lots of laughs and jokes thrown in with the action. However action fans should go for MAD MAX 2, as it serves up a lot more action a lot more satisfyingly. I found this film to be not as good as I'd hoped, but different enough to be interesting, and the revenge formula certainly works despite the obvious budgetary constraints.

It's a dystopian future 'a few years from now'. A group of cops Main Force Patrol maintain the law on the roads in the wastelands of Australia. Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is the best of them all. It's a vision of violent social decay in the near future where anything goes. A biker gang descends on the area wrecking havoc. They rape and brutalize a young couple. Johnny the Boy is too high to leave the scene and is arrested. When nobody is willing to testify, he is let off. The gang attacks the cops and even Max's family. Enraged, he seeks revenge on the bike gang.

This is simply a fun action movie. The car chases and stunts are visceral and powerful. There are explosions, car wrecks, and motorcycle crashes. It's a gear head's fantasy. There is an outsider cool vibe about this movie even today. It also introduced Mel Gibson to most of the world. It reminds me of other biker movies like 'The Wild One' except more violent with better action. It is grotesque in the best sense. The avenging Mad Max doesn't stop.

"Mad Max" is an Australian movie from over 35 years ago and it was the big breakthrough for Mel Gibson, here in his early 20s. The multi talented artist that becomes 60 next year has starred in an uncountable number of films since then, won many awards, including 2 Oscars for "Braveheart", and was among Hollywood's biggest names until his demise a while ago. Gibson is probably among the biggest Australians in film history, just like Mad Max is one of the most known Australian films. The writer and director is George Miller and he has a pretty unique body of work. Mad Max is maybe his most known work, but if not, then it would be the animated penguin movie "Happy Feet", for which he also won an Academy Award. Miller turned 70 this year, so he was in his mid-30s when he made "Mad Max" and just this year, he returned to the franchise and made a really successful (with audiences and critics) new installment called "Fury Road". The title character is not played by Gibson anymore, but instead Tom Hardy took over. At least Gibson played him in the 2 sequels back in the 1980s.

But back to this movie here: It is not very long, only 90 minutes without credits and has Gibson play a police officer in a world run by crime and vicious motorbike gangs. One of these is lead by the mysterious Toecutter and he is also the main antagonist in the movie. They keep committing crimes all the time, rob people, murder other people, rape women etc. Ruthless criminals. Things get personal quickly. When a fellow police officer who tried to arrest them is almost killed and mutilated for life by the gang, Max decides to retire from the force before his anger drives him either mad or makes him a criminal as well. But the suffering isn't over as the next targets of the gang are Max' girl and their child. This is too much for him and his bloody, ruthless revenge cannot be stopped anymore and in the last 15 minutes, he really unleashes on the bad guys. No mercy. All in all, a pretty good atmospheric movie with no real moments of greatness nonetheless. Still, I recommend it and it got me motivated to watch the sequels soon perhaps and also the new movie. Thumbs up.