Charles Webb" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Charles Webb
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Heart of Stone (2023)

      Charles Webb
      August 18, 2023
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Heart of Stone (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      August 18, 2023
    • Obstacle Corpse (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      July 20, 2023
    • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2023
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Charles Webb
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Charles Webb
      February 1, 2023
      News, Shot for Shot
    Recent
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 1, 2023
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Heart of Stone (2023)
  • Obstacle Corpse (2022)
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • The Flash (2023) / Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
  • Evil Dead Rise (2023)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
DVD/Blu-ray

Mad Max (1979) Blu-ray Review

Charles Webb
October 17, 2010
DVD/Blu-ray, Movies, Reviews, Shot for Shot

Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/psychodr/public_html/wp/wp-content/themes/valenti/library/core.php on line 1104

Director: George Miller
Writer: George Miller, James McCausland, Byron Kennedy (story)
Starring: Mel Gibson, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns
Release Date: April 12, 1979

Movie: 4.5 stars

Disc: 3.5 stars

Mad-Max-Blu-ray
First off, if you haven’t see Mad Max before and you’re the kind of person who frequents this site, I’d recommend that you remedy the former immediately. Go on, don’t let Mel Gibson’s presence scare you away—being crazy in his 50’s doesn’t wipe out all of the good works he’s done in his 30+ years as an actor.

Back? Cool, let’s talk Mad Max, which recently made its debut on blu-ray. The 1979 film (released in 1980 in the U.S.) was the precursor to the apocalyptic cheapies of the next decade, spanning everything from the Tim Thomerson 3D craziness of Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn (1983), to one of the movies I hate the most from the 80’s, Cherry 3000. Technically, the imitators were a response to the surprise success of Mad Max along with the all-out phenomenon that was The Road Warrior, but Max is the progenitor for the “dirt/leather/apocalypse”-genre. Everything in it forms the template for much of the apocalyptic fiction to follow: the fetishized clothing, the weirdly sexual villains, the lack of or ineffectual central authority.

Mad-Max-Poster
What’s surprising re-watching the movie for the first time in so many years is how briskly-paced the film is. Clocking in at 93 minutes, it wastes no time explaining whatever cataclysm broke down society (or at least Australia), barely has time for characterization, and really only has one line of motivation for most of the characters: revenge. Max (Gibson) and the other cops of the Main Force (the post-apocalyptic police in the film) are effectively at war with a biker gang led by Toecutter (Keays-Byrne), who rolls into the area after one of his gang members, the Night Rider, dies in the spectacular chase that opens the film. The whole thing is cyclical, you see—the cops were chasing Night Rider because he’d just killed some police officers.

Max is the most formidable and competent of the Main Force officers, fearless to the point of recklessness, but perhaps it’s because he’s the one with the most to lose if the bikers and the killers win: back home he has a wife and infant son, and the movie plays with the idea a bit that Max is about ready to pack it in. Max isn’t especially heroic, he’s just the most sane of all the characters, including the other cops, the bushido gear-wearing D.A., and of course, the bikers.

Here’s the trailer, so you can get some sense of how this utterly grim movie was presented to the world:

You’ll notice the American voice dubbing used in the trailer—apparently, until 2002 release of the DVD in the U.S., the movie was only available with the American dub. It’s interesting to reflect that Gibson would be able to make such a huge impression on American audiences without the benefit of his own voice in his breakout role. In truth, Max’s voice is the least interesting thing about him. He doesn’t have very many lines (that I can recall), and Gibson plays him at first with a devil-may-care attitude and in the final act with a dead-inside-and-you-will-be-too glower.

It’s also interesting that the trailer does a little bit of a bait and switch, underselling the nihilism of the movie. Despite being pretty brutal, it plays up the heroic image of Max and the other cops without a hint of the recklessness and madness that seems to inflict them in as near a measure as Toecutter and his gang.

This actually defines the pretty clear line drawn between Mad Max, its imitators, and even its own sequels. The latter are all action experiences focused on the usual stakes and quest template, while Max was—consciously or not—a grim statement of a moment in a conjectural future. Without really elaborating too much on the cause, it says quite definitely that at the end of the world, we’re all going to become animals, gnashing our teeth. The difference between the officers of the Main Force and Toecutter’s gang is really a matter of degrees. Both are about winning, but it’s the Main Force cops who are finally catching on that the rules of the game aren’t on their side anymore.

Mad-Max-Gun
The Presentation
Someone must have really cared about restoring the movie given the quality of the transfer. With only some minor exceptions the image is gorgeous, with color levels cranked up just enough to make some of the mean machines in the movie pop right off the screen.

It’s not an unqualified success: during some of the darker scenes, the grain levels tend to get a little out of hand, but I’d be surprised if the original materials used for this disc were much to work with.

Special Features

Disc 1 (blu-ray)
Mel Gibson: Birth of a Superstar
Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon
Original Theatrical Trailers
Commentary with cinematographer David Eggby, art director John Dowding, effects supervisor Chris Murray, moderated by Tim Ridge
Road Rants trivia track
Photo Gallery
TV Spots

The commentary is full of all kinds of trivia related to realizing the apocalypse on a shoestring budget. But most of the back and forth between Eggby and the rest of the crew tends to feel self-congratulatory and not especially insightful. I’ll cop to not being so hot on the commentary due to the absence of director George Miller. It would have been insightful to hear his thoughts on the movie 30 years after the fact, particularly given the energy he’s put into reviving the franchise for the new millennium.

The other features are ported from the 2002 disc and don’t really add all that much beyond condensing the experience of watching the film with the commentary track.

Disc 2 DVD
Commentary with cinematographer David Eggby, art director John Dowding, effects supervisor Chris Murray, moderated by Tim Ridge
Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon

(Visited 315 times, 1 visits today)
Mad Max (1979) Blu-ray Review
4.0Overall Score

Related

Charles WebbMad MaxMel Gibson

Batman on Film: Batman (1989)
Batman on Film: Batman Returns (1992)

About The Author

monsterid
Charles Webb
O.G. / Danger Man

Charles Webb has been providing pop culture criticism and new coverage for sites like Comics Bulletin, MTV, Twitchfilm, and Paste Magazine. A video game industry vet, he is a credited writer on multiple titles, most recently working at Microsoft Game Studios. Don't look too much into it, but he is a carbon-based hu-man.Twitterized: @TheCharlesWebb

Related Posts

  • Special (2009) DVD Review

    Charles Webb
    April 26, 2009
  • POPCORN CINEMA 27: PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL

    John E. Meredith
    June 11, 2016

Daily Top Ten

  • Uzumaki (2000)Uzumaki (2000) by Matthew Fantaci
  • If It Ain't Funk He Don't Feel It: Howard the Duck (1986)If It Ain’t Funk He Don’t Feel It:… by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Utopia 1.05Utopia 1.05 by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Jason Trost Needs Your Help to Create A World Without SuperheroesJason Trost Needs Your Help to Create A World… by Adam Barraclough
  • Doctor Who 6.07: "A Good Man Goes to War"Doctor Who 6.07: “A Good Man Goes to War” by Paul Brian McCoy
  • The Muppets (2011)The Muppets (2011) by Jessica Sowards
  • Drive-In Saturday: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)Drive-In Saturday: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Justified 6.09 “Burned”Justified 6.09 “Burned” by Thom V. Young
  • Lost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1940-49Lost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1940-49 by Scott Delahunt
  • Lost in Translation 138: Watership DownLost in Translation 138: Watership Down by Scott Delahunt
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Lost in Translation 435: Remaking Blue Thunder (1983)Lost in Translation 435: Remaking Blue Thunder (1983) by Scott Delahunt
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • Haunted House on Sorority Row (2014)Haunted House on Sorority Row (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary EditionNight of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition by Dan Lee
  • The Xeno File: The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)The Xeno File: The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979) by Serdar Yegulalp
  • Dungeons & D-Listers: Barbarian Queen (1985)Dungeons & D-Listers: Barbarian Queen (1985) by Alex Wolfe
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

Latest Reviews

  • Heart of Stone (2023)

    Nate Zoebl
    August 18, 2023
  • Obstacle Corpse (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    July 20, 2023
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    July 16, 2023

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 449: Gamera - Rebirth (2023)

Overall, Gamera: Rebirth takes the goofier aspects of the Gamera films and turns them into moments of awesome.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Gamera #GameraRebirth #Netflix
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E66 - De-Classified Debt

Greg and Jaren talk news, acquisitions, and balancing the budget when all your toys are arriving at the same time.
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#Anything Joes #GIJoe #GIJoeDeclassified #WrathOfCobra
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation - Defusing Bombs: Cutthroat Island (1995)

Cutthroat Island is worth a look, keeping in mind its weaknesses.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #CutthroatIsland #GeenaDavis #RennyHarlin #MatthewModine #FrankLangella
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E65 - Pyramid of Darkness (2): Rendezvous in the City of the Dead

Greg and Jaren continue their dive into the classic G.I. Joe mini-series Pyramid Of Darkness! 
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod gang at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeARealAmericanHero #PyramidOfDarkness
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 447: Batman: The Animated Series (1992)

Batman: the Animated Series demonstrates how to adapt a popular character without losing the character’s essence.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#Batman #BatmanTheAnimatedSeries #MarkHamill #KevinConroy #ArleenSorkin #WB #DC
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Heart of Stone Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Heart of Stone (2023)

It’s hard for me to envision anything Heart of Stone could offer that people would request a return visit.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#HeartOfStone #GalGadot #Netflix
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E64 - Pyramid of Darkness (1)

It's time! Greg introduces Jaren to the first episode of the iconic "Pyramid of Darkness" series from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero!
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys watch the cartoon at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #ARealAmericanHero #PyramidOfDarkness
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E63 - Kentuckiana 2023 

Greg and Jaren discuss the new layout, the vendors, and their recent acquisitions from attending The Kentuckiana G.I. Joe Toy Expo! 
---
Watch the new @AnythingJoesPod video at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #Kentuckiana #KentuckianaGIJoeToyExpo #GIJoe #Kentuckiana2023 #KentuckianaGIJoeToyExpo2023
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 446: Cowboy Bebop (2021)

One snag the live-action Cowboy Bebop has is trying too hard to look like the anime.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #CowboyBebop #Netflix #Sunrise #HajimeYatate #ShinichiroWatanabe #YokoKanno #Seatbelts #JohnCho #MustafaShakir #DaniellaPineda #AlexHassell #ElenaSatine
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Lost in Translation 449: Gamera – Rebirth (2023)

    Scott Delahunt
    September 22, 2023
  • Anything Joes: S01E66 – De-Classified Debt

    Greg Engle
    September 13, 2023
  • Lost in Translation 448 – Defusing Bombs: Cutthroat Island (1995)

    Scott Delahunt
    September 8, 2023

Look Who's Talking

Barbie Worldwide
Barbie Worldwide - 8/5/2023
Lost in Translation 429: The Barbie Movie Teaser
Barbie still in the driver's seat and the movie is speeding past a billion by August 7, 2023.
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/5/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 3.1: Zombie for Sale (2019)
Of course, I just woke up from an old-man nap and had a strong urination before reading this, so now...
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/3/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 1.1: I Am a Hero (2015)
Oh hell yeah. Looks like one more thing to add to my watch list.
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise