Definitely gives off "we ran out of budget" vibes in the third act but overall an absurd directorial debut. The score goes insanely hard! I spent the whole movie thinking "Well yeah, obviously Brian May of Queen would turn out something this phenomenal" and then I checked Wikipedia afterwards and it was a different Brian May

i find this movie fascinating in a metatextual sense more than i actually enjoy it; the structure is insane, with a climax that feels like the inciting incident and makes the whole movie feel like a prequel. the fact that it made $100 million is baffling until you watch the making of doc on the disc and realize the car action is another case of “this thing only seems pretty good because it essentially invented something you see all the time now.” the movie was inspired by george miller’s morbid experiences as a doctor. it cost $400,000. so many of the stunts were just them going “this is gonna be dangerous but do it anyway.” it’s honestly awesome to see so many of miller’s trademarks fully formed right out of the gate, and to realize that budgets have not squashed any of his ingenuity, only accelerated it. also why does the baby have a gun for one shot

52/100

What a strange film this is. Structurally, it makes little sense: The opening sequence (which is far and away the zenith) introduces Max as an iconic badass, defined by his shades, clothes, and silence; then he's immediately revealed as a perfectly ordinary family man, sensitive and conscientious (wait what?); then the movie proceeds to methodically turn him back into the iconic badass it had already established in the first few minutes. Even ignoring that circular arc, though, this feels like a very bloated origin story—an entire movie fashioned from what ought to have been the first 35 minutes or so of a much better movie. Gee, I wonder what the much better movie in question might look like? (Gonna revisit that very shortly.) A promising dry run, but I'm baffled by folks like Dan Sallitt who find actual greatness in its roughly 1:5 ratio of formally impressive mayhem to deeply awkward melodrama.

average day in Queensland

living in the post apocalypse and still
logging movies on letterboxd for 0 likes. the grind never stops. it’s a mindset

After only seeing Fury Road before this I didn’t expect everyone to be so.... normal?

The birth of madness. A movie where the shoestring budget is an asset because every crash feels like calamity (for the character and the production itself). 

But also, a strange movie. The whiplash of seeing the seeds of a road warrior being planted and then cut to Max spending quality time with his family is comically jarring, but I suppose it does make for a more effective ending.

A riveting and minimalist action film of bare-bone badassery and primal rage; George Miller's Mad Max is the one that started it all, and after all these years, It still remains one of the best low-fi experiences that you can have. Miller's directing, Cliff Hayes and Tony Paterson's editing, David Eggby's cinematography, and Brian May's score all comes together into a type of visual shock treatment. You can smell the gasoline radiating off of the screen, and in spite of some rough patches with the pacing and some budget constraints, Mad Max continues to be a dazzling ride.

Oh, and Mel Gibson is a badass.

A remarkable document of ingenuity and style. It takes Max nearly 75 minutes to go mad and the whole time we're waiting and waiting and waiting until something terrible arrives. This one has a lot in common with Furiosa, maybe the most of any of the five films.

the people who write descriptions for movies on netflix need to be "put through a dark experience". had never seen this before and the fuckin netflix description says "a malicious gang murders Max's family". that doesnt happen until an hour and 15 minutes into the movie! theres like 20 minutes left when they kill his wife! should be illegal. how hard can it be to write a spoiler free description.
"Max brings his own special brand of madness to the Australian wasteland. Nobody is safe as he takes cancel culture head on."
"Cars? Check. Australia? Check. Guy named Max? Check. This post-apocalyptic landscape is about to get crazy."
"Welcome to Australia. Population: Mad Max."
^ heres some freebies you fucking idiots