Amazon.com essential video: A strong candidate for the designation of most thrilling action movie ever made (the turbo-charged exhilaration of its full-throttle highway chases has never been equaled), the second part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic trilogy is also a magnificently imagined movie myth. Like the Star Wars trilogy (by that other George) the Mad Max films draw their inspiration from the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell. In the 1979 original, Max (Mel Gibson) is a policeman, the last guardian of civilization and order in a devastated world reduced to chaos. But when a leather-clad gang of sadomasochistic speed demons mows down Max's family, his remaining connections to humanity are also permanently severed. After brutally exacting his revenge, Max wanders off into the wasteland alone, "a burned out shell of a man" who (to paraphrase The Searchers) is destined to wander forever between the winds. In The Road Warrior, Max rediscovers a sliver of his shattered humanity, and a spark of redemption, when he helps an embattled colony of pioneers fight off the savages who are after that most precious of all commodities: "guzzline." Max is transformed into a legendary hero, just as Mel Gibson was catapulted to international movie stardom. With its final stirring images, The Road Warrior transcends its genre (whatever that may be--science fiction? Western? action adventure?) and becomes something timeless. It's a great movie. --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com: A strong candidate for the designation of most thrilling action movie ever made (the turbo-charged exhilaration of its full-throttle highway chases has never been equaled), the second part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic trilogy is also a magnificently imagined movie myth. Like the Star Wars trilogy (by that other George) the Mad Max films draw their inspiration from the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell. In the 1979 original, Max (Mel Gibson) is a policeman, the last guardian of civilization and order in a devastated world reduced to chaos. But when a leather-clad gang of sadomasochistic speed demons mows down Max's family, his remaining connections to humanity are also permanently severed. After brutally exacting his revenge, Max wanders off into the wasteland alone, "a burned out shell of a man" who (to paraphrase The Searchers) is destined to wander forever between the winds. In The Road Warrior, Max rediscovers a sliver of his shattered humanity, and a spark of redemption, when he helps an embattled colony of pioneers fight off the savages who are after that most precious of all commodities: "guzzline." Max is transformed into a legendary hero, just as Mel Gibson was catapulted to international movie stardom. With its final stirring images, The Road Warrior transcends its genre (whatever that may be--science fiction? Western? action adventure?) and becomes something timeless. It's a great movie. --Jim Emerson
Mad Max 2, in HD-DVD ROCKS!! This is the BEST version of the movie I have seen ( I bought it on VHS and DVD) and by-far this version beats them ALL hands down!! Too bad HD-DVD is no more, I guess I will buy it on Blu-Ray next!!
A great film ignored its greatness Did you also pop this into your player to find out the widescreen format is essentially full screen? How did that happen?
The Road Warrior was rated the ninth best film of the entire decade of the 1980's .... I was surprised too; hidden in an action story is .... [blank]. My screenwriting professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts passed around handouts: Number One was Raging Bull ... Nine, This (circa 1991). Which group of critics I cannot say, but it WAS a group. And if one of the best film schools in the country distributes word of such confidence for a film, and enough critics and film buffs over the years too, don't you think film studios would have some pride to restore it and make some non-flakey and non-adulatory documentary features seriously interested in TRW? How many films can boast this kind of following? And last and last? Don't the studios know how many of us WANT to buy a DVD version like Wez would w ... Oh yeah. He's missing fingers.
Similar congratulations go to the DVD cover.
"The last of the V-8 Interceptors..." "Great Mel before hammering in the nails of Jesus....post-apocalyptic goodness.....'walk away. I will let you live if you only walk away...'" PILATE: A Brutal Bible Tale
Can't beat the visual quallity I am not going to bore you with saying I know everything about quality and imperfections. Enjoy the movie. It doesn't get any better then this.
excellent movie This is a great flick. I have always been a fan of the Mad Max trilogy. Something about movies with fast cars....Bullitt is also one of my favorites.
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