Film Review: MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)

Co-writer/Director: George Miller
Running time: 91 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

USA release date: 28th April 1982

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 1st August 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I remember seeing this film on VHS video at a friend’s house almost 30 years ago. At the time I was most impressed with the action sequences and with the futuristic setting of the story. Since then I have seen it a few times, but for the first time I watched it today with a different perspective. Here’s a bit about the plot and then I’ll tell you what I mean.

The story follows on from the 1979 film Mad Max, also directed by George Miller. I won’t go through the events that happened there, but I will tell you that former cop, Max, is now wandering the wastelands, a lawless desert. Here, after a run-in with some scavengers, he comes across The Gyro Captain, the pilot of a gyro-copter. He tells Max of a compound in the middle of the desert where the people there are pumping oil and refining it. With fuel being the most valuable commodity in the wastelands, Max is very interested in this place. They go there to find it under siege by the same scavengers that Max had a run-in with earlier. They are led by a character known as The Humungus. Max makes his way into the compound where he discovers they have a tanker but no truck to drive it. He has seen one out on the road and makes a deal for as much fuel he can carry, if he can retrieve it. I won’t say any more, I think that’s enough to whet your appetite.

Although it does look a little dated, this is still a very well made film. It’s not perfect by any means, but the stunt work, the acting and the humour all stand up today. It is not heavy on dialogue, but I could not fault any of the performances, so honourable mentions go to; Mel Gibson as Mad Max Rockatansky, Bruce Spence as The Gyro Captain, Michael Preston as Pappagallo, Max Phipps as The Toadie, Vernon Wells as Wez, Kjell Nilsson as The Humungus and Emil Minty as The Feral Kid.

I talked about perspective at the beginning and I think I should explain what I mean. Since I have been putting my thoughts online, for just over a year now, I have found that I watch films with a more critical eye. What I mean is I pay more attention to how they make me feel, to how they are made and to whether I find them entertaining.

So, I found Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior to have a lot more humour in it than I remember, although some of the stunts didn’t quite work and you can see where the action has been sped up to cover for this. Having said that, the story is great and it is told in a very clever way with just the right balance of humour and drama in and amongst the action. Entertaining throughout, and, given the limitations the filmmakers had at the time, a very well made and ambitious film. Over all, I loved it when I first saw it, and love it just as much today! Recommended.

My score: 7.8/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi1895039769/

Film Review: EDGE OF DARKNESS (2010)

Director: Martin Campbell
Running time: 117 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Watched at the cinema Saturday 30th January 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This film is based on a mini-series made by the BBC in 1985 which was directed by a certain Martin Campbell. I remember the series very well, partly for a stellar performance from Bob Peck and partly for an excellent score from Eric Clapton amongst others. Of course, the story has been updated and locations have been changed to make it more commercial, but the basics of it are still there.

Thomas Craven is a Boston detective and his daughter has come to pay him a visit. He lives on his own and it’s quite apparent that his daughter, Emma, is not well. They are just leaving the house to go and see a doctor when a man drives up and shoots Emma, fatally wounding her. The police assume that Thomas was the intended target and he, of course, is mortified at the loss of his daughter. He looks into his current cases but can find no reason for anyone to want him out of the way. And so he begins to look into his daughter’s life. He goes to see her boyfriend who is very paranoid and refuses to tell him anything, but he does give him the keys to her apartment. There he finds a Geiger counter and discovers that she had been exposed to radiation. Thomas is visited by the enigmatic Jedburgh, a man employed by the US government to cover things up. He tells Craven that his daughter was the intended target of the assassin and that it has something to do with her work at a company called Northmoor, run by Jack Bennett. Taking matters into his own hands, Craven now begins his own investigation into Northmoor and this leads to a discovery that could bring down the government.

This film is well made; however, I feel that it worked better on TV. I was fine with the relocation and the updates to the narrative but I did feel that it was all a bit rushed towards the end. Maybe there will be an extended director’s cut that will be more to my liking. Having said that, there were some very good performances, Mel Gibson as Thomas Craven, Ray Winstone as Jedburgh, Danny Huston as Jack Bennett and Bojana Novakovic as Emma Craven.

I don’t quite know how I feel about the performance of Mel Gibson in this one. One minute he’s moody and distraught and the next he’s kicking ass or playing it like the charming Riggs from the Lethal Weapon films. It was good to see him on the big screen again though, after a bit of a break. Over all, quite a slow paced and very dark thriller, it’s had mixed reviews, but I quite liked it. The TV version, I feel, was better, but if you haven’t seen that, then this is a decent attempt to put the story on the big screen.

My score: 7.8/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1226273/
Official Site: http://edge-of-darkness.warnerbros.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi2723086873/