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| Mad Max 2 (1981) |
Right off the bat, one of this film's biggest saving graces is that in the very first 5 minutes it addresses a criticism I had with the original movie: that it didn't explain how the world came to be this way. This film clears all that up with its opening narrated montage, and a simple thing like that goes a long way towards granted this movie and its world some legitimacy. It's a small matter, but understanding the origins of a world like this really help us suspend our disbelief and accept what's going on. It also happens to be somewhat relevant to the story, so I'm glad they cleared things up. Another thing this movie does to help fix the original somewhat is to clarify a couple of things about the ending of the previous movie. As you may remember, the original Mad Max ends on a surprisingly abrupt note, and doesn't resolve several key plot threads. This film clears the air on certain matters a little, and what's great about that is even though those matters mean very little to the story of this film, they still resolve those issues in a small amount of time, so that we get our answers but can also focus on the new movie.
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| Mel Gibson as "Mad" Max Rockatansky |
Talking about this film's story, it's actually a thankfully simple premise. There aren't a whole lot of layers here; it's basically an under-siege story but in a wasteland. This is actually a good thing, since the previous film had so many plot threads that it needed to drop certain ones halfway through and leave them unresolved, which was another issue I had with it. Keeping the story simple allows us to focus on the things that matter. The story that's being told here also lends itself to Max's arc rather nicely, and his story here is an interesting one, especially given where we left him in the previous movie. What I love about this is how natural it feels. Typically with a story like this, there'd be that point where the hero is heading off, but then looks behind him and says, "Damn it", and turns around, but there's no moment like that here; a testament to the clever writing at play. He doesn't learn his lesson by himself, he's almost passively taught a lesson by the people around him, and it's more of a subtle change of mindset than you'd normally get with this kind of story.
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| Bruce Spence as the Gyro Captain |
The acting is once again top-notch. There are no big over-the-top performances that you absolutely adore like the Nightrider in the previous film, and part of me does miss it, but nevertheless, everyone plays their parts well here. I think my favourite newcomer is Bruce Spence as the Gyro Captain. Maybe it's because we spend the most time with him, and more on that later, but he's got the most range out of anyone else here. He also provides some genuinely funny comic-relief at times, which is welcome given the kind of movie this is. The only other noteworthy newcomer is Emil Minty as the Feral Kid. Typically, when a child actor plays a feral child, they're too over-the-top and not convincing at all, but Minty does a great job here. I think it just comes down to his mannerisms and reactions to things; I can believe that this kid was raised in a wasteland. It's something that I wasn't expecting when I saw him show up with that metal boomerang. I believe I rolled my eyes and went, "Oh, great", but I was genuinely impressed by the end. He didn't do a lot of acting in his career, which is kind of upsetting, since I really would've hoped he'd have become a big name at some point. Ah, well, I hope he's happy as a jeweller now.
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| Emil Minty as the Feral Kid |
Alright, so what didn't I like? Well, while this film was certainly much better paced than the previous film, I do feel like it took a while to get going. Once we get to Max and the Gyro Captain observing the carnage from the hill, that's when the film really picked up for me, and it was a bit of a slog to get through that first 15 minutes, especially for a 90 minute movie. Speaking of which, I really felt like this movie could have been a little longer. We meet a lot of really unique characters in the settlement, but I don't feel like we ever really got to know any of them, which is a big problem considering the final chase scene. If we'd have spent just a little more time getting to know them at the settlement before Max leaves, I think some of the payoff could have been a lot better.
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| Kjell Nilsson as Lord Humungus |
These concerns didn't amount to much overall, as Mad Max 2 (1981) was a fantastic movie in the end. In terms of a leap in quality from original movie to sequel, this is the best I've seen so far, and I hope these films just keep improving at the same rate from here. 9/10.
Tomorrow: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
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