First Mad Mad, what's the appeal?

The first mad max is really different from the other films in my opinion, but you have to remember this happens before the nuclear disasters, so it's obviously not post apocalyptic. They did a good job for the budget but I tend to find it a bit more boring than the others. The evil guy was interesting and I liked the revenge part. Mostly the last 30 min of the movie was good to me, as you start to feel empathy for the main character.

There's something that bothered me in fury road though, it is that Max barely talk, you only hear him grown or moan. I wish there would be more interaction with Max, he was quite chatty in the first 3 films, no? x)
 
The first mad max is really different from the other films in my opinion, but you have to remember this happens before the nuclear disasters, so it's obviously not post apocalyptic. They did a good job for the budget but I tend to find it a bit more boring than the others. The evil guy was interesting and I liked the revenge part. Mostly the last 30 min of the movie was good to me, as you start to feel empathy for the main character.

There's something that bothered me in fury road though, it is that Max barely talk, you only hear him grown or moan. I wish there would be more interaction with Max, he was quite chatty in the first 3 films, no? x)
He's actually not talkative at all in the other ones. Years ago I remember hearing that Gibson only had like, 21 lines of dialogue in the road warrior.

The thing is, we have to remember that what we're bearing witness to is a tribal society. Much of max's life is spent alone. Interaction with people is very rare. Everyone has been driven mad.
 
He's actually not talkative at all in the other ones. Years ago I remember hearing that Gibson only had like, 21 lines of dialogue in the road warrior.

The thing is, we have to remember that what we're bearing witness to is a tribal society. Much of max's life is spent alone. Interaction with people is very rare. Everyone has been driven mad.

Yeah I guess it might have gotten worse throughout the years, he still interact more in the trilogy. But yeah I guess he does only when he has important things to say x)
 
Uh...what?

Spoiler alert!!!

JK

JK = a common internets abbreviation for 'just kidding', you see, because Mad Max is a classic film, seen by many, often more than once. Therefore an actual 'spoiler' would be rather unlikely. Thus making my former statement something of a 'joke', hopefully.
Feel free to rip my punctuation, I'm sure it's terrible, love, Jason
 
...It might -- might, mind you -- be worth a rewatch...
I don't disagree. My opinions of certain movies have changed over the years--some for the better, others for the worse. Worst case scenario would be that my opinion doesn't change...
Timing is everything. Mad Max was on two or three days ago (the version with the Australian voices), so I recorded it and watched it again last night. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it being, but it wasn't much better either; certainly no worse than a lot of low-budget American-made "car chase" movies from the 1970s. Except for the music--obnoxious and far too heavy-handed. If I didn't know better I'd swear they raided the Hammer Films music library. :lol Also, in my opinion they got the ending backwards. Toecutter was the main villain, so he should have been the one left to choose between getting blown up or cutting off his foot with the hacksaw instead of Johnny.
 
I like the ending better with it being Johnny.

Toecutter was such a fully-formed & uncompromising MoFo that you can't really relate to him. So the predicament Max puts him in wouldn't resonate as strongly. I mean, you'd half expect Toecutter to just merrily hack his foot off & come chasing after Max on crutches a few hours later. With Johnny at the end you can imagine yourself in his shoes (shoe?) a little better.
 
I actually think it makes max more of a badass to kill toecutter and then keep going until they're all dead.

If he got to toecutter last it would feel too much like a boss fight. This is more chaotic. He's taking them out as they come.
 
Fair enough. It's not everyone's cup of tea.
True, but re-watching and re-evaluating it did give me some insight and understanding with regards to why some people like it so much, so I suppose that's a positive thing. Besides, I'm absolutely certain there are movies I like that others hold in extremely low regard, so it all evens out. As I've said before, the world would be an awfully boring place if everyone liked everything equally.

I like the ending better with it being Johnny.

Toecutter was such a fully-formed & uncompromising MoFo that you can't really relate to him. So the predicament Max puts him in wouldn't resonate as strongly. I mean, you'd half expect Toecutter to just merrily hack his foot off & come chasing after Max on crutches a few hours later. With Johnny at the end you can imagine yourself in his shoes (shoe?) a little better.
I actually think it makes max more of a badass to kill toecutter and then keep going until they're all dead.

If he got to toecutter last it would feel too much like a boss fight. This is more chaotic. He's taking them out as they come.
Good points, and something I hadn't considered. You win. :D
 
Was Toecutter the main bad guy? Johnny was so out of control even Toecutter had trouble reigning him in. Johnny's the one we see do the most reprehensible things. I feel like saving Johnny til last was perfectly fitting.

What a lean, mean movie Mad Max is. Still the best of the franchise, imo.
 
True, but re-watching and re-evaluating it did give me some insight and understanding with regards to why some people like it so much, so I suppose that's a positive thing. Besides, I'm absolutely certain there are movies I like that others hold in extremely low regard, so it all evens out. As I've said before, the world would be an awfully boring place if everyone liked everything equally.

Yeah, no argument there!

Was Toecutter the main bad guy? Johnny was so out of control even Toecutter had trouble reigning him in. Johnny's the one we see do the most reprehensible things. I feel like saving Johnny til last was perfectly fitting.

Here's the thing. Toecutter, in my opinion, was absolutely the main bad guy, because he was the one holding Johnny's leash. He was the one working Johnny up. Johnny was stupid, weak, and crazy. Toecutter used all of that to mold him into a madman. He couldn't always control him perfectly, but Johnny was like Toecutter's dog.

You actually see this theme in all of the films in the series: the manipulation of people to turn them towards violence that serves a powerful person. Toecutter, Humungous, Auntie Entity, Immortan Joe, all of them control weaker people and turn them to violence. Then they come across Max, and he turns the tables on them.

I do agree that killing Johnny last showed Max to have basically given up his humanity. He could've let Johnny go, although by that point Johnny was too far gone to be trusted to reform. He'd just keep killing people. He could've killed Johnny quickly and cleanly. A shotgun to the head, a knife to the throat, whatever. Instead, he tortured Johnny, knowing he'd die either way. To me, the scene with Max driving off as the vehicle behind him explodes is basically the most gritty, because Max has a choice in the matter and chooses probably one of the worst deaths for Johnny that he could've.
 
Many good points there.

As for who is the real bad guy: Darth Vader commits a lot more onscreen violence than the Emperor.
 
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