Monday, June 14, 2010

Mel Gibson Stars In Mad Max Two

By Phoebe Skinner

The Road Warrior, known as Mad Max 2 in Australia, is, simply put, one of the all time classics. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest action stories ever put to film and, perhaps, one of the all time great films, period. It is sort of the action film answer to Citizen Kane or Casablanca. The movie is well crafted and the story well told. Even with the breakneck pace and chaos within the story, the movie remains clear and coherent the whole way through, and is one of the all time must download movies.

There aren't many movies that work so well as action movies while being one of those films you might consider to be one of the greatest ever made. However, the film is just so incredibly strong on so many levels that you have to recognize how good it is as a film regardless of whether or not you're usually a big fan of action flicks.

If you haven't seen it, and somehow have no idea what it's about: Mad Max Rockatansky is a former cop wandering a wasted outback in Australia. Food and water have become scarce after World War III, as has gasoline. Max is trying to find enough resources just to keep himself alive from day to day as he wanders across the wasteland.

Throughout the previous film, Max lost touch with his humanity, becoming just as cruel and ruthless as the villains he pursued. This time, he needs to take a chance at redemption and at getting in touch with his humanity once more by getting involved once more with society, or what's left of it.

The movie is, really, one big chase scene. It stops here and there just long enough for the viewer to catch his or her breath. A lesser movie might have grown boring with this structure, having sacrificed story and character for chase scenes. However, The Road Warrior uses action to tell the story, to develop character. This is how the old westerns did it, and it's too bad that this structure isn't really used anymore.

In the end the movie is really a statement on heroism, delving into Joseph Campbellian mythological structure and coming up with what many Australians consider to be "Star Wars Down Under". It's certainly one of the most successful films to ever come out of that country, and is still considered a national treasure of the Australian cinema all these decades later.

The movie is, really, a classic western in a new setting. It belongs on the same shelf as Stagecoach as one of the all time great examples of how the classic John Ford and Howard Hawks westerns developed their own stories.

The movie is loud, fast and aggressive, full of insane characters and crazy stunts (several stuntmen almost died, in fact). It may well be one of the greatest films ever made for storytelling and craftsmanship, and if not, it's certainly one of the all time great action films, and certainly worth a watch whether or not you're usually an action fan. It's definitely one to see before you die, and if you haven't seen it yet, you want to ASAP.

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