After the previous weekend’s brilliant double-bill of MAD MAX and ALIEN at Auckland’s beautiful Capitol cinema, I went back seven days later for a double-bill of the sequels.
It has a weird opening in 4:3 (which I didn’t remember), to allow for the stock newsreel footage they use, but they use a few hero shots of Mel in the same ratio and it looks super strange. Thankfully it extended to the full widescreen format after a couple of minutes.
I could do without some of the cranked-up footage, but the stunt work across this entire film is superb. Even the use of dummies when people get run over or crash is great. My only gripe with the film is how easily Max loses his car, ‘the last of the V-8 Interceptors’, given that it’s already been set up that he’s such a total badass. It feels out of character.
The score by Brian May (not that one) is perfect for the film it soundtracks, an extension of his work on the first film, all blaring horns and doom on the horizon. This particular release for Record Store Day 2019, on Spilt Oil On Sand splatter vinyl is beautiful.
I haven’t seen the film in such a long time, and it’s crazy how much MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is just a big-budget redo of it. I remember thinking that at the time, but it’s still clear as day. Even more so now that FURY ROAD is endlessly held up as such a perfect action film.
MAD MAX 2 is another one of those 1980s sequels that builds so much on the richness of its original film, joining the likes of EVIL DEAD 2, ALIENS, SUPERMAN II, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II, and others.
*THIS* is perfect, 30-odd years before FURY ROAD.
Hit: Main Title (The Road Warrior)
Hidden Gem: Confrontation