Tag Archives: Max

Jun 4 2024

The Mad Max Films Ranked

Given the poor box office performance of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, it is likely this will be the final film in the Mad Max franchise for a good while. Hopefully, the film will have a second life on home media/streaming which could lead to the production of Mad Max: The Wastelands, which was based on background material that George Miller wrote when making Mad Max: Fury Road. In any event, for now we will only have five films in the Mad Max franchise and so it is time to rank the films. It is interesting to see how far the films have come from a low-budget independent film way back in 1979 to topnotch Hollywood-funded productions. Here we go, and be sure to leave a comment on the rankings or with your own preferences.

5. Mad Max (1979)

The first film in the Mad Max Saga is also the most unlike the typical Mad Max film we have come to expect. The near-future world of Mad Max largely resembles our own, except that it is running down as lawlessness has become more and more prevalent. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky, a police officer in the struggling Main Force Patrol (MFP), who is dedicated to maintaining order in the wild highways Down Under. It isn’t until the last fifteen minutes of the film that Max becomes the ruthless anti-hero that we know and love. The film would have been improved if Max left the MFP much sooner and his family was killed earlier on so we could have had more scenes of Gibson as Mad Max.

The fact that it takes so long for the film to get going is why it ranks last. It is a decent origin film that shows us how Max was a decent family man, but even at 90 minutes, the film drags at many places. It features a lot of the impressive car stunts and chases that George Miller improved upon in the later films and Gibson was so magnetic in his portrayal of Max, so it cannot be written off. After all, the popularity of Mad Max helped pave the way for greatness.

4. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

The first half of the third Mad Max film was quite enjoyable and captivating. Mad Max is reduced to a nomadic wanderer in the barren desert wastelands of Australia in his broken-down car that is now pulled by camels. The car is stolen by an airborne raider played by Bruce Spence, who portrayed a similar character in The Road Warrior; yes, it’s kind of confusing and a definite sign that continuity was not a strong suit for these films. Max tracks his vehicle to a settlement called Bartertown run by Aunty Entity (Tina Turner, who was surprisingly great in her role). To win his car and his freedom, Mad Max is forced to fight to the death in a gladiatorial match in Thunderdome. After he breaks the rules in the deathmatch, Max is banished to the desert and is eventually rescued by a band of young children who see him as a messianic figure.

The film suffers greatly when Max meets the young refugees from the Lord of the Flies since this storyline of Max mistaken for being their savior clashes with the Bartertown storyline. The second half of the film slows down and takes on a strangely goofy tone that belonged in an adventure film geared towards kids. Not even the derivative chase scene at the end involving a train could salvage this film, which should have been split into two different films.

3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

The world of Mad Max finally expanded beyond Max himself in this prequel that tells the story of Furiosa, the breakout character from Mad Max: Fury Road. Aside from a brief cameo, Mad Max does not appear in the film, but it still feels like a Mad Max film. The film is more sprawling and epic in scope than the average Mad Max film as it takes place across years, as Furiosa is seen developing from a young innocent girl into a vicious warrior in adulthood.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth turn in exceptional performances as Furiosa and her nemesis, Dementus. The production design and other technical aspects of the film are exceptional as is George Miller’s direction. It isn’t as good as Mad Max: Fury Road due to some questionable CG, and although it’s exciting it cannot match the desperate pace of Mad Max: Fury Road that kept us on the edge of our seats. Still, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an exciting and great entry in the Mad Max franchise.

2. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

The first sequel to Mad Max definitely set the bar (so high) and the template for a classic Mad Max film with pulse-pounding, kinetic car chases, neo-medieval battles in the desert, Western tropes and little dialogue. The film was originally released in 1981 in Australia as Mad Max 2, then released in the United States a year later and renamed The Road Warrior. Nowadays, it is known as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, but whatever it’s called. it’s one of the best sci-fi action films of all time.

Mel Gibson reprised his role as Mad Max, the loner anti-hero who cares little for others and is only focused on surviving and getting the next tank of gas for his V8 Interceptor. He becomes a reluctant hero after meeting a group of struggling, good-hearted people in a gas refinery settlement that is besieged by ruthless raiders. The film was packed with action and rarely lets you breath as it concluded with a white-knuckle chase scene involving a gas tanker and rig driven by Max attacked by the motorized raiders. This sequence was made so memorable by its frenetic editing and a pounding score by Brian May. Simply put, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior forever established the tone for future films.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Now we come to not just the best Mad Max film, but one of the greatest action films of all time and a futuristic Western on wheels, as director George Miller describes his film. Tom Hardy takes over the role of Mad Max, who is captured by the forces of the desert despot Immorten Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and is soon caught up in a desperate escape from Immorten’s savage society on a modified tanker with several of Immorten’s wives and Furiosa (Charlize Theron), one of Immorten’s officers who frees the wives. The extended chase scenes across the apocalyptic desert were elevated with beautiful photography, intense editing and some of the most memorable imagery seen on film.

Mad Max: Fury Road was so revered that it was actually nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and won a slew of technical Oscars, which were all well deserved. The film is much more than an action film but one that touches on several themes such as women’s rights, societal injustice and the capabilities of the disabled. It also features many unique and eccentric characters that were easily memorable such as the the vicious Immorten Joe, Nux (Nicholas Hoult), one of Immorten’s soldiers who joins Max, and of course Furiosa, who quickly becomes a co-lead in the film and earned her own film. Mad Max: Fury Road is Mad Max at its finest and is a must watch for film lovers.

José Soto

Jan 22 2024

Wither Physical Media? Or The Downside Of Digital Streaming

By now, we all know about how physical media is dying, especially after the retailer Best Buy announced last year they would discontinue selling DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K disks this year. This is largely due to the prevalence of digital media and digital streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Max, and so on, and declining sales of physical media. These platforms made it much more convenient to access and watch your favorite films and TV shows without the bother of physically getting up, searching through your DVD/Blu-ray library and inserting disks into a player. However, something has been lost with the downfall of physical media. Or is it truly dead?

By announcing that physical media was doomed, interest has increased in fans and collectors to obtain the remaining physical media, especially in secondary markets, as fans are now actively hunting down copies of their favorite films. What helped drive the hunts was a major flaw that became clear with the rise of digital media: the availability of a favorite film or TV show.

On paper, digital media and streaming takes care of the problems with buying and collecting physical media, namely storage and the ease of accessing your favorite Star Trek episode. The problem is the streaming market has become so diversified that these services feel like you’re accessing incomplete libraries. A draw of streaming was the vast libraries they boasted. This was the case when Netflix was the only large streaming service years ago, but with the coming of Disney+, Max and other streaming services, these companies understandably took their toys and went home. Good luck if you subscribed to Netflix to watch the latest Marvel superhero film. You might get Morbius or some knock-off film, but if you want to watch Iron Man or Avengers: Infinity War you’ll have to subscribe to Disney+. The same thing happened if you wanted to watch Star Trek. While you can watch some of the films on other services, for the “complete” Star Trek library you have to subscribe to Paramount+, which offers little else that would interest the average Star Trek fan. And by “complete” we have to keep in mind that Paramount+ cancelled and removed Star Trek: Prodigy from their service. Now you can only see that show on Netflix, which will exclusively stream the second and final season of Star Trek: Prodigy.

Anyone sees where this is going? Essentially, you have to subscribe to all the major and even minor digital streaming services to be able to access the films and TV shows you want to see. That is if they have the rights to stream them. Anyone want to see Outland? Never heard of it? No surprise. Outland was a sci-fi crime drama that starred Sean Connery as a sheriff on a mining station on IO. It copied the gritty and grounded look of Alien but was a well done film. Now where can you find it. Sure, anyone can buy it digitally, but why should they if they are supposed to easily access it on digital streaming? Also the money spent to download Outland is comparable to buying a physical disk.

The same issue has been noted online with the sci-fi film Cocoon. It was successful back when it was released in the 1980s, it even won Academy Awards, but it is unavailable on physical media and you have to hunt for it on streaming. Then there is the situation with trying to watch the original version of Star Wars, no bloody Episode IV or other silly subtitles, and where Han shoots first! Many fans hoped that Disney+ would have streamed the original vision of George Lucas, but to date that has not happened. The only way to see the unaltered Star Wars is by purchasing old VHS cassettes, laser disks, and DVDs. Of course, the quality won’t be 4K but at least it is accessible to you and owned by you.

The problem with buying digital downloads of films and TV shows is that you don’t actually own the downloads. Disney+ boasted that with its service you could download their content to watch anywhere on any device. But do you get to keep the downloads if you unsubscribe? If you can please drop a comment below.

Many owners of the PS5 learned the hard way that their digital downloads are not theirs to keep forever, as it was announced late last year that any Discovery+ content that was purchased and downloaded would be removed from PS5s. So, what is the point of buying downloads if you cannot keep them? With DVDs and Blu-rays, the disks are yours forever, you can watch them at anytime just as long as you have a player, which are very cheap these days. Of course, a problem with all the media platforms is the availability of old and obscure content. There are countless sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and TV shows that have basically disappeared since they are not streaming (usually due to rights issues) on any service and if they had a DVD or Blu-ray release, they have gone out of print a long time ago. This makes me glad that I never got rid of my DVD copy of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners since it is a favorite that cannot be easily seen these days.

What can a genre fan do? Sure you can subscribe to every streaming service but that is expensive and you’ll be stuck paying for subpar services just to access a film or TV show, which can be removed at anytime, often without notice. This happened to me when I was binging Snowpiercer on Max and stopped watching it a few episodes away from its season finale. The next day the entire series was removed from Max. This streaming service was infamous for removing other genre content because the parent company did not want to pay residuals to writers and so on. Such content included Raised By Wolves and Westworld. Anyone who intended to watch the complete series is out of luck these days.

Another thing that makes physical media superior is that many disks come with unique interactive menus and features that you cannot get on a digital download. Some like The Lord of The Rings films are renowned for the exhaustive content on their Blu-rays and 4K disks like extensive behind-the-scenes features, production art, games, and of course deleted scenes. You certainly won’t get this much material in a download!

The best option is to shop for obscure products on second-hand online services that specialize in obscure and out-of-print DVDs and Blu-rays. But be prepared to pay a lot. Then there is cable or satellite TV. Yes, the point of streaming services was to enable viewers to cut the cable cord, but many times, cable is the best place to watch obscure genre films. However, while sales these days of physical media are past their heyday, they are still being made. It is easy to see a time when physical media makes a comeback like vinyl records did as streaming services and digital downloads become more expensive and inconvenient for fans. But for now, make a point of actively seeking out and buying your favorite obscure sci-fi film like Silent Running or the original version of the Star Trek TV shows. You never know if an increase in sales would have an influence on the decision makers in Hollywood. Besides a Blu-ray or 4K disk library definitely looks cool on display in your homes!