Mad Max (1979)

Stars	User	Rating
11	Paxton	71 _69%
Peter Jackson was able to take a story about a mythical place and somehow turn it into a tourism commercial for New Zealand. Every single Australian movie I've ever seen starts out with the premise: You know what would be awful? Being in Australia.
7	nauru	10 _6%
The most boring car chases I've ever seen, and characters that don't really seem worth caring about. It's basically a western except they have bikes instead of horses, and instead of a simple story you've got a steaming pile of BS that meanders aimlessly for 90 minutes. A lot of the time it isn't even clear what's going on or why people are acting so weird. Not a good film.
5	terrymac	72 _64%
Has a nice 70s exploitation feel, although some of the direction and execution give it a lift above the normal B"-movie standard . I hadn't realised that the BR I was watching also had the original Aussie dialogue; I watched the dodgy American dub by mistake. Overall, it's a bit bleak, and takes some time to get going, but is good, grimy entertainment. It also has Lizzie from Prisoner: Cell Block H in it, which pleased me no end.
5	bakcheia	73 _60%
The plot is primitive, the filming is B-grade, and the acting is sloppy. However, that adds to the potency of this film, which is a direct product of 1970s revenge action/horror films being mashed together. The machismo and homoeroticism in Mad Max is also rather fascinating, with its leather-bound policemen looking like borderline gay porn stars (handlebar mustache, really?) and the overall palpable sexual tension between the predominantly male cast. Also, Mel Gibson is a total babe in this...
4	eveelun	71 _45%
It takes a while to build up to its impressive action sequences (excepting, of course, the opening Night Rider sequence) , which would be fine except the characterization in these early scenes is not very effective or interesting. The second half is pretty thrilling, though.
3	Gnalkhere	65 _34%
Very promising. Its mythos is great, but its execution is clunky and leaves a lot to be desired.
3	BeeDub	85 _63%
Obviously limited by its low budget and exploitation roots, but the promise of director Miller and star Gibson is apparent throughout. The series would obviously go on to much bigger and better things, but the raw, stripped-down ferocity of this entry shouldn't be ignored.
3	Matthew Parkinson (CineMarter)	70 _77%
Mad Max has very little plot. It has amateur actors in many of its roles. It's rudimentary. Despite all these things, it's a lot of fun. It provides some delectable supporting characters, instantly turns Mel Gibson into an action star, provides an interesting look into the future, and it delivers some great action. Even with a limited budget, director George Miller packed the inaugural installment with a great deal of over-the-top action, showcasing creativity and insanity.
2	Kojiless	28 _28%
Should have been entitled "Mad after seeing his wife get harassed by crazy bikers when she is alone, lets her go off by herself twice Max"
2	Corbad	25 _3%
Amateurish and all around bad. Choppy, paceless, and ugly, without a thing to recommend it.
2	redflag	97 _89%
Goddamn! Mad Max is the greatest action franchise ever. The chase scenes, the stunt work, the storytelling through images, the world building, a small feminist presence even this early on, the open acknowledgment of homoerotic male bonding. Incredible.
2	rttntomatoes	95 _87%
Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.
2	WWallce4prez	72 _51%
Mad Max has a tone more inline with Last House on the Left than it does with The Road Warrior that would come two years later. The film's bizarre structure starts with its biggest stunts and sets up a mythical hero in a pretty great way. It then follows this with 60 minutes of an aimless plot steeped in suspense. The guts this movie has and how good it looks for its minuscule budget still makes the film quite enjoyable, even if it might be my third favorite in the series.
2	pompousass	40 _71%
An assured and energetic visual style, reliant almost to the point of over-reliance on short tracking shots and quick dissolves, makes this futuristic Born Losers worth watching. It is set not so far in the future as to pose problems of production or imagination for the filmmakers, just far enough to explain away any bit of mindless chaos and destruction as the breakdown of civilization as we know it.
2	hellboy76	69 _73%
Amazing low budget post apocalyptic revenge flick. Dated now but still a pretty amazing accomplishment.
2	Luna6ix	74 _47%
A lukewarm first installment, Miller hadn't yet fully explored the world he was making in the series and it comes off like a schizophrenic interpretation of the real world. It's still a fun watch and it holds up a heck of a lot better than most of it's peers in ozploitation, or even 70's exploitation in general.
2	JSchlansky	50 _28%
The car crashes are cool, everything else about this film is surprisingly awful. The acting ranges from okay to very bad, the writing is lazy, the editing and direction are horrible and the scope of the "dystopic future" is not explored at all, actually ending up being mostly pointless. The handful of cool moments this movie has doesn't come very close to saving it.
2	Groovy_Souls	75 _64%
A bleak and violent world that is masterfully created by Miller and given life by Gibson. With a typical story of loss and revenge, Gibson thrives and delivers a powerful role as Miller brings in iconic scenes and cinematography. The rest of the acting is alright and the story ok but this movie and its world, thrive.
2	mwgerb	52 _47%
It has quite a few great scenes (including the first and last), but there are some realism issues at different points and some other scenes that I found lacking. Overall, a pretty good blending of different genre cliches.
2	forehead1	40 _26%
Typically tacky 70s/80s B-movie view of dystopia (where 'the future' is just an overly-camp pantomime version of the present) that mainly relies on the sound of gunning engines to cover a thin and often nonsensical plot. The vast majority of the acting is really amateur stuff, the score doesn't seem to fit at all, and we only see 'Mad' Max for the last 5-10 unfulfilling minutes. Has it's moments, but how it spawned two sequels is beyond me.
2	woodoo	90 _82%
Strange tone poetry, surprising homoerotic undercurrent and the most white knuckle camera-on-the-pavement car chases in the world. It seems amazing that Miller remains at the top of the heap with regards to freaking car chases, a subject hardly unexplored in film.
2	monclivie	63 _25%
I love revenge movies, but not with revenge in last 10 minutes.
2	MArkjp	45 _21%
The universe seems a bit underdeveloped and the plot moves along way too slow. If you're gonna murder the mans family, don't wait until there's only 15 minutes left for him too hunt you down. Also I could have used some more chase scenes and more explicit violence. But points for trying.
2	NothingsGood	30 _20%
Characters in Mad Max are deep. Like the Night Rider. He screams "I'm the Night Rider" and laughs maniacally. And Toecutter. He says you should respect the Night Rider because he's the Night Rider. Oh, and there's a lot of editing. I'm still not sure what the plot is.
2	rewind	7 _75%
It truly is hell being Mel.
2	cagedwisdom	75 _65%
Camp, cheesy, crazy fun, unfortunately it takes about an hour before Mad Max becomes a noteworthy character.
2	Carpetgiant	76 _12%
After some elderly leader regaled his community with a story of how, long ago, a drifter helped their group escape a band of bandits in the post-apocalyptic world, someone asked, "who was that guy? What was he like before you met him? What's his backstory?". So right then and there, the leader made something up that wasn't quite as impressive or made much sense, but his people listened. And when he was done, the community asked him to never tell that story again and stick to the tanker one.
2	nilkynarfy	65 _54%
The worst part about this low budget, sort of dull, torture porn pseudo-revenge flick is that it has plenty of redemptive qualities.
2	Quintonjamin	40 _24%
The last 30 minutes were enjoyable, but the rest of it just dragged on. There was a scene where I had no idea why Goose was riding down the highway at full speed with suspenseful music playing and then he just crashes into a ditch... Was that supposed to be suspenseful? Also, the plot description on here and on Netflix is a huge spoiler.
2	Anomaly	58 _26%
Extremely lopsided plotting, made worse by its short running time. We spend too much time focusing on things that don't really matter, while never building a dystopic atmosphere. The revenge - the actual plot - is left to a few montages near the end. Odd editing choices and a jumbled sound mix also don't help.
2	frederic_g54	7 _57%
The film that launched a series of some really cool apocalyptic films. Despite its shoestring budget, Mad Max is pretty badass and oozes with an admirable old school charm. Also, all bad guys need to be hilariously awful from now on.
2	krypt	88 _66%
Starring: The road, the horizon, blue eyes, fire.
2	Icarus	70 _41%
Mad Max seemed to me a kind of real world comic book--with the cartoonish villains and a simple good vs. evil structure, but also keeping its hero firmly rooted in reality rather than tied down by a cape. Miller's mostly spare style works well in both creating drama and adding to the ambiguity of the film's conclusion. Occasionally, Miller plays on sentiment and cheap horror movie tricks, and while that hampers the movie somewhat, it also isn't enough to doom an otherwise solid action movie.
2	SpikyCactus	80 _78%
Top badass moment? To earn money to buy films, I often drive food delivery vans around that're speed limited to 56mph. I once collected a Tesco one... and discovered its limiter wasn’t working! At that moment I WAS Max in the last of the V8 Interceptors, roaming the M3 looking for Ocado vans (speed limited to 60mph) to run off the road, to avenge all the times I’ve been humiliated by one (slowly) overtaking me. Now that really is real-world badass. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
2	LookJabba...	7 _57%
Mad Max is the first installment of mastermind George Miller's post apocalyptic trilogy. It hasn't aged particularly well but considering it's over 30 years old and the budget it was made on, it remains an iconic and essential action film. The action here feels experimental compared to the much superior set pieces that 'The Road Warrior' boasts. But Mad Max is a different film to it's sequels and it's primary focus is establishing Mel Gibson's character and his journey to revenge and madness.
1	sopachuco13	70 _35%
The original Mad Max is great because it is full of badass car chases and tons of hokey blood scenes. It is amateurish is all of the best ways. The story is interesting but there isn't really enough backstory for it to make a lot of sense. A lot of the acting is really good too. Most of the cops have a ton of personality that I wished they had dwelled on some more. The biker gang has a lot of characters too. Some of their quirks may have been inspired by A Clockwork Orange. It's a fun movie.
1	FoxyRussian	54 _16%
Pretty rough and completely cheesy grindhouse action movie. There's a interesting framework for a world (which later movies would use well) but this movie just does nothing with its world. Its unclear how dangerous the world is or what state its even in (dystopic doesn't feel like a thing unless it suddenly means "lots of leather"). The script meanders and doesn't start its plot till the final act. The action scenes at least feel pretty cool with how low budget they are.
1	MO_Houze	80 _65%
George Miller's original apocalyptic thriller with insane stunt work and a freshman acting performance by Mel Gibson. The film was really ahead of it's time, and still works for modern audiences. Max's journey from a dutiful policeman to a vengeance seeking vigilante send jolts off the screen, and by the end, no one is really sure who the good guys are. Great midnight movie.
1	thehynes	40 _12%
leather clad cops do battle with evil camp bikers & a shit script
1	KenMeisters	67 _53%
Old school exploitation instead of apocalyptic wasteland was definetly not what I expected. But it works well within it's own state of mind and has some spectacular car crashes.
1	Vaudevillian	95 _80%
One of my all-time favorite action films.
1	badfish138	95 _85%
Fucking love this one
1	backwardsuit	68 _41%
Nice low budget exploitation with plenty of character, energy and awesome stuntwork. Structure is weird and the story seems stretched even at 93 mins but the dystopic setting is interesting and well realised.
1	VorpalKitten	50 _18%
My main thought is that this is too old for me to enjoy, but beyond that it's just boring - how does this little police/vengeance movie turn into awesome stuff like Master-Blaster and Thunderdome? Seriously, Fury Road is one of my favorite movies.
1	favery	40 _21%
Sloppy; middle of the film was a slog to get through and the ending was rushed. Still, not a terrible effort for something made on pennies and dimes.
1	le mami	15 _11%
I don't like Mad Max.
1	DesertPunk	77 _66%
I could complain about a lot of things with this movie, but honestly, this script being made with such a low budget overrides a lot of it. The fact that Mad Max isn't two Hot Wheels crashing in a sandbox is a miracle.
1	skap	80 _57%
I have a serious case of selective amnesia concerning this particular movie, I have no idea why. I've seen it so many times, but the only thing I remember is that it was good.
1	bratings	79 _57%
It's more of a prologue for what's to come in the series, but Mad Max is visceral and technically impressive.
1	Iamdwg (Interpreting the Stars)	32 _2%
I'm not entirely sure why this became a hit in Australia. Were movies THAT bad there that they considered this an instant classic? It's just a cop and a biker gang with inconsistent music choices. I not only don't understand how this needed to become a trilogy, nor a reboot, nor did I feel like it was the same world. It...was just...a movie about a cop...and a biker gang. That's it. At least I know why he's mad now. Biased Score: 18% \| Unbiased Score: 46% \| Criticker Prediction: 76% (WHAT?!)
1	NathanBates	60 _34%
Decent for a low-budget film -- it's clear that the car chases were conceived first, and then a passable plot molded around them. There's barely any character development, although the biker villains do seem to have their own personalities.
1	luord	80 _87%
Still the best in the franchise, economically made with a pitch-perfect performance by Gibson, blending good set pieces with nice, if not ground-breaking, character drama.
1	larmor	21 _8%
Ideologically corrupt and completely idiotic. There's very little to redeem it.
1	Ceekay19	50 _12%
Max: "The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It'd take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you're lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes."
1	vv238	62 _65%
Despite the budgetary issues and Miller's complete inexperience as a film maker this works surprisingly well. The villain is less mustache-twirling and more feral creature which fits the concept of the world on the edge of the apocalypse.
1	matthagen	36 _15%
The dystopian future setting is largely unexplored. Characters lack motivation, until the end. An overbearing score, a lousy excuse for an antagonistic gang, an odd, abrupt ending. This movie is subpar.
1	joel-w-m	4 _13%
The pivotal event and its tense build up should have started the film and made the most of its resulting revenge plot; instead, we get a meandering story without a protagonist for half of it, featuring mostly bland car chases and a painfully cheesy main villain (although his gang of psychopathic motorcycle riders is admittedly terrifying). Gibson looks good but he's a little awkward too, delivering some pretty bad lines ("Peanut butter and honey"; "He always kept 'em reaaaaal shiny").
1	MontyCircus	20 _11%
Watched it, didn't like it. Watched it again as part of my pre-"Fury Road" marathon and really couldn't wait for it to end. Like "Evil Dead", this is a series that really starts with the second film. Can you find me a thinner story and characters in film history? And the music is crap, the score is ridiculously overdone and you often can't hear the dialogue over it. Honestly, this is like a student film. It's a post-apocalyptic world in which they make a stop for some ice cream. SERIOUSLY?!??!?
1	brandons	82 _74%
Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.
1	BillyShears	95 _96%
This is how you make a low budget movie. (Awesome) The pacing is a little off during the family scenes, but everything else makes up for it.
1	SmooveJ	81 _42%
This is a must-watch as a child, and as an adult I should probably watch it again now that my skull is hard and my brains are more than mush.
1	Pickpocket	6 _55%
Uneven but pretty good, especially considering the budget. The main villain is such a joke - he's fat with highlights in his hair. Mel Gibson is a badass though and I imagine the sequel would be a lot better cause they wouldn't have to go through all the jarring character development.
1	grimsooth	38 _30%
A 70s film about explosions, cars, and violence.
1	Alex Watkins	3 _38%
A cool concept that plays out as a thinly-sketched anticlimax.
1	CinematicESP	69 _15%
It seems to be an aimless love letter to automobiles until it finally becomes about Max in the last half hour. The world created in the film is interesting enough though.
1	MonsterGear	73 _36%
Feels longer than it is, but more entertaining than I used to think. The gang-members really seem a bit over the top.
1	martryn	75 _65%
Not as good as the sequels, but still really, really awesome.
1	prowler	40 _37%
This movie is worth seeing for the cars alone, and I'm not even into cars that much.
1	st_fly	65 _60%
Very Good
1	Mohko	70 _61%
The first movie in the Mad Max series is quite different than the sequels. It's actually a pretty solid home 70's invasion-ish horror film. On a sidenote Max and his wife are probably the worst parents in the world. I was surprised that the baby didn't die during the first act.
1	chengming	20 _3%
Figured I should watch this before getting to the acclaimed recent installment - but really shouldn't have.
1	hellsditch	72 _26%
First "Blade Runner" and now this? Who is assigning "classic" status to these things? For all of the praise that's heaped upon this "dystopic" vision of Australia, it looks remarkably like the 1979 outback to me. Except with yellow cars. Oh! And they're not called police, they're called the bronze now. Look, the chases are all well-executed, yes, but too many lapses in logic and inexplicably campy moments keep this from being anything more than a competently made,but forgettable 70s chase flick.
1	recklessmess	70 _48%
Why is it called Mad Max? I thought it was the biker gang that was mad. Angry Max would have been more apropos.
1	sfacets	88 _52%
A great and realistic look at what the future might hold. True Sci-Fi.
1	whatisitisee	60 _19%
kind of a jumbled mess that doesn't get to the real meat of the story until towards the end and is a cut below other revenge thrillers in terms of investment and pay off. i enjoyed the use of the radio for worldbuilding
1	cult_of_same	35 _37%
When I moved to Australia, this film was actually a mandatory requirement of obtaining my visa.
1	janus	50 _19%
Its vision of a future where the bottom hasn't dropped out yet, but has definitely passed the point of no return, is well-conveyed; it's a golden age where degeneracy is possible without the requirement of hard-core survivalism, and old-school punk is the perfect style for it. But the first half in particular is an incoherent slog, memorably weird though it may be, and the rest, when the plot actually starts, is corny and formulaic.
1	HyphenateMe	60 _34%
Apparently I mixed up The Road Warrior and Mad Max. Pay attention to every scene in this movie. Somewhere, whether up front or in the background, is something completely and totally baffling. Spotting these oddities is more amusing than the revenge story that takes an hour to begin.
1	Kusanagi	70 _29%
I must say, given how often it's referenced, I expected a bit more. Most of the time, I was confused as to just what was happening or why. It just took too long to get to the goods, and when you do, the movie's pretty much done.
1	johnshaft	79 _66%
It isn't as good as the Road Warrior, but it is still a well made film with a good performance by Mel Gibson.
1	fenixdown	60 _17%
It's a little heavy on the buildup for such a weak payoff.
1	Sweekoden	27 _13%
Mad Max starts to steer toward a fairly interesting (and intelligible) direction near the end, but its opening hour or so is too much of a trainwreck for it to make much of a difference. They got a lot of out of super tight budget, to be sure, but the direction just isn't good, and character relationships (except the one between Mad Max and his wife) + anything character-related is just a complete mess, poorly explored, explained and realized. Way too much F-level stuff for it to be worthwhile.
1	hazelhawks	40 _16%
A postmodern Book of Job.
1	doctor7	66 _47%
Some good scenes thoughout but overall I'd consider it spotty. A good poriton of the time I found myself thinking "so what does this have to do with anything?" Knowing the very modest budget the film was made with this is certainly an impressive film. I just think that viewing it now doesn't do it justice as Mad Max hasn't really aged all that well. With that said it's merciless portrayl of the demise of Max's wife and child is horrifc and really shows how our "good cop" protagonist goes "bad."
1	Lord Moe	75 _35%
A visually appealing film that seems to be trying to find its footing. There is potential that will be explored in sequels. A good film about rage and revenge and how one bad day can turn someone around.
1	goremeat	65 _49%
Jumbled and only momentarily engaging; but Mel Gibson is essentially exactly what Fury Road lacked. Charisma.
1	RandallODim	79 _49%
How Max got his Mad back.
1	KramYessev	42 _21%
I'm writing this as the credits roll, and I genuinely can't remember anything that happened. I'm not even sure it exists.
1	bof	69 _57%
Diesel and dust, to quote a phrase. Plot is on the thin side and the pacing seems odd today, but for an ultra-low-budget exploitation film, it packs a hell of a punc.
1	Jols93	50 _28%
An okay film that spawned two great sequels and one okay sequel. Lets go through the cons first: This film has a lot of worldbuilding going on that's easy to miss. The acting is okay, the plot is pretty barebones, the vacation was pace breaking, the revenge plot takes forever to get to, and the dubbing of American accents was a mistake. The pros: It has a very unique feel to it, the world it's set in is interesting, when max goes on his revenge it's highly entertaining,

Displaying 1 to 250 of 256 total ratings: Prev | Next

Average Percentile 50.92% from 6972 Ratings