Mad Max (1979)

Mad Max will probably go down in history as the film that made Mel Gibson a star, but that would gloss over the film's many other virtues. A post-apocalyptic tale of good vs. evil, Mad Max features the title character, Max Rockatansky, in his job as an "Interceptor," a kind of cop struggling to maintain order in a world where the government has all but collapsed and ruthless biker thugs and warlords have made normal life impossible. When Max kills a member of the gang, their leader, the Toecutter, turns around and butcher's Max's family. As a result, Max gets very mad and goes straight to kick-ass mode. The story is slick and well-told, with enough fast cars, gun battles, and extreme chases to keep you tied to your chair. It's basically a Western set in a decaying Australia, and it's a welcome change of pace for action fans, too.

MGM presented us with a two-sided, dual-layer DVD that has two versions of the film: a gorgeous 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, and a full-screen copy on the same side for those who don't like to see the whole movie. For the first time, American audiences get to watch the film with the original Australian dialogue (it was dubbed with American actors for the US and never released with the original accents before now), either in the old-school mono mix or a completely redone, deep and dynamic DD 5.1 remix. On the other side you get two mini-documentaries, one about the Mad Max series and how the crews made the films (informative), and one about Mel Gibson's rise to stardom (blah). Round that out with a pop-up video style "trivia track" (really just a subtitle option), and you've got a great disc.

The pop-up video track is one of the best and most innovative new features in a long time; I hope other DVD companies take note, because it's fun, informative, and you can watch it again and again, unlike most commentary tracks and other "extras." Overall, Mad Max is an excellent disc, and at its current price, it's worth adding to your shelves. If you're an action fan or a post-apocalyptic-film fan, then this disc is a must.

Instead of the original Australian actor's voices, there are nowpoorly dubbed American voices. I also noticed this version has been cut in certain scenes. I remember one scene in particular, near the biginning. The couple who are later attacked by the biker gang are having sex in a field - one of the good guys appears watching them from a distance and shouts over to them. This scene appeared before the first chase scene, and is missing from this version.

The transfer appears to be a transplant from a poor quality laserdisc version, and the sound is in mono.

What appalled me was the American dubbing - this seems typically arrogant and ignorant to me. In any other country in the world you would not find this, and its unfair and condescending to the portion of Americans who wanted to see the "unbutchered" Australian version. I have seen this dubbing in the States with English programmes as well (leaving the evil characters with the English accents of course) and its frankly offensive to watch.

DON'T BUY THIS DVD - WAIT FOR SOMETHING BETTER TO BE RELEASED!