Why the "Mad Max" Series is Perfect

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Prior to watching Mad Max I always assumed the series was just another 80's action franchise lost in the sea of muscular action heroes backed by blaring synthesizers and massive explosions. Instead, I was proven wrong and found myself absolutely enthralled with this series of fantastic and bizarre films unlike any other action series I've ever seen. The first of the series is a slow burn, setting the stage for the apocalyptic wasteland which occupies the rest of the following films, but the slow and dragging pace of the first film is the equivalent to a rollercoaster ramping upwards before plummeting down into absolute insanity.

The beauty of the Mad Max series is the fact that there are no rules, only absolute madness, much like the madness which plagues the protagonist. Rather than being an outright hero or expert killer, Max is used as the story's vehicle to help the audience travel through the wasteland of post-apocalyptic Australia, where we see strange societies occupied by even stranger people who are all fighting for gasoline and water. As odd as it may sound, I've always found the Mad Max series to be closely linked to my favorite genre of music, punk rock.

Now, this may sound like a bit of an odd comparison to make, but when I compare this fantastic series of bizarre action movies to punk rock I mean it in the sense that both forms of art are defined by their lack of rules. The universe in which Mad Max lives is one without restraint, it's one where absolutely anything can happen and where the universe is not held to rules that we know. Take for example the classic Barter Town in my favorite film in the franchise Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and how that small town is filled with bizarre characters like Master Blaster or an unnamed antagonist who always wears a traditional Japanese mask on his back. These small details are added to the film simply because George Miller wanted to add them in, not because they provide any service to the plot or improve the film in any way. It's as if he sat back, looked at the film, and thought "you know what would be cool?" So, without any regard for how the public would take to his creation, he simply did what he wanted with it.

The most recent release Fury Road is an absolutely astonishing example of a solid action film in how it goes directly against so many of today's action movie tropes. One might even wonder if George Miller, after years of taking a break from the franchise, came home from seeing another action movie with shaky cam and terrible dialogue and thought "I'm going to show them how it's done." The camera movements are fluid and steady, with clear direction and visual space in every shot, and even when scenes become jumbled and fast paced messes of explosions the action is still easy to follow because of the clear visual of characters moving from one side of the screen and then back to the next, meaning that the audience's eyes are always resting where they need to be.

The competence displayed in the filmmaking within the action sequences scattered throughout the Mad Max series is something almost never shown in other action movies, which utilize shaky cam and jump cuts in order to confuse and draw the audience's attention away from the poorly executed choreography. One can only hope that with the success of the likes of Fury Road more action movies which are this unashamedly weird and genuinely intense will come about as time goes on.