moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (07/30/85)
I guess it all depends on what you're looking for. I know a lot of people
who came out praising _The_Road_Warrior_ for its amazing action sequences,
thrilling car chases and stylized violence. But for me, the appeal of RW is
the opening and closing scenes of Max, standing on the highway next to the
overturned semi and with the orange sunset behind him. Max is an amazingly
appealing character to me; he is what a policeman is supposed to be in
theory -- a guardian of civilization (the positive sense of the word), in a
period and a place where there is a total lack of it. He does it not out of
a sense of obligation, or that it is his job (he is just trying to survive
most of the time); he just ends up helping protect it where he finds it,
selflessly. Anyone, one of the "heroes" of present-day film who really is a
hero...
Well, if you liked _The_Road_Warrior_ for either my reasons stated above, or
the bizarro humor, you're going to love _Mad_Max_Beyond_Thunderdome_ -- I
enjoyed it more than RW (especially during the last five minutes). If you
enjoyed it for the violence or the car chases, or the tight thrilling
scenes, you probably won't like it as well as RW, but you still will not
want to miss it. This is another quality film to come out this summer;
excellent music and photography, adequate acting (when all the characters
are crazy, acting is not a big factor), and a good story. The scenes of
Bartertown are amazing -- the place looks like it just might exist. And the
final epilogue left me misty-eyed, with a lump in my throat, and very, very
impressed with George Miller's writing and direction. As to acting, I think
I'll finally use a Gene Shalit word to describe Tina Turner: electric.
Gibson is totally under control; while other people might play James Bond
(Gibson himself has been suggested), no one else could do Max half as well.
I suspect that Gibson may have a large hand in creating the character
himself.
Finally, anyone notice the Buckaroo Banzai quote that the Pig Sh... err,
excrement slave says to his captors when helping the children and Max
escape? Very cute... maybe BB's popularity has caught on elsewhere...
"...Somehow... the idea of a mouse, with lipstick and
eyelashes and a dress with high-heeled shoes; a mouse ten
times bigger than the biggest RAT... this idea has always
made me sick!"
If he's not one thing,
he's another. ---> Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsri}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPAmupmalis@watarts.UUCP (M. A. Upmalis) (08/01/85)
In article <863@vax2.fluke.UUCP> moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) writes: > >Finally, anyone notice the Buckaroo Banzai quote that the Pig Sh... err, >excrement slave says to his captors when helping the children and Max >escape? Very cute... maybe BB's popularity has caught on elsewhere... Argh, the quote was used in BB, however there is a Canadian folksinger who used the line in the mid seventies in his act and even he may not have been the first, I liked BB but BB is not first, nor last, nor all between!!! My one comment about the movie (after saying that I liked it) is that their vision of the future is quite depressing. The relics of the pre modern age are hung on to as being something special, almost magic. When I first saw Bartertown it had the feel of a medieval town to me, the town square, the hucksters etcetera, but when you look closer it becomes obvious that this is not a town in the usual sense and this is more a dark ages status quo then a march back to the future. The idea of new art, poets, folk singers, women doing the wash or children running freely would be more satisfying. Even the kids in the oasis who show the organization and hope for the future are tied to the past. The ending shows this sacred tie to the past rather than the fresh start for the future. I can see why George Miller would do it, but still I am uncomfortable.... -- Mike Upmalis (mupmalis@watarts)<University of Waterloo> ihnp4!watmath!watarts!mupmalis