★★★★½ Rewatched 03 Jun, 2023

This review may contain spoilers.

Another childhood favorite from my recently rediscovered DVD collection. Not a particularly exciting middle part for an 8 year old, but the opening chase and final showdown stayed vividly with me for 40 years.

Finally watching this as seasoned reviewer and a father, the constant tension with no too obvious twists becomes even more palpable. The director makes it obvious Max is slowly affected by the pressure from the biker gang. That much was clear to my young mind. I also understood he lost his wife and child which made him “mad”, but I’m getting a feeling that a lot of our childhood action heroes suffered from some form of PTSD. Rambo is next on my list to revisit. 

Overall the low budget approach and visceral execution of the action scenes that set a new mark and style for decades to come hold up to this day. Australian Outback serves as a perfect backdrop to a sparsely populated world, which is not made clear to an adult not much less a child. By the end it’s clear this is not a fully formed post apocalyptic world (which comes fully into play in the sequels) because we just don’t know what happened. The most obvious indicator of things falling off the deep end is the interior of a dilapidated police station. Yet, the hospitals still function, lawyers and courts still work although seemingly against the public good…

Also it’s always nice to revisit a breakthrough role of an international star that later set the mark with A list paychecks as well as numerous industry accolades – which can be too easily overshadowed by the yellow media’s coverage of his personal demons. This movie will remind you he had natural charisma from the get go!

Source: Letterboxd
Info: IMDb