Creed "Women weaken legs!"

Right so I recently seen a film I've been meaning to get around to for quite a while and so for this post I'm going to review it and the film in question is Creed, which might see the start of a new franchise next to Rocky.  So how does this one fair???  Well let's get in the ring and find out....

And yes the usual warning is coming:

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY 

So the story begins with its main character, Adonis "Donnie" Johnson as a young teenager back in 1998 who is serving time in an LA youth facility, where he is paid a visit by Apollo Creed's widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) who tells Donnie that his father was in fact Apollo.  The story then jumps forward 17 years with Donnie now an adult (played by Michael B. Jordan) who quits his job at a securities firm to persue his lifelong dream of becoming a professional boxer, despite the protests of Mary Anne.

Donnie then travels to Philadelphia where he meets Rocky Balboa (Sly Stallone) and asks that he train him after telling him that he is Apollo's son, Rocky at first is reluctant but he soon agrees to train Donnie when he sees how determined he is.  Meanwhile Donnie also befriends a girl, Bianca (Tessa Thompson) who lives in the same apartment building as him and Bianca, who is an up and coming singer, soon becomes involved with Donnie.

After Donnie and Rocky start training together, Donnie takes on a local fighter and given the interest of their partnership, word soon get's out that Donnie is the son of Apollo Creed although Donnie prefers to use the surname of Johnson instead of Creed so he can make his own legacy without using his father's name.  Donnie soon wins the fight and he gains the attention of the handlers of the world light heavyweight champion, "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew) who is being forced into retirement due to an oncoming prison sentence.  Conlan offers to make Donnie his last challenger but only if Donnie uses the name "Creed" instead of "Johnson" to which Donnie reluctantly agrees.

However things during Donnie's train takes a dramatic turn as it is revealed that Rocky has a cancer in the form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Rocky however having seen the effects that chemo had on his deceased wife, Adrian, decides not to undergo chemotherapy.  This then shakes things up for Donnie who then pleads for Rocky to undergo the treatment or else he won't fight, which sees Rocky decide to take the chemo while Donnie trains.  And this soon leads into the film's climax where Donnie goes off to fight Conlan in Liverpool where his chance to make good on his father's name....

THOUGHTS

As an essential follow up to Rocky Balboa aswell as the possible start of a new franchise, Creed is a very enjoyable follow on from the previous Rocky films.  And that it also offers the possibility of a new franchise of Creed films this film would be the perfect starting point.  And its good to see a different take on the Rocky universe where a new character has emerged and will go on to carry the flag for the series.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may contain the odd spoiler!)

So performance wise the film is pretty good and its cast all do a fine job but I won't keep this section too overstuffed as I usually do and will keep things a bit shorter than usual.

Starting with Michael B. Jordan who is pretty good in his role as Donnie Creed, the ambitious young boxer is out to make a name for himself and follow in his father's footsteps.  Jordan certainly has the physique to play the part and he does well enough with Donnie's playful moments and delivering some amusing smart ass dialogue here and there.  Jordan also manages to show Donnie's emotional conflict fairly well as he has to deal with both Rocky and Bianca, his love interest and the dramas that both their storylines present. 

Jordan has some good moments that include the scene when Donnie asks if he can move into Rocky's house so they can train more effectively together.  And in the scene Donnie says to Rock "I can train at your house" and Rocky says "No I don't know nobody's been to my house in a long time you might be uncomfortable there" and Donnie sarcastically says "What, do you walk around naked?!".

And then there is the scene where Donnie prepares to fight and he says to Rocky that he has to prove himself and Rocky says "Prove what?" and Donnie says "That I'm not a mistake!".  And in addition to this there is the scene where Bianca finds out that Donnie's surname is in fact Creed from a news headline.  And after they argue and then make-up on the streets and Bianca asks Donnie what he is a afraid in being a Creed and Donnie says "I'm afraid of taking on the name and losing".

And lastly there is the fun moment where Donnie, who keps calling Rocky "Unc" in the film (short for uncle of course!) and in one scene where Donnie arrives outside Rocky's restaurant (called Adrienne's after his late wife) he calls him "Unc".  And in the scene Rocky asks Donnie "Did you call me unc?" and Donnie says "Yeah, it was either that or O.G." and Rocky asks "What's an O.G?" and Donnie says "Old ass gangster!".  


Sylvester Stallone is once again great in his career defining role as Rocky Balboa and he continues to play the part with a great deal of charm and wamrth.  Stallone also get's the film's best lines and has some good moments that include the one where Rocky warns Donnie about how "Woman weaken legs" the same advice that Rocky's former coach, Mickey used to impart to him!

Then there is the scene where Donnie meets with Rocky who gives him a some boxing drills to go through, which Rocky writes out on paper and Donnie uses his smartphone and takes a pic of the instructions.  And as Donnie is about to leave without the paper, Rocky asks him "Hey don't you want this?" and Donnie says holding his phone out "Its on this" and Rocky asks "What if you lose it?" and Donnie says "Its already in the cloud!" and he runs off.  And Rocky looks up to the clouds, confused and he says "What cloud?!".

Then there are moments where Rocky gives out his boxing philosophy to Donnie and one of the most notable ones comes when Rocky has Donnie look at himself in the mirror at the gym.  And Rocky looking at Donnie's reflection says "You see this guy here?  That's the toughest opponent you're ever going to have to face! I believe that's true in the ring and I think that's true in life".   

And lastly there is the scene when Rocky and Donnie chat about Apollo and Donnie asks Rock about Apollo and how was he and Rocky says "Apollo? Yeah, he was great. Perfect fighter. Ain't nobody ever better".  And Donnie asks "So how did you beat him?" and Rocky says "Time beat him. Time, you know, takes everybody out. It's undefeated!". 

Tessa Thompson is also very good as Bianca, Donnie's love interest in the film and it is also revealed that she has oncoming hearing loss and she uses her performances in music to help her feel alive.  Bianca's character at first does come across as being a bit cynical, particularly as she likes to play her music too loud at night, which is what first introduces Donnie to her as they stay in the same apartment building and Donnie knocks on her door to tell her to keep the music down.

And Tessa has some good moments too that include the one where Bianca looks out her apartment window and sees that Donnie is moving his stuff out of his apartment with Rocky's help.  And Bianca asks Donnie "Hey, Donnie are you moving?" and Donnie says "Yeah I'm going to be livin with my uncle for a bit" and Bianca says "That's your uncle?  He's white!".

And last of all I will mention Phylicia Rashad who does pretty well in her part as Donnie's adopted mother, Mary Anne, Apollo's widow who takes Donnie in after his troubled early years in and out of detention centres.  And last last of all there is Tony Bellew who is good in his role as Ricky Conlan who takes on Donnie in his last champion bout.  Bellew himself is a real life light heavyweight boxing champion.

DIRECTOR 

Direction wise, Ryan Coogler does an excellent job here as he confidently handles the dramatic themes of the film but at the same time he also shows a great deal of respect to the Rocky franchise that went before this film itself.  Coogler also wrote the screenplay for the film as well so his combined efforts here are quite impressive as he delivers a good script with some good dialogue that feels down to earth.  In short this film shows that Coogler can handles his subject very well and hopefully he will be involved in any future Creed films.   

MUSIC

Music wise the film features a score by Swedish composer, Ludwig Goransson which is good and fits the film's tone pretty well even if it doesn't quite stand out the same way in which Bill Conti's stirring Rocky scores did.  Other music used in the film than its original score also features work by some hip hop artists such as Future, Meek Mill and White Dave (don't know any of them myself!).  So overall the score is a pretty decent one if not necessarily the best or most memorable.

FLAWS (Warning this part may contain the odd spoiler!)

As for the film's flaws....well yeah there are the odd one or two.

And for starters the one thing I felt about the film is that it is just a bit too long and at 2 hours and 13 minutes it does feel a bit flabby and there are certain moments in the film that could have benefited from being trimmed.  And this highlights a few issues with the film's pacing overall as it is a bit slow and plodding at times and I personally think it would have been better if Creed was a shorter film.

I also felt that even though Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson share a nice low-key chemistry with one another I often had problems understanding what they were saying, particularly in the scene where Donnie and Bianca go out on their date (or sort of date!) to a diner.  And in the scene they kept mumbling their words and talking in the kind of African American slang, which makes it even harder to understand what they are saying to each other.  And I hope this doesn't come off as being racist (which I'm not honest!) but I wish in those scenes they talked more in a way that would be clearer to non-American audiences as some of their chemistry is lost in these moments if you can't understand what they are saying.

You could also argue that Donnie is a bit of a dick at times as he pretty much forces Rocky into coaching him and its almost like he gives him no choice, which eventually leaves Rocky to give in and say "You just don't give in, do you?  You're like a woodpecker!".  And you feel that Donnie is someone that just expects people to come around to his way without much or little say, which I kind of felt was a bit alienating at times but other than his character is mostly OK.  

Another issue I had with the film was to do with the idea of Conlan, being the light heavyweight world champion, yet setting him up as some sort of bad guy with a history, who has even got a jail sentence infront of him.  And even during the fight sequence Conlan is seen belittling Creed like he was Clubber Lang in the ring (well a white version!) or even the Albino badass karate student in the Karate Kid, who bullies his way through the film but in the end gives his respect to his opponent, Daniel La Russo who wins the championship trophy from him.  So its almost like an obligatory bad guy thing you have to have in these films, which just feels a bit old.

And lastly (SPOILER WARNING) there was the whole subplot of Rocky's cancer and how he underwent chemotherapy and yeah OK you do see Rocky undergo the treatment during Donnie's montage training scene.  But what the film doesn't properly tell is the outcome of Rocky's treatment as you are just expected to believe he is on the mend at the end of the film (given that ***SPOILER ALERT**** he is still alive in it!).  So that is something that was never again addressed in the film, no "yeah my cancer is now gone into remission, I'm going to be OK" or anything like that for the audience, so instead we are just led to believe that Rocky will be OK.  Well if they make a sequel to this film and Rocky is still in it then I guess we'll know that for sure but until then its all left a bit uncertain.     

Anyway that's it for the flaws....

SUM UP

So to sum up, Creed is an enjoyable addition to the Rocky universe, which may well see it develop its own new universe with Creed.  And Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone both work well togther on screen in their respective roles as does the supporting cast.  Pacing wise the film is a bit slow however and there is not much doubt that it could have done with being about 15 or 20 minutes shorter.  But if you can forgive that then you will find much to enjoy here and it sees a new intriguing character come onto the big screen.

Right so that's it for now and I'll be baaackkk with another review next month.

So until the next un its ciao for now!   

Atari Nostalgia Part 2: Keystone Kapers

Right so its time for the second part of my look at some of my favourite Atari games from the past and this one will be on the platform game, Keystone Kapers which was originally released for the Atari 2600 back in 1983.  So how has it stood up to the test of time???  Well let's find out.

Oh and since there is practically no story involved in this game (as is much the case for most Atari games) there will be no spoiler alerts ahead.  So let's get to it!

P.S. (Update on 26.06.16) I had made some errors in this review where I incorrectly put Harry's name instead of Kelly when describing the playable character but these have been fixed now!  

PREMISE AND GAMEPLAY

Well I'll start by mentioning what the premise of the game is and that is it involves a police officer named Keystone Kelly chasing a robber named Harry Hooligan through a department store and Kelly simply has to prevent Harry from escaping the store...and that's it!

As for the gameplay itself well its fairly straight forward and its primarily involves the playable character of Kelly running after Harry through the store which has four floors (including the top floor).  And during the game Kelly must avoid a series of hazards that come toward him such as shopping trolleys, flying toy biplanes, bouncing beachballs and radios and as the game progresses the levels get harder and the hazards move faster and faster.  Kelly during the game can run and jump to avoid obstacles and he can also crouch to evade the biplanes.

Kelly can use a lift that takes him between the 1st and 3rd floors in order to try and cut off Harry from making his escape easier, however if you reach the floor Harry is on, Harry can then double back and head the opposite way, which means Kelly may have to change between floors in the lift.  The game also features escalators which Kelly can also use to get to an upper level however he can't go down them again as they only go up.

As for the game's HUD (Heads Up Display for those unfamiliar with the term) it shows Kelly's lives as three police helmet icons but he does have an additional life after you lose your first three and the player is award an extra life every 10,000 points in the game.  The game has a timer that counts down from 50 seconds and if the player runs out of time they will lose a life.  Kelly can incur a time penalty if he collides with obstacles such as a trolley or a beech ball and he will instantly lose a life if he runs into a toy biplane.  The game also displays a map of the store layout, which also shows the lift and what level the lift is currently on, which will determine how long Kelly needs to wait before he can get into it.

As for the scoring system the player will received additional points for whatever time is left, which is multiplied as the game progesses and Kelly can also pick up a suitcase of money too that will award him 50 points each. 

GRAPHICS

Getting onto the game's graphics while they are not particularly amazing looking, they do look pretty good for their time and the game has a nice use of colour with a mixture of green for the department store levels and yellow for the floors.  The game also makes use of a sky backdrop which is blue and it shows grey rooftops overlooking the department store.  The animations for the two characters are also not bad and the movement of the characters is quite fluid.  So overall for its time, Keystone Kapers is a pretty decent looking game. 

SOUND

As for the sounds, well they are pretty basic as you would expect for an Atari game but they are actually quite good too, as the constant sound of Kelly's running is pretty cool and it actually sounds like someone is tapping a snare drum over and over.  The other noises are pretty simple and are electronic beeps (for Kelly picking up a suitcase) or bloops (for jumping) and an error type "dang" noise for when Kelly collides with an obstacle and the only other sound is the counter for the score.  Overall its pretty simple Atari sounds but they have an appeal all of their own. 

FLAWS

As for the game's flaws.....well Keystone Kapers isn't perfect of course and one of its problems like so many Atari games of the time is that there is literally no end to the game as the game goes on and on until the player loses their lives.  So again similar to Frostbite there is no real end goal here other than catching Harry and you have to do it over and over and over again!  I mean on a side note I just have to ask, how many times does Harry need to try and rob the store???  I mean surely he must realise crime doesn't pay! ;-)

Another issue is to do with the game's difficulty level as it get's hard pretty quickly as the game's hazards get faster and faster as each level passes.  And it get's to the point where hazards such as the shopping trolleys and the biplanes get so fast you are bound to collide with them, which will either cost you a life or impinge on your time to complete a level.  And the beach balls in particular are a real pain given it get's to the point where you need to jump over two or three of them per screen before you can move on.

Then there is the issue of waiting for that bloody lift as it goes up and down between floors, which can also be a real pain in the arse as the levels get tougher quite often shopping trollies fly past you and Harry needs to jump to avoid them while he waits for the lift.  And this quite often ends with Harry mistiming his jump as the trolleys get faster and faster, which again impinges on your time, the only good thing about this though is that the trolleys disppear once you hit them.

As for another quirk in the game that's a bit annoying as I previously mentioned is Kelly can only go up the store escalators and not down them yet Harry can manage to presumably do so as he appears on the level below if you are unable to catch him before he reaches the escalator.  So this is another frustrating obstacle that adds more time penalties onto your progress as you need to run back to the lift and try and get Harry from there!  

And lastly I have to ask: why the hell are there suitcases of money for Kelly to pick up just lying around the store????  I mean this makes no sense whatsoever and its almost like its a temptation for Kelly to steal this money for himself!  Again its like a rather bizzare inclusion by the programmers which appears to be there simply just for bonus points (but only 50 points a time).

Anyways that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Keystone Kapers is a very enjoyable platform game and is still fun after 33 years with its simple premise and its basic but also challenging gameplay.  And if you can get a hold of this game (which is easy using Atari ROM and emulator websites) I'd certainly recommend giving it a go.

Right that's it for now and I'll be back again sometime soon!

Till the next un bye for now!

Mad Max "You and me are gonna to talk about the Toecutter..."

OK so today is actually my birthday (41 years young as they say!) but I thought I would do a review anyway and this post will be on the first Mad Max film, strangely enough called Mad Max, which sparked off a successful franchise.  But is the original any cop???  Well let's gear up, get in the car and take a look....

And oh and the usual warning applies as it does for most posts on this blog:

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the film is set in Australia and it starts with a crazed motorbike gang member named "The Nightrider" (Vincent Gil) who has killed a rookie officer in the Australian highway patrol, MFP (Main Force Patrol).  The Nightrider is persued by other patrol officers and he tries to evade them in a stolen Pursuit Special car (a.k.a V8 Interceptor).  The Nightrider does manage to evade the first wave of persuers however he is soon chased by the MFP's top pursuit man, Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson).  The Nightrider is then drawn into a game of chicken against Max but the crazed rider loses his nerve and is unable to regain his composure as he soon crashes into a highway wreck and is blown up.

The following day, Max is called in by his fellow officer and good friend, Jim "Goose" Rains (Steve Bisley) as he takes to a police garage where a mechanic is working on a Police Special car, which a V8 engine with a supercharger that would make it the faster car on the road.  Max is taken in by the car and agrees to drive it once the work on it has been completed but it is soon revealed that a hidden wiretap has been placed on the car by the force's captain, Fred "Fifi" Macaffee (Roger Ward) who has had the car built as an incentive to keep Max on the force.

Meanwhile the gang that the Nightrider belonged to, lead by the Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his second in command, Bubba Zanetti (Geoff Parry) run roughshod over a town where they steal fuel, vandalise property and terrorise the town's people.  Max and Goose arrive at the scene of where an assault by the gang took place and they find and arrest one of the gang, Johnny "the boy" Boyle (Tim Burns) who was too high to have left the scene where the rape of a young couple took place.  However when none of the townspeople, or the gang show for Johnny's trial, the federal courts throw out the case much to the chagrin of Goose who violently threatens Johnny at the city police station.

Later on, Johnny sabotages Goose's motorcycle while he is at a nightclub in the city and the next day, Goose, while on patrol, is flung into a field from his bike when it locks up on him.  Goose, who is not injured, calls a towing service and hires out a vehicle to tow his motocycle back to the station.  However Goose is soon ambushed by the Toecutter and Johnny, who throws a break-drum at his windshield, which causes his vehicle to crash into a field.  And with Goose now trapped in the car, upside down, the Toecutter pressures Johnny to light a match and set the vehicle alight, which Johnny reluctantly does and as a result leaves Johnny severely burned.

Max then goes to see Goose in the hospital and is horrified by what he sees and this lead him into making the decision to quit the MFP.  Max then goes to see Fifi to tell him the news but Fifi asks that Max think it over and let's him take a holiday to get away for a while.  Max while on holiday with his wife, Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and his young baby son, Sprog (Brendan Heath) stop off at a garage to get a tyre changed on their car and Jessie leaves with Sprog to go and get an ice cream for themselves and Max.  Jessie however encounters Toecutter and his gang after she stops off at a shop to get ice cream, Toecutter tries to molest Jessie, who knees him in the balls and flees with her son and she picks up Max and they to retreat to an old farm owned by an elderly friend, May (Sheila Florence).  However the gang soon learn of their whereabouts from the garage mechanic (Nico Lathouris) and they follow them.

And its from here the fate of Max and his family at the hands of the Toecutter and his gang are decided......

THOUGHTS

Mad Max was in itself something of a landmark film in that established the career of its director, George Miller and also the career of its star, Mel Gibson and to this day it remains a gripping one.  Even though this film isn't quite as good as its sequel, Mad Max still offers plenty of great moments, tense action scenes aswell as the general suspense that is built up in the film's latter stages when Max and his family are forced to flee from the gang.

The gang's main members are also fairly well drawn out and the Toecutter makes for a memorable and somewhat chilling villain whereas Max in contrast makes for a somewhat offbeat hero (or antihero even) with his quiet manner and despite his skills as a pursuit driver, it remains a game he wants to get out of but ultimately its one that Max pays a hefty price for.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers!) 

As for the performances, things are pretty good here and it features a largely unknown cast (for its time) who all do a fine job.

And to start off there is of course the film's main star, Mel Gibson, who is excellent as Max, who starts off as a quiet, highly skilled pursuit driver but later becomes a bitter and burnt out man who is desparate for revenge.

Gibson has quite a few good scenes in the film that include the one where Max goes to see Goose in the hospital are he has been burned by Johnny in the car wreck.  And in the scene Max goes into Goose's room and he sees his friend's body has been covered over and he pulls back the cover and looks on in horror at what he sees.  And after Max comes out the room and says to his fellow officers "That THING in there....that's not the Goose!  No way!" and he walks out angrily.

Then there is the scene where (SPOILER!) after Max's wife and son have been killed, he sets about to get his revenge on the gang members that did it and to start off he goes back to the garage mechanic and interrogates him for information.  And in the scene Max stands over the mechanic who is working underneath the car, who delivers one of the film's best lines "You arshole!  What the Molly fuck do you think you're DOING??!!".  And Max coldly says "You and me are gonna to talk about the Toecutter" and as the mechanic says "Never heard of him" Max kicks the mechanic's work trolley under the car again, causing the mechanic to hit his head on the underside of the car and Max says "I want to know about the tattoo!" (referring to the gang member's small tattoo they all have on their faces).  And as the mechanic pleads with Max, Max then uses the car lift device to press it down on the mechanic, hurting his chest and he lifts it up again and pulls the mechanic out and grabs him and says "I'll say the names and you say yes or no...." and he says the gang members names one by one as the mechanic spills the beans.

And lastly (ANOTHER SPOILER!) there is the scene where Max after having wiped out most of the gang members, finds Johnny at the scene of a car accident, looting the car, Max stands over Johnny with a sawn-off shotgun pointed behind him and he tells Johnny to handcuff his ankle.  Max then drags Johnny over to the side of the car, chains the other cuff to the side of the wreck noticing the petrol pouring out of the car, uses a lighter to create a makeshift timebomb and Max then walks over to Johnny with a hacksaw.  And Max says to Johnny "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. Go!".  And Max limps off (having been shot in the leg earlier) back to his car leaving a terrified Johnny to his fate as Max drives off we see an explosion in the distance.

Hugh Keays-Byrne next is very good as the main villain, the unhinged and sadistic Toecutter and he plays the part in a very creepy and intense manner and the Toecutter remains as one of the most memorable villains of the genre.

Hugh also has some good scenes that include the one where the Toecutter and his gang arrive at a train station to pick up the coffin containing the late Night Rider.  And the Station Master calls the deceased Night Rider a "Poor bastard" which prompts the Toecutter to sharply say "The Nightrider. That is his name... the Nightrider!  Remember him when you look at the night sky!".  The Toecutter then says to the Station Master to take his hat off who says "Anything you say" and the Toecutter sarcastically replies " Anything I say. What a wonderful philosophy you have. Take him away!".

Another good scene is when the Toecutter and Johnny stand near the Goose's wrecked Ute vehicle, which is upside down and Toecutter insists that Johnny set the vehicle on fire.  And the Toecutter says to Johnny "This is a threshold moment, Johnny.  Do it for freedom and the Night Rider!" but as Johnny is reluctant to, the Toecutter grabs Johnny roughly and says to him "You scum sucking trash!!  Throw it!!  THROW IT!!" and Johnny reluctantly does, which sets the car afire.

And lastly there is the moment where the Toecutter and his gang, having followed Max, Jessie and Sprog to the remote farm, have taken Jessie's baby son, Sprog and they wait for her outside the farm.  And in the scene Toecutter taunts Jessie, who pleads for him to give her son back and he says "Jessie, Jessie, Jessie. You've not got a sense of humor!  You've got a pretty face, though. Awful pretty. Awful pretty.  I suppose you don't need a sense of humor with a pretty face. The only trouble is though, Missy, if you should...lose the face!".

Steve Bisley is also pretty good as Goose, Max's friend and fellow MFP officer who becomes a victim of the Toecutter's gang.

Bisley too has some good scenes but I will only mention a couple and the first one being the scene where Goose sits in a diner, eating his food and he tells a customer a graphic story about an accident he witnessed.  And Goose says to the customer "It was like slow motion. He leaves his seat and goes through the windshield, headfirst straight into the tree, right? And then bounces back through the windshield. And by the time we got to him, he was just sitting there, trying to scream with his face ripped off!".  And the customer puts his own food to the side and Goose asks him "What's the matter?" and the customer says "Not hungry anymore".

And lastly there is the scene where the Goose entices Max into the police garage by showing him the suped up pursuit vehicle which is intended for Max.  And Goose says to Max in the scene regarding the car's supercharger "You can shut the gate on this one, Maxie... it's the duck's guts!" and as Max stares transfixed at the car, Goose waves his hand infront of the oblivious Max and says "He's in a coma!".  And as Max asks about the car, Goose laughs and says "You've seen it!... You've heard it!... and you're still asking questions??!".

Joanne Samuel also is good in her role as Max's wife, who is clearly not happy about him being part of the MFP (and possibly also plays a part in his wanting to resign from the force itself).

And Joanne has some good moments too but I will only mention the scene where Jessie and her son, Sprog go for an ice cream but Jessie is accosted by the Toecutter and his gang.  And in the scene, Jessie let's Toecutter lick her ice cream lightly before she knees him in the balls and she shoves the ice cream into his face before fleeing in the car with her son.

Geoff Parry who has a fairly brief role in the film also is quite good as the creepy second in command next to the Toecutter, Bubba Zanetti (who is complete with a bleach blonde hairdo!).

And Parry's most notable scene comes when Zanetti spies from behind a wired fence a car that his gang had wrecked earlier on that is being towed to the Halls of Justice.  And a young teenager asks Zanetti "Hey Mister!  What happened to the car?" and Zanetti says almost sarcastically "What do you think happened?" and the teenager says "It looks like its being chewed up and spat out!" and Zanetti says "Perhaps it was the result of anxiety!".

Tim Burns is also very good as the unstable Johnny, who is part of Toecutter's gang and is his protege, however his reckless beahviour get's him in hot water.

Burns has some good scenes that include the one where Johnny is released by the MFP when no one showed for his trial and in the scene Johnny taunts Goose.  And in the scene Johnny says to Goose as he leaves the station "See ya later, Goose...." and he taps the back of his head and says "....its been a pleasure!" which prompts Goose to go apeshit and try and beat Johnny only to be held back by Fifi and Max.

And lastly there is the scene at the end where Johnny is handcuffed by Max to a car wreck, which is spilling petrol and Max takes Johnny's lighter and uses it as a make shift timed bob.  And in the scene Johnny, scared asks "What are you doing??  I want to know what you are doing??!" and as Max doesn't answer him, Johnny panics and shouts "Jesus!  You can't kill me!!". 

And lastly Roger Ward is very good as the MFP Captain, Fifi, who is keen to keep Max on the force as Max is their best patrol driver.

And Ward has some good moments also that include the one where Johnny is taken to court but is let go because no one showed up for his trial (connecting to the rape of the girl).  And in the scene Fifi angrily tells Goose how no one showed up and says "They didn't show!  The punks didn't show, the girl didn't show, the townspeople didn't show!  NOBODY SHOWED!!".

Then there is the scene where Max turns up at Fifi's apartment to tell him he is quitting the MFP but Fifi advises Max to take a holiday and think it over.  And in the scene Fifi tries to encourage Max by saying "They say people don't believe in heroes anymore. Well damn them! You and me, Max, we're gonna give them back their heroes!".  And Max laughs and says "Ah, Fif.  Do you really expect me to go for that crap?!" and Fifi says "You gotta admit I sounded good there for a minute, huh?!".

DIRECTOR 

As for the film's director, George Miller on his debut film here does a great job and he keep the action and pacing close and taut so the film rarely ever lags at just 94 minutes long.  Miller manages to bring up the suspense very well as the film progresses until the film reaches its vengeful climax.  Miller himself was formerly a medical doctor in Sydney and he saw many victims of car accidents and he himself had even lost friends in car crashes when he was a teenager so the film was certainly based on real life experiences. 

And even though the film was made on a modest budget of 400,000 Australian dollars it actually looks great for its time and it was also one of the first Australian films to be shot using widescreen anamorphic lenses.  And the film is actually worth getting on Blu-ray (or to download in HD from an online service like I did from the Playstation store) as it shows off the impressive visuals of the Australian outback very well.

MUSIC

Getting on the film's music score which was by the Australian composer, Brian May (not to be confused with Brian May of Queen!) which overall is very good.  The film's score has an almost medieval feel to it and it is suitably melodramatic but it also features some romantice overtones to it that relate to the scenes between Max and his wife, Jessie.  May would go on to compose the sequel, Road Warrior, which is also a fine score in its own right so they are both worth checking out in fact.

FLAWS

As for Mad Max's flaws....yeah OK there are one or two here and there.

And start off I think even though it looks fairly impressive for its time it has to be said that it also looks rather dated aswell as you can clearly see the 1970's hairdos on display here, it dates the film to that period.  Not to mention there is the scene in the nightclub with the female singer, which emphasises that this film, even though it is supposed to be set in the near future does very much have a 70's feel to it given the choice of music in that scene!  And it also emphasises just how Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior did much better in this respect as that film has a more timeless feel to it.

Then plot wise one issue I had was to do with Jessie's choice to even go for an ice cream with Sprog without Max, which given that there is a chance that she might bump into a gang of nomad bikers, its a thought that never crossed her mind, especially as Max is a marked man by the bikers (as Fifi told him earlier in the film).  So this to me suggests that Jessie really should have exercised alot more caution before she decided to go off with her baby son. 

Another issue I had with the film was to do with the scene when Jessie runs on the middle of the road with her son, fleeing from Toecutter's gang when surely she would have been wiser to have run OFF the road to try and evade the gang!  I mean, yeah OK, they most likely would have still run her over but at least she wouldn't be a blatant sitting duck for them out in the middle of the bloody road!!  And just perhaps Jessie might have been able to have evaded them just long enough for Max to catch up and take a shot at the gang with his own shotgun.

This also highlights another daft moment in this scene where the elderly woman, May, who tries to help Jessie, has a double barrelled shotgun which she aims directly at the gang and fires but ends up missing them!  I mean she was almost at point blank range so I can't quite see how she could have missed from that distance!  Ah well I guess it serves as a useful plot ex-machina to allow the gang to run over Jessie in the first place. 

And lastly this brings me onto another issue....why do the MFP and other gangs only have access to shotguns???  Its like there are never any machine guns of any kind in the film, which would definitely be more useful than having to slowly reload shotgun shells into double barreled shotguns!  Now I don't know if this is just down to the region they live in as its not like America where you can pick up an Uzi at your local supermarket but you think if they had access to more than just shotguns it might help them take down the gangs easier.  But then again this would raise the issue of gun control and then the gangs will have access to too many guns too, so perhaps that's why there are hardly any.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Mad Max is still a gripping and effective action thriller, which kick started the careers of George Miller and Mel Gibson.  It is also visually quite stylish, features some great chase scenes and good performances from its virtually unknown cast (well at that time) and it all ends on a rather downbeat but nevertheless intruiging climax, which sets up the film for a sequel.  And if you haven't seen Mad Max yet then I'd recommended giving it a watch as its a film that still works well to this day.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back on here with another post soon, untill I'll try and enjoy the rest of my birthday! :-)

So until the next un, bye for now!