Starring: Mel Gibson, Tina Turner, Helen Buday, Frank Thring, Bruce Spence, Robert Grubb, Angelo Rossitto, Angry Anderson, George Spartels, and Edwin Hodgeman.
Directed By: George Miller and George Ogilvie
Rating: 
(1 ½ out of 5)
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| Max, still pretty cool, despite the general lameness surrounding him |
Wow, this movie sucks. I mean, I remember not liking it much when it first came out, but watching it again just served to remind me how lame (and incoherent) it really was. Woof! I guess this movie really represents the turning point for George Miller from making movies about and for adults to making movies about and for kids (he’s the creative force behind the Babe movies, you know the pig… actually, now that I think of it, considering how prominent pigs are in MMBT, maybe this is his transition to making movies about and for pigs).
The first warning sign is when the movie starts up and you see that big PG-13 indication. Mad Max and the Road Warrior (RW) were both rated R, justifiably since they were gritty, violent movies. MMBT is Road Warrior lite, Road Warrior with its edge dulled so much that it doesn’t have an edge.
Well, enough ranting, let’s get on with the review…. MMBT starts off promisingly enough actually. Despite the lame, glossy, Tina Turner song playing over the opening credits, the first scene begins with a beautifully shot high-altitude look at a large swath of open desert. As the camera swoops closer, we see a large cart drawn by a team of camels. A plane flies low over the vehicle, so low that it knocks the driver out of his seat as the camels keep going. The plane circles back around, and we see the pilots: Jedediah (Bruce Spence) and his young son Jedediah, Jr. (Adam Cockburn). Jedediah the elder jumps out of the plane and on the vehicle’s seat (!) and spurs the camels to increase their pace, leaving the driver far behind. In the back of the vehicle, a small monkey throws possessions out the back. The man chasing after the cart finally stops. He removes his scarf, and we see Max with long, flowing hair, looking like he’s just come back from a tryout with Poison (or Whitesnake or another one of those 80s hair bands). Read the rest of this entry »
