Saturday, August 28, 2010

Watch The Sci-Fi Movie Thriller The Road Warrior

By Estela Todd

The Road Warrior, known as Mad Max 2 in Australia, is, simply put, one of the all time classics. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest action stories ever put to film and, perhaps, one of the all time great films, period. It is sort of the action film answer to Citizen Kane or Casablanca. The movie is well crafted and the story well told. Even with the breakneck pace and chaos within the story, the movie remains clear and coherent the whole way through, and is one of the all time must download movies.

There aren't a lot of movies that work so well on so many levels, much less action films, which are typically used just to turn over a quick and easy profit at the box office. The movie is just, very, very strong on all possible levels. It's exciting, fun and has some moments of great humor, drama and humanity.

You know all about the movie, but it's worth a recap: The film takes place in a post apocalyptic Australian Outback where gas and water are both scarce. Mel Gibson plays Mad Max Rockatansky. He was a cop before the world fell apart, and now simply drifts from here to there, hoping to collect enough gas, food and water to stay alive from day to day.

Throughout the previous film, Max lost touch with his humanity, becoming just as cruel and ruthless as the villains he pursued. This time, he needs to take a chance at redemption and at getting in touch with his humanity once more by getting involved once more with society, or what's left of it.

The movie is essentially one long chase scene, stopping here and there just long enough to give us a breather and some more character and story development. Of course, the majority of character and story is developed through the action, which is how it's supposed to be. Too often, action is only thrown in to get in the way of the story and put the viewer's brain on pause. Here, the action IS the story, just as it was in the days of the old westerns.

The movie is really all about the nature of heroism. It gets into the Joseph Campbellian concepts of mythology and comes out with a legendary story that many Australians consider "The Australian Star Wars" in terms of cultural importance. It is, of course, one of the national treasures of the Australian cinema, and one of the most successful films ever to come from that country.

The movie is, really, a classic western in a new setting. It belongs on the same shelf as Stagecoach as one of the all time great examples of how the classic John Ford and Howard Hawks westerns developed their own stories.

The movie is loud, spectacular, full of crazy characters and stunts, and, perhaps, one of the ten greatest films ever made, depending on how you evaluate films on a personal level. At the very least, it is one of the most well crafted and well told action stories of all time, and certainly belongs on your download queue if you haven't seen it yet. - 40727

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment