Friday, July 16, 2010

Watch The Sci-Fi Movie The Road Warrior

The Road Warrior [Blu-ray]By Ross Salinas

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 many movies that work so well as action movies while being one of those films you might consider to be one of the greatest ever made. However, the film is just so incredibly strong on so many levels that you have to recognize how good it is as a film regardless of whether or not you're usually a big fan of action flicks.

If you haven't seen it, and somehow have no idea what it's about: Mad Max Rockatansky is a former cop wandering a wasted outback in Australia. Food and water have become scarce after World War III, as has gasoline. Max is trying to find enough resources just to keep himself alive from day to day as he wanders across the wasteland.

Throughout his trials in the previous film, Max became just as much of a ruthless beast as the criminals he'd been chasing. Here, he's offered a chance at redemption, at becoming a part of society, or what is left of it, once more.

The movie is really just one big chase scene, only stopping here and there just long enough to give the audience a moment to catch their breath. While a lesser movie might have been made boring by all this action, in The Road Warrior, the action and the story are one and the same. Character and plot are both developed through action, not like the modern action flick where the fights and chases only get in the way of the story.

In the end the movie is really a statement on heroism, delving into Joseph Campbellian mythological structure and coming up with what many Australians consider to be "Star Wars Down Under". It's certainly one of the most successful films to ever come out of that country, and is still considered a national treasure of the Australian cinema all these decades later.

It will likely go down as one of the great westerns and western influenced films. It should stand alongside Stagecoach in that regard, in that it really is just great action and physical heroism from beginning to end.

The movie is loud, fast and aggressive, full of insane characters and crazy stunts (several stuntmen almost died, in fact). It may well be one of the greatest films ever made for storytelling and craftsmanship, and if not, it's certainly one of the all time great action films, and certainly worth a watch whether or not you're usually an action fan. It's definitely one to see before you die, and if you haven't seen it yet, you want to ASAP.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...