For this reason, today we want to go to the original source of the films, since many forget that the first one has a quite different tone and aesthetic, even if only for budget.
What are the Mad Max movies about?
In general, from a desert and devastated future, where civilization has collapsed and it’s back to the barbarian times, but with fast vehicles and an aesthetic punk.
Composed of four films and another in preparation, this is the plot and the most important of each one.
Mad Max: Freeway Savages (1979)
Shot in the late 1970s, it presented a future set just a few years later. With society collapsing and resources scarce, Australia’s roads are ruled by violent gangs that turn it into a battlefield, in which they assault innocents and steal the precious and scarce gasoline.
Max Rockatansky is a policeman who loses his family and his partner at the hands of one of those biker gangs, led by the evil Toecutter.
deeply affected, Max decides to take revenge and become the road warrior known as mad max.
The film was a complete success. Made with just $350,000, it grossed about $100 million. and it was for a long time the most profitable film according to Guinness World Records.
In addition, it was the launch to fame of an unknown and very young Mel Gibson.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
In this film we already see in all its splendor the aesthetics that would make the saga famous, thanks to having a larger budget.
Max is no longer a policeman, but a lonely wanderer traveling through a devastated Australia after a nuclear war, looking for gasoline that has become the most valuable resource.
A tough, born survivor, he comes across a small group of honest people who run an oil refinery. Reluctantly, must protect them from the biker gang that terrorizes themwhile transporting your entire fuel supply to a safer location.
Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Max wanders around, bumping into Negocity, founded by Tía Ama, a Tina Turner which, without a doubt, fits perfectly into the saga.
There, Max will confront the Master Beater in the Thunderdome that gives the film its name, but he refuses to kill him, so he is abandoned in the desert and rescued by The Lost Tribe: a community of abandoned children who survive by their own. account, awaiting the arrival of the legendary Captain Walker.
Max will save them by confronting Aunt Mistress, so that they can fly to a devastated Sydney that they will rebuild. The children will always remember the man who rescued them, turning on the city lights so that Max can find them one day.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
It would take 30 years to have another installment in the saga, also directed by George Miller. The veteran director showed everyone that he is still in shape with an excellent action movie that rescued the best of the saga.
Here, Max is played by a Tom Hardy who says practically nothing, nor does he need to, and who is secondary to the main heroine, Imperator Furiosa.
This is a war captain of Immortan Joe, leader of a desert gang, against whom he rebels. Joe has the survivors of the apocalypse enslaved in his citadel, and Max gets caught up in the fray.
Joe’s hordes chase Max, Furiosa and the girls she has rescued from Joe’s clutches. The movie is basically endless chase with fast-paced action and cool effectswhich forget the computer in favor of a more organic action.
Mad Max: Furiosa (upcoming movie)
There will still be, at least, another part of the saga, focused on the character of Furiosa and that it will be a prequel.
Focused on the origin of the heroine, at first it was going to be Charlize Theron again who would play the role, using effects of deaging to represent a 20-year-old Furiosa.
However, Miller has finally ruled out this option and will be one of the fashionable actresses, Anya Taylor-Joythe one who will play the warrior of the apocalypse.
The film is still in its early stages, so little else is known about it.
Who is the creator and director of Mad Max?
the veteran George Miller, who created history and has directed or co-directed (as in the case of Thunderdome) all the movies.
Also responsible for other movies What Babe the brave little pig either Happy FeetYou wouldn’t imagine that the mild-mannered Miller was responsible for some ultraviolent films that, as the world is, will soon find themselves in the documentary section, but it is.
Actors and main characters
Without a doubt, this is the saga that made Mel Gibson an action hero and a sought-after actor. In addition, it has had another curious effect, barely anyone else is remembered from the original trilogy moviesexcept the legendary Tina Turner.
- Max Rockatansky He is an Australian ex-policeman in a society that is collapsing due to lack of resources. After the loss of his family, he will become a tough survivor who wanders the desert and can’t help but reluctantly help those in need. He is played by Mel Gibson in the first three films and by Tom Hardy in the delivery of Fury Road.
- Tina Turner is Aunt Mistressowner of Negocity in the third film and practically almost the only other known.
- Imperator Furiosa She is a tough captain of Immortan Joe’s gang who rebels against him and the slavery he imposes. She is played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road Y Anya Taylor-Joy in the next movie about her.
Some curiosities and secrets of the Mad Max saga
To wrap things up, here are some Fascinating facts that many are unaware of on mad max and his movie saga.
- Miller worked as an ER doctor to complete the first film from mad max. She ran out of money to edit and post-produce, so he did what he could to get it.
- Mel Gibson I was just accompanying a friend casting for the paperbut they ended up giving it to him.
- The movie is inspired by the oil crisis of the 70swhich is what lends it the theme of a world where gasoline is so precious and scarce.
- The tradition that Max speaks little comes from afar. yes in Fury Road just growl, in the original movie it only has 16 lines of dialogue.
- The ultraviolence of the original film was not liked by everyone and was banned in New Zealand and Sweden for a time.
As you can see, the saga mad max It has forever marked the atmosphere and the stories that take place in dystopian and desolate futures.
One of the franchises with the most personality of its own, it shows that Miller, at almost 80 years old, has more skill for storytelling and action than 90 percent of Hollywood directors.
