The Road Warrior
(1981)











Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour and 35 Minutes


Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A+

"The Road Warrior" is more than your average, post-apocalyptic-waste-land, action film. It is very much more, in fact. It is the very template for such films and, despite its low budget and gritty production design (or maybe because of them and the invention which such issues force upon a filmmaker) it is still the best example of such a film and the one that truly fires on every single cylinder. This film is utter carnage, pure adrenaline, and a bit of philosophy. It is a cautionary film. A film that makes you appreciate humanity in the face of the utter lack of it. It is also one of the most kickass action films ever made. In fact, I would rank it only behind "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for the title "Greatest Action Movie Ever Made".

This is a miracle of a movie. It has a kinetic energy and exertion behind it that exhausts the viewer as much as the people actually in the movie. Why? Because we care so much for its main characters. The best of these, of course, would be Mel Gibson as Max. We only know that his name is Max because of the first film in this series: Mad Max. Gibson never says his name. Neither does anyone else. Things like names have ceased to matter in the future of "The Road Warrior". In an atmosphere where human life itself has no value, why should a simple name? Max wanders through the waste lands of this future society (the time is, like the best of these films, not specified) searching for the things that mean life: food, water and, particularly, gasoline. If the film is, stripped to the essentials, a Western (and it is, one of which Sergio Leone himself might have been proud) then gasoline is the gold. It is the marrow of life in this society. Though it remains to be seen exactly what good this gasoline will do once obtained. After all, where is there to go?

Oh, wait, there is somewhere to go. In his trek across the waste land, Max meets the captain of a small helicopter (Bruce Spence), a true eccentric who leads him to a group of people with a plan and a horde of gasoline. Their plan is to make the trek north to a place where there is still tillable ground, beaches and the amenities of life. A place that has not been ruined in the conflict.

The only problem is the Lord Humongous, an unseen foe with a burned head and a hockey mask where his face is supposed to be. He and his army of barbarians have surrounded the compound and refuse to leave without the gasoline. They will also do anything to get it. And I mean anything. Our first introduction to these bloodthirsty men involves a rape and two murders, among other unpleasantries. Enter Max, the only man who can drive fast enough to get them out alive and with the "juice".

The strengths of this film are myriad, but I will attempt to catalogue them nonetheless.
First of all, it has an immensely compelling hero. We never really know who Max is, or what makes him tick. And it is this enigmatic quality that keeps us watching, that keeps our interest so thoroughly piqued. We never exactly know if he will keep his word, if he can or will help the people at the compound, and we never really understand what makes him tick. But that is the marvel of his character. He is a wonderful enigma, a wasted man in a wasted land searching for nothing quite so ardently as his soul. He has lost everything, even if we hadn't seen the first film or the recap at the beginning of this one, we would sense that in an instant.
But he still retains, deep down, his dignity and a certain amount of morals. This isn't entirely apparent, however, until the film's ending, after its dynamite finale.

Another element that is key to the success of the film is the villains. These guys rival even Nazis as far as pure evil is concerned. They are not at all sophisticated. They are not at all moral. They are human only in their desires. They want sex, so they rape. They take lives at will. They are soulless monsters, acting only on the basest of instincts. They are as inescapable and devoid of complications as a pack of sharks or wolves. And they are, therefore, utterly terrifying. They are not the sort of men one would want to meet in a dark alley, or even a well-lit one. They are barbarians of the worst lot and even the most cynical freak would doubt their bloodthirsty nature or want to meet them. They are an unstoppable force, as well as one of the greatest forces of villainy that the cinema has ever unleashed. Especially the quiet, brooding menace of the faceless Humongous or the rage of the vicious Wez (Vernon Wells). It's hard not to quiver in the face of a man that even THESE guys have to keep on a leash!

Best of all, the action sequences are like adrenaline in a bottle! From the first frame, the film grips you by the throat and refuses to surrender its hold over you. It's a mesmerizing, exhilarating, eye-popping and blood-soaked ride. It's not for the faint of heart or stomach, but those who can handle it will be handsomely rewarded. Witness the finale, in which a convoy of the good guys defend a tanker driven by none other than Max from a group of the nihilistic bastards armed with every manner of weapon known to man. There is not an instant where the outcome of this conflict is not in doubt, not a moment where the heart is not beating somewhere in the throat. The movie rockets forward like a missile, bombarding and uplifting the senses.

But the greatest thing is that, somewhere along the way, by stripping away that which is not important, by its simplicity and its scope, it manages to show the essence of humanity. It also shows us how terrifying the concept of those without it truly would be. This is an action movie for the brain as well as the pulse. This is a true classic in every sense of the word. Look at the glorious production design, which really does look as though it is cobbled together out of whatever was handy after the Bomb was dropped. Check out the brilliant costumes, which work for the same reason. Thrill at the script, which is hardworn and utterly functional, yet retains its own sense of poetry, its own violent sort of rhythm and epiphany. The film attains mythic status without even seeming to try. No, it was not the first of its kind, that distinction belongs to the quirkier and more humorous "A Boy and His Dog". But it has refined that earlier vision, stripped it to its core, and made it breathe in a fresh way.

Simply put, this is what action films are SUPPOSED to do. Check it out.