MGM jumped on the DVD bandwagon rather late in the game, and the studio has been struggling to keep up ever since. Traditionally, MGM has released bare-bones, movie-only DVDs with bad transfers and horrid sound but, thankfully, tradition seems to be losing out to what consumers want. Mad Max: Special Edition is the latest offering from MGM's film vaults to make its way onto DVD in a restored, high-performance disc, and it's about time, too.

Mad Max will probably go down in history as the film that made Mel Gibson a star, but that would gloss over the film's many other virtues. A post-apocalyptic tale of good vs. evil, Mad Max features the title character, Max Rockatansky, in his job as an "Interceptor," a kind of cop struggling to maintain order in a world where the government has all but collapsed and ruthless biker thugs and warlords have made normal life impossible. When Max kills a member of the gang, their leader, the Toecutter, turns around and butcher's Max's family. As a result, Max gets very mad and goes straight to kick-ass mode. The story is slick and well-told, with enough fast cars, gun battles, and extreme chases to keep you tied to your chair. It's basically a Western set in a decaying Australia, and it's a welcome change of pace for action fans, too.

MGM presented us with a two-sided, dual-layer DVD that has two versions of the film: a gorgeous 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, and a full-screen copy on the same side for those who don't like to see the whole movie. For the first time, American audiences get to watch the film with the original Australian dialogue (it was dubbed with American actors for the US and never released with the original accents before now), either in the old-school mono mix or a completely redone, deep and dynamic DD 5.1 remix. On the other side you get two mini-documentaries, one about the Mad Max series and how the crews made the films (informative), and one about Mel Gibson's rise to stardom (blah). Round that out with a pop-up video style "trivia track" (really just a subtitle option), and you've got a great disc.

The pop-up video track is one of the best and most innovative new features in a long time; I hope other DVD companies take note, because it's fun, informative, and you can watch it again and again, unlike most commentary tracks and other "extras." Overall, Mad Max is an excellent disc, and at its current price, it's worth adding to your shelves. If you're an action fan or a post-apocalyptic-film fan, then this disc is a must.

I've been a fan of "Mad Max" since seeing it in the theater in 1980, and I pre-ordered this Blu-ray as soon as it was announced. The movie itself has been reviewed extensively elsewhere, so my review will cover, briefly, the Blu-ray disc only. I played it on a JVC XVBP11 Blu-ray Player and watched it on a Panasonic TC-L32X2 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV and, more recently, on a Panasonic VIERA TC-P42S30 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV.

720p Comments:

Overall it looks very dark. They didn't digitally correct any of the color errors (that is, spots in the movie where the film has color damage--it's really obvious after Max drags himself back to the car). The color is richer than on the DVD; skin tones look accurate, but the clouds look pinkish. And it's grainy, but still clearer than ever. You can actually read the graffiti on the high-fatality road sign, and read all the port rules on the beach sign. It's going to be a treasure trove for costumers and prop makers! The BD is definitely an improvement over the DVD in terms of clarity, but the price of that clarity seems to be all the visual noise that's now visible. (In many of the scenes where open blue sky is the backdrop, the sky tends to flicker.) I checked some scenes on the DVD and the color shifting and noise are there, too--it's just not as noticeable as on the BD. I suspect it's the very same source print.

1080p Comments:

Before I owned the 1080p plasma, I thought that having all that additional resolution would just make the bad qualities of the transfer that much more obvious. I was wrong. Frankly, it looks pretty amazing. There was less flickering of the sky, and print damage was much less obvious. The film still appears grainy, and overall the color is somewhat dull, but it IS a 30-year-old low-budget movie--a lot of which seems to have been shot on overcast days.

Additional Disc Comments:

The disc menu is odd: The footage is from the movie but the sound is sourced from who-knows-where (most of it is not from the movie, and doesn't even really match the visuals). And would someone tell me why they insist on including the abominable American dub in every release? (The only redeeming feature of the American dub--aside from its comedy value--is that some engine sounds were beefed up, and the characters' voices don't get lost in the mix as they do in the original.) The default audio is the original Australian track in 5.1 DTS HD. There's also a mono mix for you traditionalists.

The DVD included in the set is the exact same one from the Mad Max (Special Edition) DVD. (I compared them and the markings/numbers are identical.) Compared to the BD, it now looks a little washed-out. The chapter breaks appear to be the same for both discs.

Conclusion:

The question is, is this BD release worth the money? Well, if you're a die-hard completist or a hard-core fan like I am, the answer is yes. If you have a 1080p TV, then the answer is YES! If you're looking for the definitive Blu-ray release of Mad Max that's the best it's ever going to get, I'd say wait (or buy used). Maybe someday we'll get a loving, caring, comprehensive digital restoration by someone who doesn't care just about the sales numbers. But who knows how long that might take?

Buy Mad Max (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) (2010) Now

Before I wrote a review for this film I had to get my hands on a version with the original Aussie dialogue to see if it truly mattered. Well the answer is, yes it does. Other reviewers are correct when saying the dubbed version (in American English) makes the actors come off campy and it hurts the film a great deal. And yes, dialogue is even changed slightly, some more than others, like when the one kid and his girlfriend leave town in his hotrod with the biker gang hot on their trail. In the American version he says "Don't worry" to his girlfriend, but in the Aussie version he says "No worries". I don't really think a dubbed English version was necessary. I could understand what they were saying even with the Australian accents. I mean imagine network TV dubbing Crocodile Hunter every week with an American accent...BAD IDEA! Now that the DVD is out of print (because ORION Pictures is out of business) let's hope Warner Brothers obtains the rights to this masterpiece, digitally remasters it (Dolby Digital 5.1 or better) and gives us the Aussie Soundtrack. Japan released this film on DVD with both Audio tracks (But in Region Code 2 only), so it's about time we got the same thing. In fact, Warner should re-release all three films in a nice box set and make them all special editions. The latest VHS version of The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2) included a retrospective documentary that was never included on the DVD. To me, this is a great film that deserves the S.E. treatment. It's hard to believe it was only Mel Gibson's 3rd film (After Summer City & Tim). This movie is set during the decline of civilization and Mad Max 2 is set shortly after that when civilization is all but destroyed and scattered. Mad Max sets the standard for the sequals and truly gives us a man gone mad by the loss of loved ones at the hands of not just the bikers, but the decay of life as we know it. I love the trilogy...rare that each one is uniquely special in it's own right, yet still propells the character forward. Mad Max is a Classic, so Warner Brothers needs to get a move on with that remastered version (you know they won the rights to it) so people can see the original Mad Max in all its glory!....G'day!

Read Best Reviews of Mad Max (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) (2010) Here

For fans of George Miller's first "Mad Max" movie, this is the version for which we've been waiting more than 20 years for . . . the original Australian dialogue version. While the American voice actors tried to do their best to capture the characters and the synchronization was generally good, the dubbing, on the whole, lacks the subtleties that the original actors, speaking in their natural dialect, brought to the screen. Further, in the U.S. dubbed version, there was no appreciable attempt to change the Australian slang used thoughout the film, making the dubbing even more pointless than it already was.

Beyond the new audio track, there is much more on this DVD to merit inclusion in your collection. The DVD presents the film in both anamorphic widescreen and full-frame formats. Now why anyone would want to watch "Mad Max" in full-frame is beyond me, but you can effectively recreate the VHS viewing experience of the last 15 plus years by selecting the full-frame video and U.S. dub audio options. There are also two newly produced, informative documentaries included, one on the making of the film and the other on the early Australian (pre-1980) film career of Mel Gibson. There's also a terrific audio commentary with several of the behind-the-scenes film crew members, including the Director of Photography, David Eggby. In one telling sequence, Eggby mentions that he had no idea how fast and dangerous the filming actually was while seated on the back seat of a motorcycle for a POV shot. It was only after he saw the daily rushes one day, that he noticed that the speedometer of the bike appeared in the shot and that it registered 180 kilometers per hour (approximately 110 mph)!

The DVD also includes the usual trailer and TV spots, a photo gallery of international posters and lobby cards, and even a hidden, but not too difficult to find "Easter Egg." All in all, MGM has done a superlative job on this "Special Edition" DVD, easily exceeding, by a far margin, the two sequel DVDs released by Warner's ("The Road Warrior" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome").

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I have had this movie on just about every home video format since Betamax .

This is as good a picture as you will get on this title , unless they restore it IMO ...

What also really stands out is that we get the original actors voices , not the dubbed USA

version ...A real treat and a ground breaking movie !!

Since I bought this again , I consider it a must own !!

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