In the ravaged near future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face ofa police force hell-bent on stopping them. But they underestimate one officer: Max Rockatansky. And when the bikers brutalize Max's best friend and family, they send him into a mad frenzy that leaves him with only one thing left in the world to live for – revenge!
Stunts themselves would be nothing without a filmmaker behind the camera and George Miller, a doctor and film buff making his first feature, shows he knows what cinema is all about.
– ,
Variety,
30 May 2007
rotten:
Mad Max is ugly and incoherent, and aimed, probably accurately, at the most uncritical of moviegoers.
– Tom Buckley,
New York Times,
21 May 2003
fresh:
The tone sometimes wavers into self-parody, and there are occasional crude patches, but overall this edge-of-seat revenge movie marks the most exciting debut from an Australian director since Peter Weir.
– Derek Adams,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
Some of the most determinedly formalist filmmaking this side of Michael Snow.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
30 May 2007
fresh:
Overnight, Mad Max went from being a U.S. cult hero to a mainstream figure, and Mel Gibson's place in the firmament was secured.