The Road Warrior [Blu-ray] | List Price: $28.99 Discount Price: $13.59

| Brand: Warner Brothers Binding: Blu-ray Release Date: 2007-05-15
A great film ignored its greatness [Posted on 2008-07-26] Did you also pop this into your player to find out the widescreen format is essentially full screen? How did that happen?
The Road Warrior was rated the ninth best film of the entire decade of the 1980's .... I was surprised too; hidden in an action story is .... [blank]. My screenwriting professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts passed around handouts: Number One was Raging Bull ... Nine, This (circa 1991). Which group of critics I cannot say, but it WAS a group. And if one of the best film schools in the country distributes word of such confidence for a film, and enough critics and film buffs over the years too, don't you think film studios would have some pride to restore it and make some non-flakey and non-adulatory documentary features seriously interested in TRW? How many films can boast this kind of following? And last and last? Don't the studios know how many of us WANT to buy a DVD version like Wez would w ... Oh yeah. He's missing fingers.
Similar congratulations go to the DVD cover.
Mad Max 2, in HD-DVD ROCKS!! [Posted on 2008-08-29] This is the BEST version of the movie I have seen ( I bought it on VHS and DVD) and by-far this version beats them ALL hands down!! Too bad HD-DVD is no more, I guess I will buy it on Blu-Ray next!!
MAD TO THE MAX [Posted on 2008-09-09] This is THE template for the post-apocalyptic action film. Came out the same year as Blade Runner and both movies hold up to scrutiny and still amaze some 25 years later. You would not believe the flood of imitators that followed its release in the early eighties and it still continues to inform the look of the dirty, raw sci-fi genre (Doomsday, anyone?) I liked the original okay, but ROAD WARRIOR (which you don't need to see MAD MAX first to follow, you newbies) distilled the essence and multiplied it times 10. George Miller, the genius behind this flick, struck gold with this combination, then preceded to bungle it with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, which was probably the second most-anticipated yet then most disappointing film upon its release in my pre-teen universe... The first being RETURN OF THE JEDI.
The Road Warrior: a New Hero Mystique is Born [Posted on 2008-09-20] Road gangs rule the wastelands in the post-apocalyptic aftermath of civilization's finale. The most valued commodities: oil, gasoline, cars and guns. Mel Gibson stars as the now iconic Mad Max--the quiet wandering scavenger, humankind's mysterious last hero. The plot is simple: The Road Warrior must decide between escape or to stay and defend the peaceful gasoline making tribe from the tyranny of a wasteland gang.
As each action scene is skillfully 'wiped' to the next the tension builds and the dramatic quality of the theme is rooted. The question is: Can these people escape the wasteland and journey toward the rumored last haven of civilized humankind? Or will they be hunted down, raped and murdered like animals by the whim of gang rule.
Despite the gruesome action and sometimes campy dialogue, the theme of the film is complex: the right to one's own life. This is portrayed in the conflict between the producer tribe and the thieving gang; the creators vs. the destroyers; and Max walks the the middle line as an individual standing against tyranny, the defender of that right to life (his own), and of that dream of a better place. Max can't escape his past as a policeman, as a arbiter of justice, but can he escape the gang's brutality and live to scavenge another day?
Through Max we identify with the fight against tyranny in defense of a future for humanity, and as we do, a new hero mystique is born: that of the brooding and cunning last remnant of humankind's ideals. Also, a warning rises to the surface of this film; a warning about gang rule and human corruption and where that may lead us.
A movie worth revisiting! HD transfer very good [Posted on 2008-09-24] The movie itself really doesn't need much said about it, but I forgot high this title set the bar. I actually own the HD-DVD version, but this Blu-Ray version is basically identical. Considering the age of the movie, the transfer looks great. Far better production quality versus the DVD releases. There were details in the video that I had completely overlooked. Don't expect the big Lucasarts style soundtrack, but the audio quality is good enough to get the job done. A great movie with a powerful and relevant political message to share with today's generation - if for no better reason to admire what was achieved in this movie without CGI effects.
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