Skip to header | Skip to content

Login

Username:

Password:

Remember me

• Lost your password?

• Home
• Web Feeds
• Contact & Links
• FAQ
• Support
• Log in

8 Review »

1. 

   INVISIBLEWOLFMAN WROTE:

   Mad Max. You know, I didn’t see this film proper until 1990. Until then, I’d only seen Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and bits and pieces of The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2). When I first viewed it, I didn’t know what to make of it as it was quite brutal, much more so than Beyond Thunderdome even hinted at. I viewed it again later on the same day and just ended up developing a love for it. It’s not a perfect film, but what it lacks in perfection it makes up for in sheer tenacity and brutal boldness. It’s a film that you can totally love or completely hate, there really can be no space in-between.

   What could possibly possess Tranzor to do an edit of a film that I couldn’t imagine changing much? Simple:

   Because he can.

   Now, I don’t say that in a rude way. I say it because he was just as bold in his quest to edit Mad Max as the film itself was to show the brutality of human nature. And boy, is Tranzor ever brutal with this edit! He knocks the running time to under an hour! In this edit, there is no family for Max. Just his police work. By removing the scenes that show Max’s home life, it really speeds up the film and keeps the high pressure rolling right along. When Max’s best friend Goose is savagely burned to a crisp and barely clinging to life, Max seeks revenge. And here lies the biggest difference of all.

   I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, but I’ll be honest to say that what gave the film heart in its original form IS when Max decides to quit doing police work and just be a family man….only to have that ripped away from him as his family is systematically destroyed by the group of vicious bikers that have been destroying practically everyone and everything in their path. The very people that Max had been fighting against and at least limiting to a degree. With Max’s family gone, Goose being roasted like a duck over an open flame becomes his main reason for revenge. It’s hard to swallow, and that’s because it makes Max seem just as brutal as the bikers who did it.

   As for the disc itself, it’s barebones but Tranzor so kindly explains as it opens that it’s because he wanted to get it right out there without delay. Amazingly, he spent a bit of time and gives us the option of the original Australian track or the redubbed American track on the audio side of things, so kudos to that! I have only a few quibbles about the disc, though;

   1) It’s non-anamorphic. It would’ve been nice to have an anamorphic picture.

   2) Weirdly, when I went to the audio menu, somehow the color highlighting selection scheme confused me and I kept ending up at the audio menu…I say weirdly because I don’t think it’s any different than the main menu highlighting selection scheme. This just might come down to me NOT paying attention…

   3) An audio commentary. Yep. I’d love to hear what Tranzor has to say about this, from how he was first exposed to this film right down to the editing choices he made.

   In conclusion, although Tranzor’s edit is brutal and removes what I consider the heart of the film, the story still achieves what it’s supposed to; reminding us that sometimes harsh brutality can only be beaten with harsher brutality. One thing is certain and that is I haven’t felt this way about Mad Max since I first viewed it 18 long years ago.

   Love it, or hate it. There can be no in-between.

   Review by tranzor — February 16, 2008 @ 9:49 pm

2. 

   JAMIEMARK WROTE: (in reference to ver 1.2, same as before but with commentary by Tranzor, the RS links listed are for this newer version)

   “I enjoyed the edit and the commentary track as well. Your thoughts on the anamorphic issue made me chuckle” .

   Review by tranzor — March 7, 2008 @ 1:14 am

3. 

   this is a quote from IWM and a reply to that quote from Boon himself:

   “InvisibleWolfMan wrote:
   I’m glad Tranzor keeps on his toes and makes bold choices in his edits. He’s got something going that makes me want to see what else is up that editing sleeve of his. Damn bold choices, and they are paying off in SPADES……”

   Boon:
   yes, that’s what I really like about tranzor’s work. He dares to experiment with movies. Pretty interesting choices all the time

   Review by tranzor — October 23, 2008 @ 1:29 am

4. 

   in addition to the regular cover work, 3d (for glasses red/blue) cover art is available as well

   http://rapidshare.com/files/219447986/MME3D.rar

   Review by tranzor — April 9, 2009 @ 11:57 pm

5. 

   Pros:
   -interesting, creative take on the film. I’m always impressed when an editor can change a major plot point and make it work
   -nice, quick, action-packed edit
   -no plot holes as long as you view it as a stand-alone film
   -nice commentary track

   Cons:
   -non-anamorphic
   -lots of rough edits
   -don’t really buy that Max would be that pissed because of what happened to a co-worker – the loss of his family is much more believable revenge story
   -plot changes don’t fit in with cannon
   -not really a con, but people shouldn’t be given the option of watching this with the horrible dubbed US audio

   6/10, anamorphic with smoother edits would be 8/10

   Review by Adabisi — November 8, 2009 @ 12:26 am

6. 

   I normally do not like commenting on a comment, but I was curious in this case, so I got in touch with Adabisi about the mention of rough edits in his review.

   In my eyes a rough edit is if the video is cut badly with noticeable error transitions or black screen inbetween or a piece or frame of the video you cut out still left in

   in that respect I have no rough edits. The video joins are very smooth

   However in his view, if it is something whether the actual video part itself is smooth, if it is noticeable it is a rough edit

   This is where we can both agree. It mainly boils down to the audio. I probably should have been using crossfades or more mixing instead of a regular audio fade out. In fact if you mute the tv while watching you can see the video edit joins are flawless

   I also probably should have used a blend or dissolve for the video scenes that did use an actual video fade (which was only 2)

   so visual wise the editing is smooth, but I should have used better audio transitions, nothing that is a hard to listen to hard cut so to speak and it really is not many at all.

   So sit back and enjoy the edit

   Review by tranzor — November 9, 2009 @ 3:18 am

7. 

   To some, any change to this film is sacrilege. I’m open minded enough to sit through someone’s vision of the film and Tranzor’s intent was to remove the drama and focus on the action and he did that. This is a perfect version to watch if you only have under an hour to spare. I was quite impressed with how it played out and how the entire “family” part could be so easily removed. It could now be entitled “MAD MAX AVENGES THE GOOSE”. Someone above mentioned that he doesn’t really buy that Max would flip out because a buddy of his was killed. A buddy he probably worked with for years and went through hell with. They might have joined the force at the same time. I think Max was probably sick of seeing so many of his friends die that this one sent him over the edge. The reviewer also mentioned that it has lots of rough cuts but I didn’t notice any. I admit that I’m not a pro when it comes to this stuff but this edit entertained me and that’s all that matters to me. I know Tranzor did this edit for himself but I’m glad he decided to share it with us.

   Review by Goremeister — November 14, 2009 @ 9:13 pm

8. 

   great changes!

   i disagree with adabisi regarding max’s motives, his reaction to goose’s condition is strong and he is obviously more than just a coworker.

   elements that i thought could be improved are already mentioned (letterboxing, fades, audio editing, etc.).

   personally, i could do without the “effect” closeup shots and speed mad max up a bit – but this is a great way to watch mad max out-of-cannon.

   8/10

   Review by joebshmoe — November 15, 2009 @ 10:42 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a REVIEW:

You must be logged in to post a comment.