Rating: 
Summary: Mad Max Beyond the Dubbing Zone
Review: 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").
Rating: 
Summary: They say people don't believe in heroes anymore!
Review: "Mad Max" is a pretty simple revenge tale, a rousing sci-fi biker and car-crash-a-thon. Mel Gibson plays Max, a police pursuit driver in an unspecified future where roadgangs terrorize the innocent. Evidently road rage is way out of hand! When motorcycle thugs kill Max's best friend Goose (amiable Steve Bisley), his wife (Joanne Samuel) and son Sprog (!), Max gets mad... and gets even. What elevates this drive-in flick to cult classic status is director George Miller's use of low-riding, wide-angled shots to give the chase scenes an intensity never before seen. And Mel's presence, too, I suppose. Mel looks awful young, but flashes the charm and charisma that keeps him atop the box office charts all these years later.
Like all cult movies, "Mad Max" has its cheesy moments. Max's scenes with his wife feature some goofy dialogue, and there's a very cheap-looking nightclub set at one point. But Hugh Keays-Byrne, as the reprehensible Toecutter, and Tim Burns (an Adam Ant lookalike) as the psychotic Johnny, provide ample menace. Plus, Miller and company throw in some very unusual-looking supporting players. And then there are the spectacular stunts and kinetic camerawork; they've been ripped-off a thousand times since!
This "Special Edition" features a crisp, widescreen print (ooh!) and, even better, the original Australian vocal track (ahh!). Finally, someone wised up and banished the cartoon voices. The original actors perform solidly throughout, even subtly in places. At last, you can see why Samuel Z. Arkoff would bother to import this movie. But why'd he mangle it with bad overdubbing? No matter. The sequel ("Road Warrior") remains the superior film, but this new-to-the-U.S. version of the first movie provides some adrenaline-inducing adventure. Includes some nice commentary with plenty of inside trivia on the stuntwork and how they risked their lives just filming it! Truly death-defying work. As Max's boss Fifi says, "We're gonna give 'em back their heroes!"
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the way it was meant to be seen and heard!
Review: I won't go into details about the movie. Fans of Mad Max already know the plight of Max Rockatansky and how he became the Road Warrior. Instead, I will go into how this DVD is better than the original released in the United States. First off, get this DVD. If all you have ever seen is the USA version with the awful dubbed American voices, then you have not seen the true Mad Max movie. Let me say something about dubbing: it normally doesn't come off well, especially when you redub English with English, as is the case with Mad Max. You lose ALL the emotions that the actors had originally portrayed in the movie. With Mad Max, this is entirely true. In fact, the actors that did the dubbed voices completely carried their emotions over the edge to the point of campiness. In no WAY did they portray the real emotions of the characters and it ruined the movie. It actually made excellent actors look bad and made the entire movie campy, which it isn't. It has it's moments of humor that actually fill in nicely with the Aussie voices, but is pushed over the edge in campiness with the American dubbing. It really is that bad, especially now that I've seen it with the Aussie voices. Once I saw this movie with the original Aussie voices, my opinion changed. I may be so bold as to say that this movie is possibly better than Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior (and let's get that changed to Mad Max 2 now since everyone knows about Mad Max). What really upset me was that in the American version, they even ADDED dialogue that was SO unnecessary! I didn't realise this until I saw the Aussie version. This is not only a great action movie, but a wonderful drama as well. It has so many elements from different genres: action, suspense, horror, drama. George Miller put together an excellent movie on such a low budget. A lot of the elements were lost due to the dubbing but have now been brought back to life with this DVD release. One case is when Mel is talking to Jessie after Goose buys the farm. In the American dubbed version, Max doesn't seem that broken up about it. However, hearing Mel's voice, you can hear how Max is near tears, upset and sad that his best friend is dead. It really brings you closer to the characters to the point that you feel for them as real people. This was driven home to me even more during the scene when Jessie and Sprog are about to be mowed down by the Toecutter and his band of seedy thugs. When Jessie was running away, my mood turned to sadness, knowing what was about to happen. Once it happened, that sadness turned to extreme anger. When Max finally extracts his revenge, I was cheering. That NEVER happened with the American dubbed version. The DVD has two excellent documentories: one on how the movie was made and the other about Mel Gibson's rise to fame. There are also trailers, TV spots and posters available as well as the original American dubbed (mono) track, a commentary track, and a trivia track that pops up cool trivia bits while you watch the movie. At the price they have listed, this is a steal!...No true Mad Max fan would be without this movie. It was SO excellent that I watched it twice the day I bought it. Get it or else, it's time to send the MFP after you!
Rating:
Summary: When do we go for a ride?!
Review: Ever since the first time I watched this movie, I have loved it. Mel Gibson is one of the greatest actors to ever come onto the big screen. I have the VHS version of "Mad Max", but it pales badly to the new special edition DVD. I had looked at buying an Australian version, I'm glad I waited. The best part about the DVD is the ability to either watch the American dubbed version(ick) or the Aussie version. The American dubbing really knocked out a lot of the background noise that the DVD brings out... sirens, horns, a lot of little sounds that I've never heard on the tape...believe me, I've watched this tape many, many times... I think I could recite it in my sleep... TWO THUMBS UP FOR THE DVD VERSION!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD packed with a ton of features!
Review: I've seen Mad Max dozens of times, but after watching the new SE DVD it was like watching it again for the very first time! That is not an exaggeration. The new DVD offers the choice of the poorly dubbed US soundtrack or the original Australian soundtrack. Watch the original track! The pacing of the film changes entirely, as do the characters. The original soundtrack breathes new life into this film. The features are great, there's a trivia track that pops up info about the production, cars, and Aussie slang terms used as you watch it, 2 documentaries, TV spots, theater trailer, and more. The print is fabulous, and it turns out this is a film you really need to see in widescreen. Having seen it both ways now I can tell you that the pan & scanned version misses a lot of the stuntwork and chase scene action. If you've seen this movie in the past and thought, 'It was OK' this new DVD will have you saying, 'It was great!'
Rating: 
Summary: mad max
Review: this film is one of my all time favorites but i have to say the picture quality of the video is very poor i am needless to say dissapointed
Rating:
Summary: It's about time
Review: It's about time we Americans can finally see this classic with the original Aussie accents. The dubbing on the US versions were terrible. This DVD makes me wonder how I put up with the dubbed version. A great movie that finally gets it due. It is already one of my most cherished DVD's.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the Special Edition
Review: I saw this movie when i was a kid and loved it. I still like it as an adult, but the dubbed dialogue takes alot away from it. Hearing the original Aussie accents take this to a new dimension. Very Cool!
Rating:
Summary: An action classic returns...
Review: I saw "Mad Max" almost a decade ago on local TV, and despite being edited for television, it was a shocking and intense movie. Besides the simple plot, this film manages to work just as well as when I first saw it. The violence is this film is rather tame, often cutting away to show something that may be not as gory, but is just as shocking. The chases in this film are incredible (and the more surprising since this was made before the advent of CGI). The new DVD release has some rather interesting treats, such as the original Australian audio, as opposed to the dubbed version that floats around on television (the fact there doesn't seem to be a problem with understanding the dialogue in the original track makes me wonder why it hasn't been released like this in the U.S. for so long), plus you can pick between seeing the film in Widescreen or Pan&Scan (widescreen...no contest on how I watch it), a documentary on the film's influence, and a commentary by members of the crew (who explain some of the more startling sequences in the movie). For the price, "Mad Max" is definitely worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Finally - the way it was meant to be seen (and heard)
Review: I won't go into the story. We all know the tale of Max Rockatansky. What many in the USA do NOT know is, how great this film really is and how the actors themselves are excellent. Why? Because, those of us who have been so unlucky as to have been stuck with the version where the actor's voices have been redubbed with American actors have had to suffer through what appears to be a very campy-acted film. With this special edition DVD (which I purchased at Borders on January 3rd, 2002), the real emotions of the characters come through and put this film in a whole other light. What was lost when the USA decided to redub Mad Max, for fear of Americans apparently not understanding what the characters were saying, was the actual feelings of the characters. They seemed lifeless if not souless. All of that has changed now. I wanted to see this movie with the original Aussie soundtrack, not thinking it would make THAT much of a difference. Boy, was I wrong! With the real actor's voices now back where they belong, the characters are much more real to me. I actually can connect with them and feel for them. And, the campiness of the film is actually gone, making this a MUCH more serious action/drama. Yes, drama! One part of the movie which stood out before but really sticks in my mind now and actually made me realize once and for all how much this made a difference was when Jessie and Sprock are heartlessly mowed down by the Toe Cutter's gang. At that point, I was extremely mad, ticked off, sad, all at the same time. My feelings at that point were of such contempt for these criminals. I was angry because I had made a very real connection with Max and his family. They were real, they actually existed to me, they had feelings that didn't feel fake, which was the feeling I got when watching the American dubbed version. In fact, I had just seen Mad Max on regular cable TV just a few weeks ago, and even though I felt a twinge of sadness for Max, it was NOTHING compared to watching it tonight with the Aussie soundtrack. It is amazing how such a simple thing as dubbing can destroy the atmosphere and the characters in a film, degrading them to nothing but campy, over-the-top fluff. I went so far as to go and switch back and forth between the Aussie and American dubbed versions right in the middle of the movie. No contest. The Aussie version beats the American dubbed version hands down. It should be a crime for that version to be shown anymore now that this movie is available in it's original format. The features on the DVD itself are not the greatest, but the documentaries on the movie as well as Mel Gibson's rise to fame are excellent. The TV spots and other trailers are nostalgia in the making. However, the movie trailer states that it is for Australia, yet when you hear the actors talk, it's in the ... American-dubbed voices, so I'm not sure why this is labled as the Australian movie trailers. As for the American dubbed version, I'm still glad they included it. If anything, it's how I first saw this film and to have the opportunity to listen to that version (which I doubt I EVER will again) is great. The sound in the 5.1 is pretty good. It does seem that the car engine effects have lost some things in the transition, and sometimes, it was difficult to hear the dialog over the effects, but overall, excellent. The picture in letterbox format is clear and sharp. It seemed like this movie was just filmed not too long ago. A BIG difference from seeing the older VHS versions. I don't remember seeing spots and other anamolies that crop up on older films. Excellent transition to DVD. Avoid all other version of this movie, on DVD and VHS. THIS, the Special Edition, is the one to own and add to your Mad Max collection. Get rid of the older versions (if you can - I can't imagine they fetch much) and keep this one. To keep the others or even think of purchasing them should be enough to send out the MFP on you.
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