Mad Max And The Australian Apocalypse

[white avenger]

Well, folks, he's back, sort of. We've got Mad Max, but no Mel Gibson. Is anyone particularly thrilled to see this character reborn? It's a break from the various superhero movies, I guess, but, beyond that, I'm kinda underwhelmed by the whole thing. Can't Hollywood and the other various movie production centers throughout the world find anything new to make movies about?

 

[thetopher]

Oh, I love this idea!

The idea of a remake of this is so fresh and exciting- 'cause they can but in loads of OTT stunts and explosions (like those brilliant 'Fast And Furiuos' films!) maybe with some CGI car chases and collisions to really wow people!

And what's more they can put in a reeeaaaly subtle 'oil is bad' green environmental messege. Something along the lines of 'This is the world still addicted to fossil fuels'. Have the bad guys be some redneck types and Max himself as all 'gas is a nessesary evil' and have some good guys who are like 'we have to be sustainable Max!'

That would alll be so clever!


Okay, so that was my sarcastic and probably wicked accurate prediction for the direction of this reboot/remake. I'll be very surprised if it doesn't include at least one of these elements in the film. (Just look at 'Noah' for an example of what I'm talking about.)

If there's one type of film that doesn't ever need to be remade its grimy gritty post-apocalyptic films, becasue you just know that Hollywood will just take the 'teeth' out of it and turn it into generic popcorn crap.

 

[Buffy Summers]

If people didn't watch the remakes, they would stop making them.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

The only reason I liked the original, memories of where shot some of the scenes, no, that makes me sound to old .. .. . I went to where the shot a few of the scenes.
Look on the bright side, if the remake is that bad they won't do another.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Oh I loved the originals lol!

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Them's the benefits of youth, when Mel Gibson was younger he shouted at the extras, when he got older he needed plenty of cheap booze before he shouted at Jews, phones, walls, his lawn, his wife, his kids, the neighbours cats, pretty much anything that doesn't carry it's own cross.

Me, I only shout at the flowers these days, in the mornings when I go outside I may shout to them. "Oh grow up you little b--t--ds!"

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I saw the trailer and its just seems... a bit off somehow. Part of the charm of the original trilogy was it was a bunch of guys out in the desert with souped-up cars and crazy costumes. The characters and the dialogue were the real stars. I'm afraid that with a huge CGI budget, it will become just another Hollywood explosion-fest.

ETA: It's not a remake... it's a sequel to the original trilogy.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The guy flying the autogyro was great in the original series - but it crashed. (The only other movie with an autogyro in it that I can think of was "The Rocketeer".) So a cop goes hunting the fuel pirates who killed his wife. We don't need this story again.

As far as remakes are concerned, a lot of people go to see them just to see if they are any good. There was a remake of "Flight of the Phoenix" that changed the aircraft, the continent and a lot of other stuff but not much of the story. It was redundant. I saw the original, I did not need to see the remake.

Everyone knows remakes will be on cable within a year. I don't really get the economics behind putting out a movie everyone has seen with maybe a few changes and a few more explosions at a higher cost than the original when it will go to cable and die there. The new Mad Max series will be on TV in a year so why spend money to see what I have already seen before it goes to where everyone will see it for free?

 

[JCoatsworth]

I was really looking forward to it. The beginning of the trailer looked really cool: Dusty, dirty and gritty.
But as the trailer went on it got to CGI-heavy, in my opinion. CGI looks so clean and smooth. There was too much 'Hollywood action' in the trailer for my taste. For a movie like this, they should have used more practical effects and real car crashes. That's what I like about the other Mad Max movies. It looks all dirty and old.

But speaking of the Australian Apocalypse, has anybody seen The Rover starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson? I really want to see that movie.

 

[Buffy Summers]

The only thing I can say in favor of remakes is that there is a segment of the younger generation who can't get past the difference in technology and enjoy an older film. (I don't mean this as an insult, so don't bite my head off, it's just how it is.) In one of my film classes, we watched the movie Witness. And it's me and like a bunch of 18 year olds. None of them enjoyed the movie. None. Same thing Fast Times at Ridgemont High - they did not get the humor and they hated how the movie looked.

So there is something to be said for making films they know will be a success for a new generation.

My PERSONAL feeling on remakes is, you only do them if you can improve upon the original. For example, the movie that SCREAMS to be remade is The Wiz. Fantastic stage musical, worst film of all time. It's just too bad they waited so long that Hinton Battie can't reprise his stage role as the Scarecrow...

 

[JCoatsworth]

The only thing I can say in favor of remakes is that there is a segment of the younger generation who can't get past the difference in technology and enjoy an older film. (I don't mean this as an insult, so don't bite my head off, it's just how it is.) In one of my film classes, we watched the movie Witness. And it's me and like a bunch of 18 year olds. None of them enjoyed the movie. None. Same thing Fast Times at Ridgemont High - they did not get the humor and they hated how the movie looked.

Yes, I totally know what you mean. Whenever I tell somebody that my favorite movie is Jurassic Park, they often make remarks about the film's age. However, I don't think the movie is that old, since some of my favorite movies are from the 50s and 60s.
To be honest, I kind of pity other young people who can't enjoy a movie because of its age. They're really missing out on a lot of great stuff.

You may be right that remakes of classics can introduce a movie to newer generations, but for me, personally, this is no reason to remake a movie. A good reason, in my opinion, is when a filmmaker has a new original vision for an old story. One of my favorite examples is John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), which is kind of a remake of The Thing from Another World (1951). The movies, however, have almost nothing in common.

 

[Buffy Summers]

I agree with you, but in reality, studios are out to make money and the known is better to them than the unknown. Artistically, it's bad, financially, it's good.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I almost never have any interest in remakes... I think in general they are lazy and take resources away from talented people with new stories to tell.

There are a few exceptions... I liked the Coen Brothers' remakes of "The Ladykillers" and "True Grit" because they told the stories with a new voice and perspective and had original entertainment value different from that of the originals.

And, of course, I don't really consider multiple movies based on the same literary source to be "remakes." There have been several good versions of "Hamlet" and "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wind in the Willows."

The only remakes I'd really like to see are of movies that were good ideas to start with, but were done in either a very dated manner, were just done badly, or didn't have good enough technology to do them justice the first time around. Some examples that come immediately to mind are "Barbarella", "Logan's Run", and "Red Sonja."

As I said, this new Mad Max movie is a sequel, not a remake. So I'm open-minded about it, even with a new Max. My big concern is the big budget, which will spoil the old scenario of a bunch of crazy Australians going out in the desert to make a cool movie with props and costumes and modified vehicles.

 

[thetopher]

If this is a sequel-ish thing and not a remake I'm still not that bothered about it, but maybe they'll try and go in a different direction with the whole idea.

As a whole remakes do tend to be terrible, but their are some exceptions.

And there are films that do really need to be remade- 'Resident Evil' for example has spawned a slew of terrible movies that have nothing to do with the original 'zombie horror' games, its just about Mia Jochivich with friggin' superpowers doing action things in slow-mo. Awful. 🙁

On seperate note I like both 'True Grit' films, but the more recent one really isn't a remake as such- it's taken from the original story rather than from the first film- using that source material in a different way, which is cool imo.