Mad Max 2: Road Warrior

We all know how good Mad Max 2 is, so skipping over the movie, let's get down to the quality of the Blu ray disc:

First off, the picture is a huge leap from the DVD. The colours are sharp, with no bleed and no edge enhancement. Max's first meeting with the Gyrocopter Pilot is a standout scene; the Gyro pilot's leather coat is perfectly detailed and at times is almost pseudo-3D, the clarity is that good. Every hair on Max's dog can be picked out clearly, and the general grime and dust of the desert-setting shows up perfectly. The picture quality isn't without its problems, though. The dark scenes during Max's departure from the compound are grainy at best, and downright messy in other places, but I reckon that's more to do with the age of the print and the photography of the day. There's some noticeable blurring in some scenes, again due to the print and photography at the time. But these are minor quibbles. Picture: 5/5

The audio is also outstanding, though it's only a little improvement over the DVD's due to the age of the film and the sound mix of the time. Plenty of spatial effects, but more importantly the roar of the engines have sufficient base and growl to make it an impressive experience. The music seems to have been remixed too to make the fantastic bombastic score not too overpowering. Audio: 4/5

Extras are frankly crap. There's a commentary that's interesting, but little else other than a 3 min introduction that shows only the ineptitude of the American distributors in the handling of the original Mad Max; that and a single trailer. For a film that has defined action movies in the 80's and 90's you would expect a lot more. A missed opportunity. Extras: 2/5

(Reviewed on:
Samsung LCD 40" Series 6 100mhz, 1080p
Sony BDP350
Sony STDR-850 5.1 surround sound amp)

I bought "Mad Max 2" (aka "The Road Warrior") on DVD today - my all-time action movie favourite. I've watched it on video more than 30 times, where the editing, music and action sequences form one of the very best action movies ever made. It is violent, yes, but not in the splatter movie way. Instead, it is tough, grim and violent without being gory. The DVD is a Zone 2 release (Europe), and I began to suspect foul play when I saw the running time: 87 minutes. When I came home, I checked it against my British video version, which is 92 minutes, and the US release, which is 96. Dreading the worst, I started watching the DVD... And yes, the censors had been there and cut or shortened several scenes. Mad as h*ll, and disgusted as well, I stopped watching the travesty. I will return it to the shop, as the cuts made it unwatchable. I absolutely _hate_ censorship, and the DVD version has severely stunted what should have been a welcome addition to my DVD shelf.

Of the three Mad Max films this is my favourite. The picture and sound are not going to blow you away, so this isn't the title to show off to your mates. This isn't a fault of BluRay but more limitations of the original film materials. A bonus on this BluRay is an audio commentary with director George Miller and cinematographer Dean Semler. This offers a great insight into the early 80s Australian independant film making process. And they too point out sections where they would have done things differently had they the money and the resources. This is an improvement on the original DVD issue and certainly worth the money for Mad Max fans. Languages are English, Castilian Spanish, German, French, Itallian. Subtitles are English, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish. There is no indication on the packaging to show if this is region coded. It plays on my region B machine.