'Mad Max' still presents scary vision of the future 40 years later

I can't imagine what audiences thought when they were confronted with the world of George Miller's Mad Max 40 years ago. Even Star Wars, as far our as it is, presents a fairly old fashioned story with recognizable archetypes. This film is definitely set on planet earth but a pretty terrifying one in the not too distant future.

What's curious about the first Mad Max is that it presents a society on the brink of crumbling down but not fully gone to seed. Max is a happy, seemingly well adjusted family man at the beginning of the film, there's a law enforcement structure -- albeit one that's under siege -- and there still seems to be the basic necessities.

By the time The Road Warrior (a.k.a. Mad Max 2) arrives Max is a shell of a man and we're in a full post-apocalyptic wasteland, and all the films that followed (Thunderdome and the Oscar nominated Fury Road) present a similarly horrifying universe where oil an eventually water are so scarce that people who have them are in supreme positions of power.

The character of Max himself has always been more mythic than tangible. As Mel Gibson played him, he was a noble badass hero turned vengeful, taciturn assassin. Tom Hardy brought more pathos and physicality to the role, but the series was never about Max (as evidenced by Charlize Theron's more substantive role in the last film).

These movies have always been not so stealthy commentaries on our current environment. They are alarming warnings of what our world could be if traditional structures (like the police) break down and everyone becomes lawless. And even when Max triumphs in the end -- with the exception of Fury Road -- the victories never really feel complete and certainly don't permanently upend the status quo.

This scenario has always seemed like the stuff of fantasy until recent years, where the political climate has been so toxic and yes, mad, that the world presented in these movies doesn't feel quite so far fetched anymore.

I also don't know what is says about me that this original movie truly comes alive when Max goes mad. He becomes our vengeful id, slaughtering bad guys with aplomb but also without remorse. It's the kind of character Mel Gibson has always been too eerily good at playing and perhaps his off-screen behavior suggests why he has a knack for playing righteous anger.

Unfortunately, it appears at though we may never see another iteration of these films from their legendary creator, George Miller.is in his mid 70s now, and it seems as though the character and franchise is hopelessly bogged down in studio wrangling. This is a huge shame, because right now we could really use the shock of this world back on the big screen where it belongs.