Greed makes people crazy and nothing makes people greedier than a certain precious metal. In “Gold” (2022), Zac Efron finds himself in a version of “Mad Max” with much fewer contraptions. Hobbled but still optimistic, he hitches a ride across this dystopian wasteland, where he and his cohort stumble upon the unexpected. Predictably rapacious hijinks ensue. Zac starts out needing a bath and as the film drags itself into “Revenant” territory, I stayed interested by wondering how much dirtier he’d actually get (you’d be surprised). You probably won’t be surprised by how this painfully tedious exercise in degeneration turns out.
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The first half of “Weird Science” (1985) is so good – classic teen comedy from writer/director John Hughes – you forget how badly the second half runs off the rails. Rejects from “Mad Max?” Cruise missiles? Bill Paxton as Jabba the Hutt? Granted, the ship rights itself for a semi-sensible ending that’s a cross between “Risky Business” and “Sixteen Candles” but you’re left wondering what could have been. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith are classic high school dorks who use early computer technology to build a beautiful woman (Kelly LeBrock) for immoral purposes. She ends up teaching them a valuable lesson.
The interesting thing about “Mad Max” (1980) is that Max is only mad for a few scenes at the end of the film. Talk about a slow buildup. It’s a cheaply made, poorly acted, abysmally edited cross between a police procedural and a sci-fi flick. And don’t get me started about the sound editing. It’s full-bore, Spaghetti Western quality (who knew Australian needed to be dubbed into English?). All that adds up to the perfect B movie, which is why it was such a cult classic, why it spawned a big-budget franchise and why it made Mel Gibson a star.
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