I remember the Mad Max films from my youth and I always saw them as an Australian low budget futuristic film using old cars and scrapyard parts and was curious to see how the new film might look.
The film came out in 2015 but I have only gotten around to see it this week.
Watching the modern version, I was surprised how un-futuristic unrealistic the film was.
Dystopian yes, colourful certainly but as each car flipped and crashed, I questioned why the airbags didn’t deploy? You see we have had a few changes in technology since Mel Gibson first took to the road as a badass bandit cop of the future in 1979.
In fact we have had some impressive changes since Mad Mel got in trouble with a cop in his own fury road moment when he was arrested for a DUI in 2006.
Where was the collision warning or the self-driving, energy efficient smart technology cars?
Somewhat of a killjoy I questioned my poor girlfriend on how un-futuristic the future was with hot rods and Cadillacs hellbent on catching up with an oil rig driven by Charlize Theron and Tom Max Hardy.
Back in the outback, Fury Road continues the journey across Australia but when I think of long haul driving across Australia, well I think of the World Solar Challenge or an extreme coast to coast cycle.
"Breaker breaker, we got ourselves a convoy" but unlike the the 1975 song Convoy, these law breakers are prepared to die for their cult leader Joe and just want to enter the gates of Valhalla.
Despite the typical shortage of oil and water storyline, this dusty desert doesn’t offer up any solar power vehicles so keep on trucking but surely a Tesla truck could make an appearance in the future.
Believe it or not but the first Toyota Prius prototype was started in 1971, 2 years before the Oil Crisis hit and 8 years before the original Mad Max film took to the road.
We have been dependent on oil and I believe unnecessarily so when you think that the Prius prototype sat in the inventor’s garage for 25 years before anyone took any interest in it.
In a world with scarce fuel resources, where were the Minis and Teslas and Prius taxis?
Back in the 60s and 70s, small cars became popular with the introduction of the Beetle and Mini. The Mini is far from miniature today but it has been nearly 4 decades since the first film ignited a passion for a car themed viking future.
This high octane film blasts back to the 1970s but hopefully the world wont turn into a desert and those solar power cars in Australia will get the lead out and tackle some of the important issues on our future road.
Two people died in France last week in clashes with the police against gas price increases.
The deaths will no doubt only be the beginning of the end for cars and the internal combustion engine over the next forty years as we are forced to tackle climate change and pollution that kills thousands each year due to contaminates in the air. See you on the road to Valhalla, drive carefully.
Witness this
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46356649
https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/06/22/inenglish/1529657491_406807.html?rel=mas?rel=mas
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