Test audience screenings 7/30 & 12/8 (Spoilers)

[Taipan]

Was it a partial screening or did you see the whole movie? Is it a very rough cut still with some green screen and missing elements? (ADR, score etc)

[blackmocco]

The entire movie, Taipan. There's still quite a bit of tidying up to do, f/x wise but it's all there. Wasn't clear whether it was the final score or not and there's some ADR still to be done. God knows, they have the time. Haha! Wish I wasn't the only one here who's seen it as I'd be very curious to hear what other people thought of it.

[biolumen]

Does it have the potential to be a huge hit for WB? I mean, do you think it has great appeal to a general audience?

[blackmocco]

Honestly...? My initial feeling is no. That's not necessarily a reflection on the movie itself - I really enjoyed it even though I had some issues with it that aren't going to be fixable in the editing room - but it's pretty out there, concept wise. Can't really see a mainstream audience plugging into it, although I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

[Taipan]

Thanks for answering!

Here's some more questions:
What about Max's backstory? Is it heavily altered?
Are there any mentions of the 'pre-apocalypse' order of things like in Thunderdome? (I'm asking this because I'm worried the movie throws us into that world and never bothers to mention the reason why all this madness happened)

[blackmocco]

Think it's safe to say it's a reboot. If people want to try and shoehorn it into a timeline, feel free but they'd be putting more effort into that than the filmmakers did. I don't mean that disparagingly, but the movie clips along right from the opening titles so there's not much attention paid to where characters were before all this, Max included. What is mentioned and alluded to, is different than what we've seen before. Hence, reboot.

[leadcounsel]

Just back from the screening. Hard to digest what I've just seen. I'm not going to post spoilers, sorry. Think I need a night to really absorb it. It's an insane movie. Seriously. Probably the most unique big budget movie I've ever seen. It's closer in tone and style to Thunderdome than MM2, I think but it's very removed from the original trilogy. MUCH bigger, for one thing. Reminded me of Damnation Alley in places. For those of you worried about the sci-fi bent, you're not going to be happy. It's packed full of ideas, sometimes overwhelmingly so. The car chases and stuntwork are absolutely breathtaking. The movie looks beautiful. Cast are great although Hardy's unpredictable. He won't be for everyone. All this talk about the BoB but you'll fall in love with the War Rig, so it evens out nicely. Couldn't see it being an R. There's nothing here as gnarly as MM2.

Thanks for the report.

[biolumen]

What was the response from the people around you? Applause? How enthusiastic? Overhear any comments afterwords?

[blackmocco]

What was the response from the people around you? Applause? How enthusiastic? Overhear any comments afterwords?

There was applause and then we had to fill out a questionnaire. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't really read the audience afterward. I know the woman behind me hated every second of it. Because she kept saying it really loudly. But in saying that, I can't pretend to know and I won't pretend here. Nobody was going apeshit with excitement but nobody was booing either. I dunno if that helps you or not...

[leadcounsel]

Think it's safe to say it's a reboot. If people want to try and shoehorn it into a timeline, feel free but they'd be putting more effort into that than the filmmakers did. I don't mean that disparagingly, but the movie clips along right from the opening titles so there's not much attention paid to where characters were before all this, Max included. What is mentioned and alluded to, is different than what we've seen before. Hence, reboot.

Well, that is quite disappointing and as I feared. Lots of CGI and action and no story development if I understand correctly.

Can you give it 1-5 star rating from your viewpoint as a die hard Mad Max fan. Will MM fans generally like it or not? Is it true to the films or totally foreign to the story, sharing nothing other than his name with the trilogy?