The Flux Capacitor 12.14.07: Week 12 - Max, Machine Guns and Market Forces

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 12.14.2007

The past, present and future of science fiction - this week we look at road warriors. Plus, all the latest from the world of SF.

Welcome to "The Flux Capacitor", the column that examines the past, present and future of the science fiction genre. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and each week I'll be taking a look at films, TV shows and a whole lot more that exemplify a particular theme within SF. We'll see how the sci-fi of yesteryear influenced what we see on our screens today, and take a look ahead to see what may be in store in the months and years to come. Later on I'll also discuss some of the latest SF news and see how it impacts on the genre. For now though, let's get the DeLorean on the road - this week's theme is:

ROAD WARRIORS

The Past

A bit of an inscrutable theme this week. What exactly do I mean by road warriors? I'm sure you all know, but I think I'll have a hard time explaining. Not the Legion of Doom, at any rate. The road warrior is typically a loner, a man of mystery, friends only with the open road, out for himself and no one else, and the rest of the world be damned. Slightly enigmatic, usually a reluctant hero, and above all else, driven. Ha! Ah, sorry, had to get that one out of the way.

You know, this probably works best if I explain it using the foremost example of the type of film I'm talking about - Mad Max, or more specifically its sequel, helpfully subtitled The Road Warrior. I was never a big fan of the original Max, due to its strangely inconsistent tone for the most part, but in Max Rockatansky, Mel Gibson fashioned a killer a protagonist who vitalized the concept of the road warrior in SF cinema. The first film does contain that wonderful scene where Max handcuffs a goon to an exploding vehicle, places a hacksaw in front of him and gives him the choice of sawing through the chain or his own leg, before driving off into the sunset. It's a perfect moment of characterization for the road warrior, or Road Warrior as he was christened in the sequel. Mad Max 2 is everything you need to know about the concept, and one of the best action/SF movies of the 80s. Max is a man cast adrift in a broken, post-apocalyptic world, with nothing driving him on [sorry...!] but a need to survive and lust for the road. Forced into circumstances beyond his control, Max finds himself unwittingly cast as the savior of the last remaining inhabitants of an oil refinery besieged by a biker gang. Is he out to save the oil, or the people? Or, perhaps more likely, only himself? The movie is topped off by one of cinema's all-time great car chases, an adrenaline-pumping motorcade that pulls off the rare double whammy of being both viscerally thrilling and absolutely integral to the story (check out that plot twist at the chase's climax). It's arguable that for all Max's heroics, he remains true only to the road - and that is the heart of the road warrior.

The Present

The current generation of road warriors comes to us courtesy of director Paul Anderson (responsible in recent years for such travesties as DOA: Dead or Alive and The Sight), and is a remake of a cult classic (responsible in recent years for such travesties as The Hitcher and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning). Not looking good so far, admittedly. Yes, the upcoming Death Race is a remake / reimagining / reboot / rebirth / whatever the current trendy term is, of the 1975 Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000. The film is a delicious visualization of a world that has thrust road warriors to the fore. The premise is immediately recognizable if you've ever played the game Carmageddon, although it's obviously more fleshed out in the movie - in the near future, America's national sport is the Transcontinental Road Race, a violent spectacle that pits criminals and celebrities in souped-up hotrods against each other in a race from New York to LA, gaining points along the way for the number of pedestrians they dispatch and/or murderize. It's pretty much road war gone wild, and is sleazy as all hell. Well, what would you expect from Corman?

The remake stars Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson as convicts thrust into the race against their will, and they'll both have a hard time living up to the roles of Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, as made famous by David Carradine and Sly Stallone. Both characters are cult icons, and incidentally both possess some wicked dialogue that you'd imagine will probably be largely ignored by the new scribes Anderson and J.F. Lawton (Frankenstein, presumed to be horribly disfigured and scarred, removes his mask in front of a lady friend and laconically asks "What did you expect, another pretty face?"). Combined, they both contain all the elements of the archetypal road warrior - Frankenstein's insouciant cool and introverted dissatisfaction with society, Viterbo's bloodlust and aggression coupled with his desire to emerge triumphant in anything he does at all costs. Death Race portrays a world in which road warriors have been allowed to climb to the top and are major celebrities in their own right, and these two men are at the peak of the pile. Despite my reservations, it'll be interesting to see what contemporary twists (if any) Anderson places on the film - it's undoubtedly a heavy satire, and while you'd hope those elements won't get lost (or overplayed) in the translation, it's the updating of the road warrior archetype that should prove most interesting. The modern road warrior has to be even more cynical about his place in the world, and more liable to reactionary courses of action - and, hopefully, even less tolerant of political correctness. And hopefully he'll kick even more ass than ever.

The Future

Once again we delve into literary territory, with a novel from British author Richard Morgan, that has not only been optioned for a film already (by Joel Silver, who could well help do it justice), but would actually be deserving of that accolade. Set in a dystopian future (well, it's really the only kind of setting that allows the road warrior to be explored to his fullest), Market Forces follows junior executive Chris Faulkner as he works his way up the corporate ladder in a major conflict investment firm, securing the contracts that will shape the future of the South American economy. So far, so blah, you may think. But not so! Seems that in the future, contract disputes between rival corporations won't be settled in the boardroom or on paper, oh no. They'll be settled on the road, in mano-a-mano duels between executives, in their personalized armored battlewagons. Winner gets the contract, loser gets a fiery death or the experience of face/bullet interaction. It's clear that the road warrior mentality of the future is also the mentality of the corporate elite - live fast, drive fast, no remorse, no exceptions.

Although the boardroom sections are by no means slouchy, the novel really comes alive when the characters take to the road. Even the women are road warriors here - seems like the corporations of the future go far beyond cutthroat in their efforts to emerge top of the marketplace. Similarly to Death Race, the vehicular contests here are both sanctioned and regulated by the government, which in a way makes things more harrowing than the lawlessness that permeated Mad Max. If society not only tolerates but accepts road warriors - who, by their stereotypical makeup at least, are generally conditioned to reject society - then something of a paradox grows within the story. It's a paradox that certainly drains Faulkner, who by the story's final act is one of the most self-conflicted protagonists of recent memory, at odds with himself, his family, his business and his life. The only thing that keeps him sane is his life-or-death stints on the road, and ironically it's that which tears his world apart. But, such is the way of the road warrior.

I realize I should probably have talked more about what a great movie the book would make, so just rest assured it has tons of potential.


The Infosphere

A bit of a quiet one this week, so let's see what we have:

According to Variety, Nicolas Cage has joined the cast of Knowing, which will be directed by Alex Proyas. The film follows a teacher, played by Nicolas Cage, who discovers the contents of a time capsule found at his son's school. After going through the time capsule and reading a number of predictions, Cage believes that the world is going to end next week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the mayhem.

I'm not entirely sure if this falls into the sci-fi gene, but I'm a big fan of Proyas, and the majority of his work has been SF so far. The guy will have eternal credit for directing Dark City. Knowing sounds like it's right up Nic Cage's street, as long as it's better than Next.

NBC let the Dec. 11 deadline pass for it to pick up additional episodes of its low-rated time-travel series Journeyman, in effect canceling the series. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

Bah. I already griped about this last week, but this feels like a poor decision to me. I'm probably biased though. One day, networks may learn that some shows are long term investments.

Fox has rearranged its 2009 film release schedule, pushing James Cameron's 3-D SF epic Avatar to Dec. 18 from its original Memorial Day launch. Pushing back the release allows more time to work on the film's ambitious visual effects and gives theaters longer to install 3-D screens. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

By all accounts the new generation of 3D screens are actually turning out to be pretty impressive, and Avatar could well be the movie that kickstarts a new cinematic technology. At least they're taking the time to do it right.

NBC announced that Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will provide the voice of the new generation of KITT cars in its upcoming Knight Rider pilot movie, a sequel to the 1980s TV series. The network also confirmed the casting of original Knight Rider star David Hasselhoff, who will reprise the role of Michael Knight.

If the Hoff is half as amusing as he was in Spongebob this'll be cool. Hopefully we can get a companion Airwolf movie released around the same time?

In sadder news, it seems as though veteran author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, which is a blow to millions of fans. The guy seems pretty upbeat about it though, so let's all take the news with his characteristic good humor.


And finally…

As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line. You can also check out my column "The Wonder Years" over at 411 Games. Next week in "The Flux Capacitor" - cashing in on the seasonal goodness. Until then - keep watching the skies.