Max (2015)

Absolutely one of the worst movies I've seen all year. The plot is painfully predictable, the acting is cringeworthy (the dialogue scenes involving Thomas Haden Church and Josh Wiggins are almost comically bad in terms of timing and delivery), all the characters are stereotypes of stereotypes and the dialogue matches, there's a huge amount of racial stereotyping in a movie that (ironically) takes a really preachy and awkwardly framed stance against racism, and the third act completely disregards physics as being a thing that exists. It isn't even just the normal action-movie level of poorly-shot nonsense, it's urban-legend-Fast-And-Furious-video-game BS. Otherworldy stuff. Seriously, don't see this movie, save yourself, I'll hold them back (there is an actual scene in the film where this happens, by the by. Like, someone wrote that into the script and decided to leave it there. They thought it was actually a good idea. That's the level this film is on). And yet I still have seen almost every review for this thing praise Josh Wiggins' acting. Seriously? The kid had almost negative emotion the entire film. Nothing. There was nothing coming from him. He was nothing the entire movie, the same exact expression on his face, the same exact tone of voice, the same exact terrible cadence. As of this review's posting, Max stands at a 7.7 rating on this site. How?!?!?! Guys! This is a bad movie! REALLY BAD! How do people like it? How? I am legitimately concerned and somewhat curious because I do not understand all ya'll and your perspective on this. Is it because Jesus and America? Is that why? Ugh. That seriously might be it. I could type for at least ten pages on how bad this film is, but honestly, I'd rather not waste any more time and just end the review with an extremely serious recommendation that every copy of this film be found and burned. I'm serious guys. Totally serious right now.

But for real, don't see Max. Just don't.

Fmovies: Max is a film following a dog whose owner was killed in battle and gets moved to stay with the family of his late owner. However, like people he suffered from PTSD and so he found it difficult to be around other people and trust anyone. And that was the aspect i loved about this film, seeing how the war affected this dog and how it affected his relationship with the people around him. They did a great job at capturing the emotions of this dog, and really showing how these events affect dogs in the same way they affect the soldiers. You really get to see how it affects him through his interactions with the various characters in the film, especially Justin; the brother of the deceased played by Josh Wiggins. The scenes where his and Max's relationship is being explored are definitely the highlights of the film and most of that is in the first third to half of the film. But i felt that the film wasted the perfect opportunity to really go in detail about how Max adjusts to trusting people other than Justin as he trusts Justin right from the beginning. After the first act, a lot of the character development was actually focused on Justin and some other life decisions he faced, now although some of this was interesting i felt that it lowered the importance of Max's transformation a little.

Where the biggest flaw with this movie lies is the plot, it is mostly fine for the first act or so but after that they bring in this side plot involving some secondary characters you don't want to really see. They begin to show up here and there and they were also useful for Max's transformation at one point. But then it just takes over the film in the last act and it turns into a completely different movie that really didn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie. It felt messy and turned into your generic good guy bad guy film where the family dog pitches in and helps out a little. During the entire third act, Max undergoes a pretty important change that i feel was rushed and not focused on when it was a big thing early in the film, and that kinda bugged me. How i would describe this film is, if you take the PTSD elements and all of the emotional family relationship stuff from American Sniper and get rid of the war moments and replace them with a generic young kid takes on the bad guys story you have this movie. So in the end, this film really captured my attention with depicting Max, his relationship with the people around him especially Justin, but it lost me with a sloppy, generic side plot that takes over a lot of the movie. - 4.5

I just saw Max yesterday at a screening in Vancouver and I loved it. After having watched the trailer I came in with low expectations, the story didn't seem very interesting and I wondered what they could do with the simple story line but I was pleasantly surprised. The film is very heart warming and entertaining. It had some action in it but the setup is very simple.There are no fancy computer graphics just good people/actors and a dog that's hard not to fall in love with. Its a feel good movie that's lovely to watch with family. The acting was good, I would recommend seeing this movie and will probably watch it again sometime.

Max fmovies. Max very well might be this generation's Rin Tin Tin, both are German Shepherds and both are the heroes of their respective stories. The titular Max starts out as a military dog in Afghanistan, but when his military handler dies, he returns to the States with dog PTSD to be cared for by the handler's family in Texas, and in particular their teenage son, Justin, who Max bonds with. This is a classic boy and dog story with a military angle to it that helps to differentiate it from the rest of the pack, with Justin and Max eventually embarking upon an adventure of sorts that requires all of Max's incomparable skills to save the day. This is the kind of family movie that isn't made anymore, it's clean cut and old-fashioned, and while it has some plot holes, there aren't many movies that you can take the whole family to anymore and that's why Max is special.

Hollywood's affinity for heroic dogs on the big screen dates back to the silent film era, but only a very few of those canine characters became famous. A German Shepherd named Strongheart starred in a half-dozen silent films in the 1920s, including 1925's adaptation of the novel "White Fang". A much more famous German Shepherd movie star was Rin Tin Tin, who appeared in over two dozen movies in the 1920s and early 30s. Both dogs' bloodlines survive to this day, with Rin Tin Tin's direct descendants appearing in films into the 1940s, and Rin Tin Tin XII still making public appearances. Of course, the most famous hero dog of all is the collie named Lassie. As the character (a dog named Pal and Pal's descendants), Lassie made several movies in the 40s and early 50s (and a few more since), had a radio show in the late 40s and starred in a very popular 1954-1973 television series, and made various TV appearances since. So, can the hero dog in the movie "Max" (PG, 1:51) lay claim to the mantle of Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie? That's a pretty tall order, but Max definitely fits the mold.

Max (played by a dog named Carlos, who previously appeared in "Project Almanac") is a Belgian Malinois (a type of Belgian Shepherd) who is employed as a military working dog, sniffing out weapons, explosives and other kinds of trouble for U.S. Marines in Afghanistan. When his handler, Kyle Wincott (Robbie Amell), is killed, Max accompanies the body back to the U.S. and is even brought to Kyle's funeral. The dog formed such a strong bond with Kyle and was so traumatized by combat that he won't obey anyone else. But Max is relatively calm around Kyle's teenage brother, Justin (Josh Wiggins), so Justin's parents, Ray (Thomas Hayden Church) and Pamela (Lauren Graham) decide to adopt the dog.

Like it or not (mostly not), Justin is put in charge of taking care of Max. Justin learns a few tricks from a girl named Carmen (Mia Xitlali), the cousin of his best friend, Chuy (Dejon LaQuake), and in a very short time, Max is off leash and following Justin and his friends as they daringly ride their bikes through the woods near their homes. Max seems to be warming up to everyone except Tyler Harne (Luke Kleintank), a boyhood friend of Kyle's and fellow Marine who was since returned from Afghanistan. Whenever Max sees Tyler, he wants to attack. Carmen tells Justin that dogs are usually good judges of character. Justin also senses that there is something not right about Tyler, even as Ray hires Tyler to work for him. Justin approaches another Marine dog handler (Jay Hernandez) for information about Tyler and does some deep forest reconnaissance of his own, with Max in tow. I don't want to reveal too much, so I'll just say that Justin's and Max's instincts about Tyler are not wrong and what they discover in those woods jeopardizes their safety and that of their family and friends.

"Max" is an old-fashioned action-adventure, very much in the tradition of earlier canine movie stars. There are clear-cut good guy and bad guy characters. Right and wrong are well-defined and values like loyalty and self-sacrifice are front and center. There is danger (shown with impressive cinematography) and even death, but no blood – and no swearing or sexuality. This is family-friendly fare at its finest… almost. The first half of the movie is pretty slow. Some of the dialog is not just old-fashioned, it's distractingly trite and even a little silly. The p

I saw Max with my 10 year old sons. Absolutely awesome movie to see with your age 10 to 16 child. It is much more than a movie about a heroic dog. It is also a coming of age movie that has some deep dives into responsibility, relationships, and ethics. Oh, and it is a great adventure flick too.

The dog will hook your kids and get them past some early dialog. But once the movie gets going, hold onto your seats! Very exciting. Suffice it to say that the audience gave the movie a long round of applause as the credits rolled. And hopefully some of the life lessons will rub off on the kids...