Max Steel (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – The adventures of teenager Max McGrath and his alien companion, Steel, who must harness and combine their tremendous new powers to evolve into the turbo-charged superhero Max Steel.

My Take – In a time when adapting comic books, animated shows, or Toy line properties seem like a staple for guaranteed success, some studios still find a way to produce a film at the bottom of a scrap heap. The Mattel Toy Company created its ‘turbo-charged’ children’s action figure back in 1997, and the company promoted this toy as the protagonist in an animated television series in 2000. Later, they produced nine direct-to-video films, and eventually launched another series on the Disney Channel in 2013. Not surprisingly, Mattel developed this big-screen feature as an ‘origins’ epic with an inevitable franchise to follow. Unfortunately for Mattel along with Dolphin studio, this film has become the worst reviewed wide-release film of 2016. After a single weekend, the film had garnered a staggering Metascore of 26, and a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those are scores usually reserved for direct to DVD video game adaptation and the occasional Uwe Bol films. Years ago, a version of the film was in development over at Paramount with Twilight star Taylor Lautner attached to star. In hindsight, Lautner – whose own leading-man status pretty much died with the 2011 bomb Abduction – may have dodged a bullet by not headlining this one. I’ll admit with so many metrics stacked up against it, my interest both as a critic and a connoisseur of junk cinema was piqued. I wanted to hate this film; I came in with the expectation that this film was a special kind of crappy. But alas it’s just the regular kind of crappy. While from the trailers this film may seem like is a unique superhero film featuring, in part, personal tornadoes and an alien theme, director Stewart Hendler has cribbed shamelessly from Marvel‘s first live-action Iron Man film with Robert Downey Jr., for the bulk of their imitative plot. The formula is so synthetic that the film sacrifices any sense of narrative spontaneity. It is more like three episodes of a TV show stitched together. The pacing is atrocious the script is all over the place. They really would have been better to have just re-shot a couple of the cartoon scripts and stuck to what the kids liked about the show.

The story follows Max McGrath (Ben Winchell) is a 16-year-old teenager, who has recently moved back to his with his mother Molly (Maria Bello), returning to their family home after the death of Max’s father, Jim (Mike Doyle), who was killed in a mysterious accident at the science lab of N-Tek. With the new move, Max tries to fit in at his new high school, finding friendship in fellow classmate Sofia Martinez (Ana Villafane). However, his attention is pulled away by the recent revelations about his body, discovering the ability to emit liquid energy and manipulate electricity. As his newfound abilities to intensify, Max is scrambling to uncover the reason why this happening to him, seeking info from his father’s former colleague Dr. Miles Edwards (Andy Garcia) and ultimately finds a curious helping hand from Steel (voiced by Josh Brener), a parasitic silicone alien life form who mission is to join with the teen to become Max Steel, an armored warrior. Conflicted at 1st, Max’s mind is quickly changed with the arrival of the Ultralinks, an alien enemy that takes the form of destructive tornadoes. The plot promises these things but in an election year, we should all be wary of false promises by now. While watching this film I was less concerned about the fate of the world than the fate of those involved in this project and made the mistake of taking it seriously. There is absolutely nothing right about this film. Take a moment and think about the worst superhero clichés you could possibly imagine like a rushed origin story? A deceased family member who holds all the answers about the protagonist’s past? A forced romance that really has no place being in the film anyway? Not only is all of that and more what the feature solely has to offer, but they somehow manage to boil every single cliché down to the point of being absolutely atrocious. The story plays out like an unimaginative mash-up of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Power Rangers (the last of which, of course, already has its own big-screen reboot on the way). Director Stewart Hendler is best known for his work on the 2012 web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, and the gaming influence is plain to see here. At first, the energy thing seems kind of cool, until it starts shorting out his smart phone every time he touches the device. It tends to burn out light bulbs, too. It can give him headaches. Oh, and one memorable evening (or it would’ve been, had Max not blacked out), the built-up energy almost caused Max to, well, explode. Max and Sofia’s on-screen romance has to be one of the worst I’ve ever witnessed, not even fit to be in a Nickelodeon TV film. It makes no sense as to why she would stick by a reclusive man who almost drives his bike into her truck three times, and outright ignores her throughout most of the film anyway. But sure, who wouldn’t lend their truck and cell phone to a man who keeps running away without telling her a thing as to why she should even trust him? This film treats teenage romance like it’s full of idiots (and not so much the love-struck idiots, more like how are you even breathing stupid).

When it comes to the heavy climaxes, the film seems poised to give us the same blighted industrial zones we’ve seen in everything from low-budget horror films to late-period Steven Seagal flicks. Only this time it’s lighted like a neighborhood Zap- Zone to give the film’s target audience & the desire to whip out their video games. In conjunction with that, the film is predictable as its surprises in its twists and turns, which are revealed in third act, can be seen coming, deflating the actually reveal itself. Speaking of the third act, it’s a bit disappointing. The villain finally gets “unmasked” and battles between him and the titular character is underwhelming, despite how much it wants to be epic and cool. If I think about the film wants to big in its scope, but, ultimately, fails and is relevantly small. Nothing really about it scream originality as most of its narration elements have been done and redone in multiple films, especially the superhero genre. Rather than trying come up with something new and fresh, Hendler just recycles those standard troupes and mindlessly meanders through them, allowing the film’s story to run on auto-pilot as events happen and unfold. My biggest pet peeve with the film is how much Max’s armored suit is shown, which is almost non-existent for most of the feature. There at least two shots of him in the suit, but there are quick and brief. Max isn’t shown in the suit (and battles in it) until the third act, which again, feels lackluster, despite how cool the suit looks. Why did they decide to do this? The character of Steel, who is supposed to be one half to Max’s abilities and the comic relief, is one of the most irritatingly unfunny things to happen in a superhero film ever. Worst of all is the “surprise” villain you can see coming from a mile away, who really has no reason to be a villain in the first place. We’re given no time to understand why he decided to stand by the “ultra links,” so he just comes off as cartoonish. But not in the “he is so bad as a villain, its hilarious” kind of way, not at all. He’s just thrown in for the sake of having a bad guy, a completely terrible villain that raises no stakes or would make even the most undemanding of children care. Apparently, Mattel cast Ben Winchell because the tall, clean-cut, young actor bears a striking resemblance to “Superman” star Henry Cavill. Sadly, Winchell lacks Cavil‘s charisma. Fresh-faced Winchell isn’t really to blame though, the filmmakers don’t give Winchell adequate opportunities to display his superhero skills or suit. Maria Bello and Andy Garcia deliver strong performances respectively as Max’s mom and Max’s nemesis. Mike Doyle does a fair job in his role (his scenes are presented in flashback sequences).The best thing about the film is the seamless way the special effects have been integrated into the second-rate shenanigans during the latter half of the action. The suits were good both for Max and Edwards although it was a bit disappointing that they couldn’t use his suit more than just 3 scenes. Nevertheless, little else distinguishes this uninspired superhero spectacle. Concluding the film with a whimper, Mattel hints at the possibility of a sequel, but the toy maker doesn’t provide a cliffhanger ending to whet our appetite for such a prospect. On the whole, ‘Max Steel’ is a bland, lackluster, mismanaged superhero film which never rises above its clichéd & predictable plot.