Max Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Max Blu-ray Movie Review

Dog Will Have His Day (but Not in This Film)

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 28, 2015

Dogs have served in the U.S. military since at least the 19th Century, a point made during the historical photo montage that accompanies the final credits to Max, which styles itself as a tribute to these unsung canine warriors. Just as their sensitive noses can be trained to sniff out drugs or other contraband, man's best friend can also learn to detect weapons, explosives and buried IEDs ("improvised explosive devices"). The devotion between dogs and their owners is well known, and the unique bond between soldiers in combat has been much explored in literature and cinema. According to many experts, both elements combine in the almost symbiotic connection between military dogs and their masters. There is no doubt an extraordinary story to be told (probably many) about heroism, devotion, sacrifice and loss, all from the perspective of military dogs and the troops with whom they serve.

Unfortunately, Max is not that story.

Director and co-writer Boaz Yakin probably could have made such a film, if left to his own devices. Yakin began his career with such promising projects as the urban morality tale, Fresh, and the inspirational sports film, Remember the Titans, which, for better or worse, connected Yakin with super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Perhaps as a result of that connection, Yakin has increasingly found his talents relegated to formula entertainment, co-scripting a Bruckheimer-produced fantasy flop, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, directing the Jason Statham vehicle, Safe, and conceiving the twisty magic thriller, Now You See Me. This trajectory may explain the odd coupling of Yakin with the co-author of Max's screenplay, Sheldon Lettich, a former Marine who specializes in creating pulp entertainment for action stars both major (Stallone in Rambo 3; Van Damme in Double Impact and The Order) and minor (Mark Dacascos in Only the Strong).

You don't go to Lettich for emotional truth or historical verisimilitude. You go to him for inflated fantasies of heroism, wild improbability and, on a good day, thrills and chills. Max stands out on Lettich's checkered résumé because it's a movie for and about kids, the kind of youngsters' adventure that used to be Disney's exclusive province. But Disney's approach would probably be considered too soft for today's youth audience. It takes a Sheldon Lettich to add the proper seasoning of explosions, murder and betrayal, all of it wrapped in enough red, white and blue bunting to retain a patriotic disguise.

To discuss Max at all, a few plot points must be revealed. Unless you haven't watched many movies (in which case you are unlikely to be reading disc reviews at Blu-ray.com), you will see these events coming from a mile away, but for form's sake, I am sounding a mild spoiler alert.

"Max" is the name of a Belgian Malinois assigned to a Marine unit deployed to Kandahar Province in Afghanistan. Max's handler is Sgt. Kyle Wincott (Robbie Amell), a native of Angelina County, Texas, where his video calls are eagerly anticipated by his parents, Ray and Pamela (Thomas Haden Church and Lauren Graham). Less eager to hear from his older brother is young teen Justin (Josh Wiggins), whose feelings about his military sibling are contradictory at best. Their father walks with a permanent limp from wounds received in Operation Desert Storm. Justin believes that Kyle enlisted because he had a family legend to live up to. That belief makes the kid even angrier when a car pulls up to the Wincott house bearing two Marines whose full dress uniform announces their grim news before they utter a single word.

Through a series of contrivances, the Wincott family ends up adopting Max, who is no longer fit for military service, because he cannot adapt to a new master. He's also suffering from a canine version of PTSD (a genuine phenomenon, according to the Blu-ray extras). The only thing that seems to calm the animal is Justin, whose scent Max instantly recognizes as related to Kyle's. Justin's ambivalence is obvious. He doesn't want the responsibility for Max, but he also can't resist such a primal connection to his lost brother.

Yakin could have made a moving and memorable film simply by focusing on Justin and Max, as they grieve, heal each other and move on together. The family dynamic between Justin and his parents offers ample opportunity for dramatic exploration of this important subject (because the parents, too, must cope with loss), and the script provides Justin with both a comic sidekick in his blowhard friend, Chuy (Dejon LaQuake), and a love interest in Chuy's cousin, Carmen (Mia Xitlali), who also happens to know a lot about training dogs. There are fragments of the film that Max could have been, strewn throughout the mindless action nonsense into which Yakin and Lettich transformed it.

You see, Kyle Wincott's death in combat wasn't purely random. This is shown early in the film, although one must be paying close attention. There was a Bad Apple in that particular barrel of Marines, and he shows up at the Wincott household after the family adopts Max and promptly dupes Mr. Wincott into taking him in and giving him a job. Shady dealings ensue. Max knows that this outsider is bad news, but his growling is dismissed as just another example that the dog was ruined in combat. Then there's illegal arms dealing. And software piracy. And pit bulls. And crooked law enforcement. And just when you think it can't get any more absurd, a Mexican drug cartel enters the scene with plans to "disappear" one of the main characters. And once Max becomes that kind of movie, it has to conclude with a chase scene featuring near misses, death-defying stunts and an explosive finale (literally). Doesn't every kid with an elder sibling in combat come of age this way?

But leave aside the plot's hollow sensationalism. To spot the cynical emptiness at Max's core, just look at the key dialogue scene that introduces its third act, when Justin and his father, who have been at loggerheads throughout the film, finally sit down to have a serious talk. With genuine concern, and probably for the first time, Ray Wincott speaks directly to his son about his own life, and then delivers what was probably intended to be the film's essential lesson, namely, that "[a] hero always tells the truth no matter what people think about him or no matter what the consequences are". It's an important principle, because Justin knows things at that point that he needs to tell his father for Ray's own protection. But Justin says nothing. As a result, his father walks straight into harm's way, and Justin has to bicycle to his rescue, with Max at his side. Actions speak louder than words, and the true lesson of Max is truth be damned, because a real hero gets out there and takes care of business. Even if it gets everyone killed.

Max Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Max was shot digitally on the Arri Alexa Plus by Stefan Czapsky, who previously worked with director Yakin on Safe and has photographed several films for Tim Burton, including the recently remastered Edward Scissorhands. Post- production was completed on a digital intermediate, from which Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced by a direct digital path.

The Blu-ray image is everything that we have come to expect from a digitally originated project: clean, sharp, detailed and noiseless. The color palette is generally realistic, with some minor tweaking in the opening sequences to help create the illusion that a location in North Carolina (enhanced with CG backgrounds) is really Afghanistan. The costumes, makeup, sets, props and surroundings are all intended to convey a sense of everyday America. As the nominal star, the dog Max (who is played by six different Belgian Malinois) is always lit to flatter his distinctive coloration. Black levels and contrast appear to be accurate.

Despite being placed on a BD-50, the Blu-ray of Max uses only 26.6 GB of the disc's capacity. The feature itself has an average bitrate of 24.91 Mbps, which is adequate for a digitally originated production, and certainly no compression artifacts leapt out. But the bitrate figure suggests that at least some of the Blu-rays in the Warner pipeline are still being mastered according to an older standard that aimed for a 25 Mbps target, regardless of available space. Warner has abandoned this practice with its catalog titles, and it should do likewise with its new releases.

Max Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Max's 5.1 sound mix, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, is a lively and frequently aggressive affair that is by far the film's best feature. One expects high energy during the opening scenes set in Afghanistan, but the most sonically impressive sequence is a bicycle race through the forest by Justin and his friends, where the listening room is filled with the sounds of tires hitting the ground, limbs and bike frames crashing through underbrush and whooshing past the listener, and Max rushing to keep up. The audio perspective shifts as rapidly as the visual edits; it's a real showpiece. Equally impressive is the third-act finale, which cannot be described in detail without spoilers, but it involves more bike action, as well as gunfire, vehicular collision, explosion and what can only be described as heavy ordnance (though not in a fashion typically seen in movies). Dynamic range is broad, and bass extension is deep, though not exceptional. The dialogue is always clear. The reliable Trevor Rabin, a Bruckheimer staple who scored Remember the Titans for director Yakin, provided the predictable action score.

Max Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Working with Max (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:49): A featurette about the animal performers, featuring trainer Mark Forbes, as well as members of the cast and crew.



• Hero Dogs: A Journey (1080p; 1.78:1; 7:43): A brief look at the military's use of Belgian Malinois dogs and the tradition of canines in combat.

Max Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dogs are always popular in movies, and Max is the kind of companion that every boy would love to have. Between the animal hijinks, the patriotic decor and the busily staged action conclusion, it's not surprising that Max rated highly with audiences, and it will probably do well on home video. That doesn't make it a good film. The Blu-ray is technically superior, with minimal extras.