Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 25, 2020

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters was obviously made by people who absolutely love video games, and that love certainly suffuses this film, but it still may not be enough to make this effort consistently connect with audiences, probably especially audiences who may not care one way or the other about Atari, Nintendo or (in this case) ColecoVision. If you at least recognize those three brand names, chances are you’ll find some enjoyment in this tale of a video game nerd named Max Jenkins (Tom Plumley) who discovers a video game cartridge for a legendary game called Nether Dungeons, a game which was supposedly never officially released after a mysterious fire at the headquarters of the company which developed it. When Max, who uses the handle Max Reload for his arguably somewhat less than massively multiplayer online game playing (since only two of his friends ever seem to be involved), inserts the Nether Dungeons cartridge into his vintage player and boots it up, he sets a chain of events in motion that ultimately unleash unforeseen consequences which end up making Max Reload and the Nether Blasters a kind of video game equivalent of Jumanji, in that the “barrier” between a game and “real life” becomes kind of tenuous. Max Reload and the Nether Blasters strikes me as the kind of film that that could well become a cult item after at least some passage of time, even if it has a few inherent stumbles along the way.

There's a somewhat disjunctive narrative style to Max Reload and the Nether Blasters which, according to some of the supplements included on this disc as bonus features, was at least partially intended. That includes an opening sequence which seems to be taking place in Ancient Egypt, which in turn then morphs into a video game being played by Max and his friends Liz (Hassie Harrison) and Reggie (Joey Martin). It was only in listening to the commentary and some of the supplements that I discovered that these two elements were supposed to detail the "evolution" of the so-called "Nether" franchise which is at the heart of the film. Max, Liz, and Reggie all work at a local video game store which is managed by a blustery but well meaning guy named Chuck (Kevin Smith), and while at the emporium, the film just stops dead in its tracks (not for the first time) to offer an ostensible "documentary" that pops up on a computer screen about a famous video game developer from the kids' hometown who was part of the team which created the Nether line of video games. (The "documentary" is narrated by none other than Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Series.)

Suffice it to say that Max’s attempts to “share” the game, along with some nefarious activities by a trio of bullies who are nemeses of Max and his friends, end up “infecting” an increasing array of people with a demonic entity, and just when all hope seems to be lost, that aforementioned co- creator of the Nether franchise, a now middle aged guy named Eugene Wylder (Greg Grunberg), shows up to help save the day. Here again the film just kind of stops dead in its tracks to offer an animated flashback (as one of the supplements gets into, Max Reload and the Nether Blasters features a host of different animated sequences, many in radically different styles) which details the events leading up to that (also aforementioned) fire in the company’s headquarters.

The film makes the none too subtle point that working together as a team can generate better results than going it alone, and in that regard, along with Max and his BFFs learning to rely on each other, Wylder reunites with his old partner Barton Grabowski (Joseph D. Reitman) in order to set things right. Cult favorite Martin Kove is also on hand as Max's curmudgeonly but sweet grandfather.

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This digitally shot outing (which I'm assuming was finished at a 2K DI) offers a nicely sharp and typically very well detailed looking presentation, with an understanding that this is an "indie" film without a gigantic budget. That said, the CGI is rather impressive at times and some of the more whimsical animated elements can be fun (as mentioned above in the main body of the review, the film offers a number of different animation styles and/or techniques, some of which can be seen in screenshots 4, 7, 13 and 18). There are occasional signs of banding in some of these animated moments, and there is also a kind of strange anomaly in the first scene with Smith, where what looks like maybe a reflection on the lens or some other kind of flare produces a vertical blue line down the left side of the frame (see screenshots 15 and 19, where you can see it over Smith's right shoulder).

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters features a fine sounding LPCM 2.0 track. The film probably could have benefited from a surround track, both in terms of the video game elements that frequently intrude, but also to help bolster an often atmospheric score by Jesse Mitchell. That said, the track offers excellent fidelity with some nicely wide dynamic range. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Directors' Commentary features Scott Condit and Jeremy Tremp.


• Art and Animation (1080p; 9:37) gets into the several different animation techniques the film utilizes at various junctures.


• Unleashing the Nethercragon (1080p; 11:57) features Paul DeNigris, a Visual Effects Supervisor, discussing one of the big VFX effects in the film.


• A Game for the Ages (1080p; 9:33) features Paul DeNigris again, this time talking about the opening sequences.


• Anatomy of a Scene - Get Blasted! (1080p; 10:08) features the co-directors offering a more in depth commentary on the scene where Reggie first gets "nethered".


• Physical Production Speed Run (1080p; 24:22) offers Greg Grunberg (who was also one of the film's producers) in what looks like a vlog introducing a "speed run" of the multi- week shoot.

Note: The back cover lists the Trailer as being one of the supplements, but I sure as heck couldn't find it anywhere.

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My now more or less adult sons grew up playing various video games (of course), and my eldest son got good enough at StarCraft that he was a ranked player who actually had less experienced gamers offering to pay him in his high school days to watch him play (something that Max kinda sorta does in this film). That may have made me a bit more "in tune" with what this film has to offer, and my hunch is the target demographic for this feature is most definitely those who either regularly game or gamed themselves or who (as in my experience) had some kind of close connection to a gaming community. Max Reload and the Nether Blasters is often quite charming and even sweet, but its humor can be hit or miss, and the film's weirdly disjunctive narrative style may be a hindrance for some. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplemental package very enjoyable. For gamers if for no one else, Max Reload and the Nether Blasters comes Recommended.