Movie Thought: Max (2015)

• Released: June 25th, 2015
• Directed by: Boaz Yakin
• Running time: 1h 51min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

A traumatized dog comes back from war and bonds with his new owner, a grieving teenager.

My Thoughts

There is an idea for a solid movie in here. But honestly I feel like this film was just biting off more than it could chew in the execution.

The first half or so of the movie is pretty good. Not great, not all that unique, but the plot of this dog with PTSD and this boy who is grieving his brother coming together and bonding over their struggles was pretty sweet. Max and Justin have pretty good chemistry and it's nice to see their friendship grow over the course of the film.

But then in the latter half the movie suddenly becomes an action film with a cartel subplot and that's just where I mentally checked out. This movie didn't need to try and be big and be epic. It was fine for what it was in the first half. And then it starts to get too big for its own good and I just didn't care for the whole action angle it was starting to go for. It wasn't terrible, I've seen worse, but the first half was comparatively much better and I wish the film had stuck to the route that half was setting up. Not everything needs to be a grand epic with shootouts and dog fights, yaknow.

Also, I just have to bring up how irresponsibly the dog handling is done early on in this movie. Justin constantly lets Max, an unreliable and traumatized dog who lashes out and runs away at times, walk off-leash. Which is just an obvious safety hazard. 

I guess I don't dislike this movie or anything, but man, it could've been pretty darn good if it had stuck to what it was setting up in the first half.