Today’s quick review: Maximum Ride. The unwilling subjects of genetic experimentation, Max (Allie Marie Evans) and five other children get their shot at freedom when Jeb (Peter O’Brien), one of the scientists, helps them escape from the lab where they are imprisoned. After years in hiding, their captors finally catch up to them, kidapping the youngest child and prompting the others to embark on a dangerous journey to rescue her.
Maximum Ride is a science fiction thriller based on the novel by James Patterson. Maximum Ride follows a surrogate family on the run from a mysterious organization that wants to recapture them for further testing. The sci-fi aspect of the film comes from the powers given to Max and her family as a result of the experiments performed on them, including the ability to fly, enhanced strength, and other unusual skills.
Maximum Ride has the potential to be a credible entry into the teen sci-fi genre. The premise sets up what could be a satisfying mystery. The tensions within Max’s surrogate family give the film a ready source of drama. The kids’ powers let the movie indulge in as much spectacle as it can afford. Yet Maximum Ride never makes good on its strengths, and a host of weaknesses undermine what little it manages to achieve.
Despite being a nominal action film, Maximum Ride has few stunts to speak of. The action scenes mostly consist of running, posturing, and the occasional flip or explosion. The film carefully bogarts its special effects budget, a practice that it tries to paper over with overly dramatic action scenes and misplaced slow motion. As such, Maximum Ride offers little in the way of spectacle, putting greater weight on its story and characters.
Neither one is up to the task. The mechanics of the plot work well enough, but there’s an entire section of the story that feels like it’s missing. Maximum Ride provides few answers, but it asks even fewer questions. The reason Max and the others exist is never even speculated on, let alone what their creators intend for them next. Without even an attempt to set up an overarching mystery, the whole story feels generic and unmotivated.
As for the characters, they never progress beyond mere outlines. Max makes for a decent heroine but has little opportunity for growth. Jeb has little screen time and less development. Finally, Max’s rival Ari (Luke Gregory Crosby) deserves special mention for filling every one of his scenes with growling and empty threats. The acting is not the weakest link in the chain, but it certainly doesn’t help.
The film’s direction also leaves plenty to be desired. Most of the scenes are fine, but the small mistakes begin to add up rapidly. These range from minor annoyances, such as the way locations are always introduced by latitude and longitude, to more glaring faults, such as the use of slow motion and dramatic poses to mask the film’s poor fight choreography. The coup de grace is the film’s orchestral soundtrack, an incongrouous fit for its intended tone.
Overall, Maximum Ride is a movie with little to offer. It goes through the motions of teen sci-fi, but its one-note characters and truncated plot keep it from accomplishing anything interesting. Few will get anything from it other than filler. For a much darker, much more effective take on a similar premise, check out Logan. For similarly flawed teen sci-fi with a bigger budget, check out Jupiter Ascending.
3.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 4.0 for modest potential let down by all-around poor execution.