Maximum Ride: Experiment Engel

This was the first book series that I read so as you can guess I am really attached to the characters and the plot. When there was first news about a movie being made I was really excited because this was the type of action filled book that deserved a really good (emphasis on really good) film made for it. When that fell through I was pretty upset. But not as upset when I saw the trailer for this. I had been wanting a movie or some sort of live action adaption for a while, but this was just a joke. It was low budget, didn't follow the story line and the casting was all wrong. Nothing against the actors, they did a good job with what they were given, but the only two that looked like their characters were Gazzy and Angel. Nudge was too old, Iggy was too fit and attractive, Fang isn't blonde and does not have short hair, and Max is not a white girl with platinum blonde hair. For a fan who has waited years for a film to be made, this is just such a disappointment. Terrible sequels that no one has asked for have been made with million dollar budgets, but this story, that is loved by millions, doesn't even get a film that has enough money to give them wings that don't look like something made in the 1980's. Again nothing against the actors. They all did a nice job, but the whole film itself isn't Maximum Ride. It just isn't. I'm disappointed.

As one of the many people who have read the books, I was looking forward to this. I could hardly believe it when I heard that they were making one of my favorite books into a movie, suffice to say I don't read a lot. So when I finished watching I found myself baffled. Not because of the terrible VFX. But because of the production value, it astonishes me, How Hollywood can justify giving hundreds of millions to a remake that nobody wants but when a novel like Maximum Ride is made, the studios are reluctant to back it up so the author has to pitch in? In what world does this make sense? If you are unfamiliar with the story, it's about six kids who have two percent bird DNA and are kept in a prison called School. They brake out and try to survive on there own. If you like the idea as I did, read the books, they are well worth your time, I wish the same could be said for the movie. The only redeeming quality of the movie was Max, She looks the part and if she had actual screenwriters she might have sounded the part as well. I never thought I would ask for a remake for a movie, But this really deserves it and who knows? Maybe it will happen one day.

I don't really want to trash this movie. When I saw the synopsis, I thought this was right up my alley: a sci-fi fantasy superhero action adventure with lots of girl power. It was a ride that I wanted to go on.

Now I'm on the ride, and it is giving me everything that the synopsis said it would give me, but it's not grabbing me like I would hope it would.

Another young adult book being adapted like Hunger games of Maze Runner, the movie is a about a group of kids that have been genetically altered with a series of test and now they have retractable wings (They barely used in the film). They escaped from their lab and now are in hiding, until one of them was found and kidnapped and now the rest have to save this child from the captives.

The movie does suffer from not having the same budget as the Divergent series, to name one, although I can't knock what they did with what they had. Not the most impressive production design, but it was effective.

I just felt that it did not gel or flow naturally at all. Maximum Ride force feeds the viewers a great story that's filled with cheesy dialog and corny acting. It was to the point that I almost felt I was watching a parody of a young adult book adaption, when I know that was not the intent of the production.

I don't want to be harsh on such a cool concept that was pretty well made from what looks like a shoe string budget in comparison, to others in its genre, but a lot of times it made me feel like I was trying my best to get through the book and finish, when sometime into it I became disinterested in doing so

The movie had very poor effects and the dialog was terrible. Many things were repeated with a few words switched around and the actors sounded very forced. But, that's not even the worst of it. The movie followed the book very poorly and the plot was not explicit. If I had not read the book prior to watching the film, I would have been completely lost. The plot moved too quickly and gave no details to what was happening. I had very high expectations set for this film because of the book. The book is an amazing action packed adventure with a great story that would make a perfect science fiction/action film. But that didn't happen. There were not nearly enough action scenes compared to the book, and the ones that were present were very, well, bad. The CGI was awful and the dramatic slow motion, cringe-worthy. I was disappointed and appalled, to say the least. The movie was made as if it was thrown together without any thought. One of my favorite aspects from the books, and what I was hoping to get a lot of in the film, was the character development. Max and her five "siblings" are very unique with different personality traits who battle many personal problems throughout the story. They all develop beautifully as characters, learning about themselves and their abilities, but sadly that was not present in the movie. The characters did not seem to learn anything important about sticking together, which was one of the biggest themes of the book. I will admit that the makers and the cast of this movie were not famous and may not have been experienced enough to make a hit film. The director was not someone that I recognized. Maybe Maximum Ride was a low budget film and they didn't have a lot to work with. There's a number of thing that could have been happening behind the scenes that may have caused this movie to be below what I had hoped for. The actors weren't even that bad. The portrayed their characters the way I would have seen them, but the lines and dialog that was fed to them was repetitive and somewhat cheesy. It was probably difficult to work with. Again, the idea for this movie was in the right place, and maybe if they would have had a bigger budget and put more thought into the script, this could have been a blockbuster film. I would have loved to see one of my favorite books become an astounding movie adaptation. But, sadly, we'll have to make do with what it is, and what it is is a poorly made movie, and frankly a waste of anyone's time, that doesn't even come close to the literature that it was based off of.

This film took me on a Maximum Ride of poor acting, writing and directing. Between the strange theme of sleeveless teenagers who have no explicit reason for acting the way they do and the unnatural and discomforting dialog between every single character, not only does this film steer extraordinarily far from the original content but as a standalone piece is an utter joke. I found myself laughing at how terrible every scene was and at the ridiculous way that the film progressed. In summary, I'd say this film is a great comedy.