Max Reload and the Nether Blasters

This was a fun nostalgia fueled flick that failed to really knock it out of the park and sort've landed in mediocre territory thanks to it's delivery and clunky storytelling. There's just too much up and down here, moments I loved and others I rolled my eyes at. Not really much to say about it but it's not the worst thing ever, worth a background watch if you're in the mood for some retro gamer vibes but it's not exactly brilliant.

The plot is decent enough but the implementation/execution is "B" or "C" level film-making, and that's what you get with a pair of directors with no other feature release to their credit. The cheesy VFX are from the 70s. The other problem is that our teenage protags are played by actors at least 10 yrs older, so that wanks. It's just an all-around poor effort. +1 for you if you can endure to its end.

This is a watered down Todd and the book of pure evil with Atari instead of heavy metal. The story line exists (more than I can say for some B movies), the FX are good enough to support the story, and they got a real cast although they are mostly supporting characters. The story gets lost for about 20 minutes around the 1 hour mark and the main character is obnoxious with his everybody sucks but me attitude. I have definitely seen worse.

From looking at the poster, I was expecting to see some monster fighting action going on in this. There really wasn't... It felt kinda bland and only really gave me a chuckle or two. Since it is an action comedy, the corny, low budget effects are excusable. I guess I just thought it was going to be a little more heavy handed with the action element than it was. I kinda thought it would turn out to be something sorta similar to "Ready Player One", but it wasn't even remotely. Its not the end of the world if you decide to give this one a pass. Kevin Smith was kinda funny and he was part of the reason I gave it a watch, but he didn't have an incredibly big role in it.

I hadn't even heard anything about "Max Reload and the Nether Blasters" prior to getting to sit down and watching this 2020 movie from Scott Conditt and Jeremy Tremp. So I didn't know what I should be expecting from the movie, aside from it looking like something from the 1980s based on the cover/poster.

Then I saw that Greg Grunberg, Wil Wheaton, Martin Kove and Lin Shaye were on the cast list, and I must admit that sparked a bit of hope for the movie. Personally, I can't claim to have an ounce of interest in Kevin Smith, so there was no hype for me there.

And now that I have just finished watching movie, I must admit that I am left with a sensation of "was that really it?" in the wake of the movie. Sure, there was a really nice 1980s vibe to the movie, and lots of interesting and fun references and Easter eggs throughout the movie. But ultimately the movie was just too mundane and generic - not to mention predictable.

The storyline was straight forward, but a bit too much so. Because it felt like directors Scott Conditt and Jeremy Tremp were just running on auto-pilot mode. There were no surprises along the course of the story as it unfolded on the screen.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but the lack of an overly interesting or captivating storyline was sort of serving as a ball and chain around the actors and actresses' performances.

All in all, "Max Reload and the Nether Blasters" turned out to be a less than mediocre movie that mostly aim at gamers and hardcore pop culture nerds, while leaving less entertainment value to the rest of us mainstream audience members.

My rating of "Max Reload and the Nether Blasters" is a mere four out of ten stars. While I managed to sit through it, it wasn't a particularly outstanding or memorable movie experience for me. And this is by no means a movie that I will be returning to watch again, even though I am a child of the 1980s myself.