Maximum Ride

Not much to say about this awful movie. When I was in middle school my friends and I read the books together. If you love the books as much as we do, don't watch this movie. The dialogue is terrible, the actors look like they have sticks up their asses, it has awful graphics, its not true to the book, need I go on? The actors chosen for Iggy and Fang were truly dreadful, one reason being they didn't even match the description of their novel counterparts, not to mention the acting. If I could give a 0, I would.

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.

The sole redeeming aspect of this film is the main actress, Allie Marie Evans. Beyond that this is very much a "pilot hoping to become a TV series" type movie with an inconclusive, boring ending. I won't say any more in order to avoid spoilers... but don't expect any kind of plot resolution or purpose to this flick other than "entertainment for kids".

Even Allie's presence and acting (which is limited by plot to pretty much a perpetual scowl) can't save this "yet another buncha teens with powers" flick. The plot's been done before (often), by better movies. Persecuted lab-raised teens vs the bad guy here. Do expect a lot of unanswered questions and plot holes (not the least of which is how their powers function). You likely won't really care about having those questions answered because... it doesn't really matter. Nothing more to see here.

It's worth watching on a rainy day with popcorn. It's not quite SyFy channel bad. It's just primarily Saturday Morning kids fare in movie form. There are far worse flicks, and far better. It's worth watching just for Allie's terrific eyes. Beyond that, kids might like it. But without a follow-up it's pointless-- and it's doubtful a follow-up would be followed.

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.

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.