Maximum Ride

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.

My quick rating - 4,4/10. Pretty bland story that really never got going. Six children genetically cross-bred with avian DNA, complete with wings, take flight around the country to discover their origins. The plot line sums it up. Problem with this movie is some subpar FX, the lack of depth (flashbacks via MTV style don't cut it) and lack of any reason to care what happens to the kids. The action, so to speak, is pointless and they don't even try to find their origins, they more or less allude to it. Visually, the sweeping camera work looks very nice over the landscapes as they fly (don't focus on them, the vfx are horrid as I said) but that cannot save a lackluster effort such as this. I read that this is a series of books that supposedly are pretty good so I assume a sequel is on the way. I won't be bothering with it if they do. Aside from the main character, Max, the bit players are just there. The kid who blows stuff up at least ended the movie with a funny line. Not really a spoiler nor does it make it worth it to watch just for that. If you know the books, you will be disappointed, and if you don't know them, you most likely still will be. I know I was.

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 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.

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.