It’s always great when a movie I have never heard of suddenly arrives on my doorstep, and the fun looking MAX CLOUD featuring the terrific action star Scott Adkins on the cover. Adkins is quite an overlooked action star with many smaller budget movies to his name
Part of a trilogy featuring the title character that I really need to catch up with, it starts off with Sarah (Isabelle Allen) a teenage girl who is playing her favourite vintage side-scroller game just a little too much. Her dad wants her to stop but she insists on playing, and through a magical “easter egg” she suddenly finds herself in the game. A friend of hers drops by and plays the game for her, controlling her character while she communicates via voice.
Quite a bit of oddness and wackiness ensues from that, and with most of MAX CLOUD I just felt like I wanted more. Sarah becomes a male in the game, and I almost wish that actress became the player instead. We hear her voice as her best friend plays the video game and she constantly sends him orders but we see the male player character instead, which is a bit jarring at times.
Even so, there’s some fun to be had and it’s also a nice nod to older video games that have been far more popular these days. We also get to see Adkins do a lot of his standard fighting and mugging for the camera (or game, as it were). We even get John Hannah as one of the final bosses and he’s fun to watch. It made me want to run my Blu Ray of THE MUMMY again.
MAX CLOUD is a good idea; it’s a fun fantasy and I don’t think I am the only one who has imagined what it would be what it would be like to not only get trapped in a video game but get to play the game IN the world. Yet the movie portrays this all in such an odd way with some budget limitations that limit this word, and it also makes me wonder just how limited the filmmakers were and had too many challenges. Even so, I do give the filmmakers support for trying.
About The Blu Ray:
This is a VERY nice transfer from Well-Go USA which nicely presents the picture in its 2.39:1 scope glory. Shot digitally, the movie has a great blend of colors including heavy emphasis on blue and pink, including a surprising amount of gore in both colors (but nothing too explicit for kids; I’d say 8 & up is fine). The soundtrack is a BIT limited on surrounds and is front-heavy, but it’s not a distraction. There are no bonus features to speak of except for the trailer for MAX CLOUD along with some previews of other WellGoUSA titles, some of which are available through other distributors in Canada.
Aside from the odd delivery of the premise, there’s much to like here in MAX CLOUD and for families it would make a lazy Saturday afternoon matinee in front of the TV.
MAX CLOUD is now available on Blu Ray from WellGo Entertainment. Many thanks to WellGo USA and Taro PR for sending along a copy for review.