ooc. what’s up! if you’re just now getting on the dash, which u should be bc it’s 6:36 in the morning, i have spent the last 1 and 1/2 hour watching the maximum ride movie. here’s the posts in order on my blog, and it’s time for my official review, under the cut. why did i do this? i suffer so you don’t have to. let’s go.
okay! so, basically, this movie wasn’t QUITE as cringe as i expected, which was a pretty low bar to clear considering maximum ride lets me down on a regular basis. thanks, jpatz.
here are my general notes:
i always get kinda excited while watching a movie based off a book i love, no matter how disappointing, which is probably the reason for the notes i left behind. with some space, and the thoughts that weren’t the first things i threw on the keyboard, though.... you’ll see
again: insomnia disclaimer. typos and weird phrasing is blamed on that.
i haven’t read the first book in a while, so this is based off my memory
the movie was... the first half of the first book, basically. they stopped right before going off to new york. so we got all of the exposition of something bigger and they’re probably angling for a sequel.
we knew going in that this movie was whitewashed. i was still jarred by it and there’ll be more notes, but basically; they didn’t look like the characters i knew at all. things just kind of... fell, after that
let me list the positives first.
they got gazzy down okay, but considering he’s basically an 8 year old that wants to blow things up in the first book, that’s not very hard.
the backflip off the wall??? hella. u could have given her more scenes like that.
....like, the scenery was cool during the flying shots????
baby max. that was pretty cool to see.
there were occasional moments when the characters harkened back to canon book stuff; max sassing off during the showdown with jeb/ari, max taking care of her children, iggy’s unfortunately brief deadpan snark, nudge being a boss with tech, gaz eager to blow things up.
not much angel. not much creepy child in this one. holla
let’s get into the negatives, which are.... plentiful tbh
the general characterization was off most of the rest of the film. max tended to be a bit.... less sass, more grumble, is the way my exhausted brain is phrasing it. fang talked, like, a lot. iggy did take after the kids, but they phrased it like it was him doing his thing rather than like in the books when max pushes that onto him. NUDGE’S CHARACTER WAS SO???? NOT SOFT?? NOT CHATTY? BASICALLY A SULKY TEEN WHO GRUMBLES A LOT?????????? NOT NUDGE BASICALLY. like they introduce her ready to endanger the flock to get a jacket. while she does love shopping, it’s not to that point. gazzy again was okay. and angel was kept down to a minimum bc school
i can smell the mary-sue they’re trying to push onto max in this movie. like they do it in the books too but in the movie, max was called selfish by nearly every member of the flock except iggy and angel. some of those reasons were: not letting nudge out of the house, keeping the flock in the house, closing off jeb’s office, and saving ella from getting shot. i can feel it. it is not the trash child i know.
listen, the general characterization was pretty not great. there were occasional moments of goodness, mentioned above, but, like... not really great.
the wings were real shitty cgi. i mean, you could have done multiple things to just..... maintain more canon
please put the children in sleeves and windbreakers like in canon, and just stuff them so it looks like bulky wings, re canon, and cut holes in the shirts/sweatshirts. they’re probably cold. wait no high body temperature. but forget it. jackets.
maintain the skimpy tank tops and sleeveless hoodies and vests but have peeks of feathers and wings through them
like, i understand budgetary restrictions, but??? the scars could have just. not been a thing. and just have them in jackets.
there’s probably more but
whitewashing/casting issues. this one was left for last bc it’s a big one.
DISCLAIMER: I AM WHITE. clearly i cannot speak for poc bc i am not a person of color.
let’s walk through members of the cast/flock first
of 6 members of the flock, 3 are described with the potential to be/as POC, though max is white-passing: max, fang, and nudge. fang is described as having olive-colored skin and dark black hair; many readers presumed he’s a poc.
of those 6, the only POC is nudge
max is white to the point that her hair looks bleached; maybe it is, idk.
fang had reddish-blond hair and is nearly as pale as max.
dr. m and ella are both white, as the discourse prior to this liveblogging stated. both explicitly stated to be latinx.
there was an asian whitecoat woman.
that was it for poc given major screentime/speaking roles, as far as i could tell. nudge and an unnamed whitecoat.
clearly this is????? ridiculous?????? and outrageous?????
there should be more representation, especially when at least 5 of the main characters are stated to be poc/could be cast as poc!
it’s 2017! 2016 when that movie was made, but. jesus christ none of those actors are particularly well known you could have cast people who actually fit the roles and added diversity to this movie
to paraphrase john oliver, how is whitewashing still a thing
i’m irritated and kinda pissed and would write more but i have had to go back into my dorm room and don’t want to wake up my roommate with typing. know that this is outrageous and awful.
as far as general casting, the only characters who looked vaguely like i expected were gazzy and angel, plus a bit of jeb and ari. fang had reddish-blonde hair, iggy was a brunette, and max was basically bleached blonde. ella was okay, not great but okay, but she was older than i thought she’d be, as was nudge.
to summarize, not as awful as it could have been, but it does need some work. like? 2.5 stars maybe. the movie gets a strong ehh sound with ambivalent hand-wavey gesture.
might make some more shitpostier posts about it when i am more awake and have processed it more. we’ll see.
i am going to lay quietly and pretend i can get 30 minutes of sleep before i have to get up, rip me
