MAX STEEL (2016)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological,psychological*

I saw assorted episodes of one MAX STEEL cartoon series, but whatever I saw did not inspire me to follow that show regularly. It seemed just another show made to sell toys, specifically those belonging to one of Mattel's many franchises. A teen boy, Max McGrath, finds that he can merge his body with the energies of an alien entity named Steel. In this form, that of a humanoid covered with metal armor, Max takes the name "Max Steel" to battle the invasion of aliens called "Ultralinks." (I assume that the original toy-setup is the same as in this feature film: that Steel is also an Ultralink, but one devoted to blocking his people's invasion plans.)

In STEEL, Max (Ben Winchell) and his mother Molly (Maria Bello) move to a new town some time after Max's father Jim was killed in a mysterious accident. Molly has implicitly been in the rural-seeming town of Copper Canyon before, because her husband Jim died at a research facility in the area, a place known as N-Tek. The script's unclear about how old Max was when he lost his father, or where he and Molly lived before, or why Molly decided they should make this move (though at least the last question is answered by movie's end). Max comes to realize that his late father is something of a "local hero" to the populace, which irks him because he barely remembers anything about Jim McGrath. However, he makes one friend among the townsfolk, feisty classmate Sofia (Ana Villafane). 

Gradually, Max becomes aware that his body intermittently emits weird energies (cleverly made to look like semi-tangible streams of mercury), and that these energies can mess up any sort of electrical device. And on top of that, he also gets an unwanted boon companion: Steel, an alien who looks like some sort of flying widget, but who is presumably at least partly organic, like his Ultralink kindred. Max is obliged to tolerate Steel because the alien can drain off the teen's dangerous emissions. Further, mysterious armed men begin shadowing Max. The teen and the alien decide that the only way to get answers is to infiltrate N-Tek, now headed by Jim's old colleague Doctor Edwards (Andy Garcia). And soon Max's composite identity will face a major challenge as he learns the truth behind his father's passing.

MAX STEEL flopped in theaters-- I for one don't even remember hearing about its advent-- and I imagine it was too formulaic to stand out amid all the Marvel and DC fare. Nevertheless, I found the movie modestly entertaining. The script by Christopher Yost (co-writer on two bad THOR flicks) follows a very simple pattern, but includes a few decent touches, mostly with regard to the blooming teen romance between Max and Sofia. But I was probably more won over by Stewart Hendler's fluid camerawork, particularly in the big fight between Max and his predictable adversary. (In contrast to a lot of modern superhero fights, at least I could tell who did what to whom.) Despite the presence of older name actors like Bello and Garcia, the performances of Winchell and Villafane sold the movie for me, proving at least as energetic as the lively FX. Steel the Alien Widget is meant to supply humor, and doesn't, but I've seen many worse examples of comedy relief.