Coming to Digital Platforms on April 22
There’s a young hero in town, and his name is Max (Cade Tropeano). He can travel to alternate universes and his only desire is to stop Leon (Dave Fennoy), his big brother, from being killed in the line of duty. In the movie simply titled, Max Beyond, this former marine is determined to rescue the kid from a tech firm intent on finding out how he gained ths mutant ability–and exploit it too–but in every other world, this attempt always sees the soldier ending up dead.
However, I get the feeling that every time Max uses his mutant power, a part of him is lost to the Aether. Pretty soon, he has to consider if his life is worth sacrificing, too. This sombre animated film got me wondering why he needs his brother so bad? That’s because without him, he may well not exist at all. Just how they managed to support each other during this strange time makes up for the better part of the narrative.
This movie doesn’t really share a lot of DNA with other similarly designed films like Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow, but it is easy to see where the tropes are coming from. Here, a tech facility is being attacked, and Leon is here to rescue Max from their evil plans. I love how this film borrows from the movie Akira, and the action sequences certainly show it. Although the plot is nothing like, I can’t help but wonder when Max would “blow up.”
Visually, Max Beyond is not as modern looking when compared to other recent animated films. The photorealism is a step backwards and the design is intentional. Writer/director Hasraf Dulull wanted his film to pay homage to the marionette animation quality that defined the late 90s animated classic, Reboot.
The story is quite complex. At first, I thought this boy was intentionally creating alternate timelines instead of visiting another what if universe. The science never got fully explained since it seems very Back to the Future; every time he tried to relocate back to the past by a few more minutes, just how his saviour dies keeps on changing for the worse, and pretty soon, this lad can’t handle it. He just wants his brother to survive and the emotional connection doesn’t always hit home.
When the video game based on this story finally gets released, I’ll be curious if we as players can find the solution. And my big question is how many chances will we get to find a solution? Most games don’t offer infinite lives, and here, us players will be stepping into Leon’s shoes in an attempt to save the day. And if Max is to survive, I have to wonder if what we must do can save the universe, everywhere, all at once. Maybe the solution to the game is buried in the movie, but in my next viewing, I’ll be hitting the pause button a lot more to find out.
3 Stars out of 5
Max Beyond Movie Trailer
