MAX

Joyce and Don Fowler
Posted 7/2/15

* * ½

(Old-fashioned boy

and his dog movie)

Rin-Tin-Tin ;ives!

But in this boy-and-his-dog movie the hero is a former war dog who was trained to sniff out guns in Afghanistan.

The …

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MAX

Posted

* * ½

(Old-fashioned boy and his dog movie)

Rin-Tin-Tin lives!

But in this boy-and-his-dog movie the hero is a former war dog who was trained to sniff out guns in Afghanistan.

The nearly two-hour movie starts out in Afghanistan, where Kyle, Max’s Marine trainer, is killed in battle. Max comes home with PTSD and will only relate to Justin, the soldier’s teenage, anti-war, troubled, angry brother (Josh Wiggins).

The plot thickens, with all kinds of situations involving illegal arms sales involving Kyle’s war buddy, who turns out to be not such a good guy.

There are lots of teen lessons about loyalty, heroism, acceptance and love, but the movie goes off in too many directions and resorts to the usual chase scenes involving good guys and bad guys, plus a modern Rin-Tin-Tin to save the day.

Justin gets a Mexican girlfriend to offset the stereotypical Mexican bandits. His relationship with his father (Thomas Haden Church) gets resolved in the end, with his always upbeat mother (Lauren Graham from TV’s “Parenthood”) always there to pick up the pieces.

The movie is filled with dirt bike stunt-persons as the young folks race daringly through the woods, jumping over chasms and crossing rushing rivers, with Max close behind or, in some cases, leading them to the bad guys.

We get a brief look at war dogs through the years while the credits role.

The film is rated PG, just like the old dog hero movies.

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