Explosive!
Summary
One if the best independent fight to the death films of the 2010s!
Plot: The secret team of assassins, the Shadows, are put to the test in an ultimate game of survival.
Review: Maximillian is another fun fight to the death Action-SciFi flick. Need another fun film in the vein of The Running Man, Best of the Best, Hard Target, Surviving the Game and The Tournament? Out of John Wick/Raid/Bourne/Taken/Purge films to binge watch? Want an indie film that’s not a sack of crap? Then you’ve come to the right place here!
Hardened man Max (John Dannug) and comedic yet rational dude Sage (Hakeem Sharif) must have their wits and muscles at the ready to combat the deadly game they’ve chosen to participate in. Can they survive the endless wave of martial arts laden assassins including the tricky fighter Gin (Jerry Sur)? Will they last long enough to fight the Head Master (Matt Kane) himself?
The film isn’t deep but it takes out the trash in no time at all. It’s organized and swiftly paced. It’s well lit, I didn’t have to turn up the volume and never did I say “Geez I sure wish this had big name actors and a huge budget.” Could it had been far more brutal and deeper? Yes, of course but this is a solid start, especially considering how it wasted no time for an indie film.
After going through the depths of every streaming service, I finally am seeing that this film crew decided to reflect on what the target audience wanted to see: 10 seconds of exposition, mild build-up and never-ending stunts. I don’t know what resources they used and it doesn’t matter.
They worked hard to ensure that we were intrigued by a familiar premise and that we could see well-lit and rather cool fight scenes. If this film is seen by more people, I hope that someone with money gives these guys a franchise or 2 million to try their hand at bigger land to conquer. I see these guys doing no wrong, it’s just that someone must give them a chance.
