This is one of those films I loved when I was a kid. It had two really great things going for it: an extremely cool hard rock AC/DC soundtrack and a great idea for a story. I was then, and am still to some extent, thrilled with the idea and possibilities of machines coming to life. I watched this movie more times than I care to remember in my youth and always had great memories of it. In hindsight I believe there were two principle reasons: 1. I was listening to the soundtrack and ignoring the movie, 2. I was a kid and I knew cr@p about good movies! *LOL* Looking back on 'Maximum Overdrive' today, it doesn't hold up very well at all. Among Stephen King films that have been adapted to the silver screen, this one is in the bottom third -- although it is vastly superior to garbage like 'Dreamcatcher.' It seems very heavily influenced by Richard Matheson's 'Duel' -- not necessarily a bad thing but also not offering much new to the 'man versus machine' theme. It's strength for me is nostalgia but there are plenty of reasons not to like this movie. Here are a few: 1. Yeardley Smith. She's dreadful here in what is easily the worst performance of her entire career. Picture an extremely aggravating Lisa Simpson screaming non-stop for 45 minutes. If you haven't plucked out your eyes and run screaming to drown yourself in the nearest lake, congratulations. And my condolences. She manages to be so aggravating that every scene she appears in severely damages the film. If you haven't watched 'Maximum Overdrive' yet then proceed by all means. Do yourself a serious favour though and put the TV on mute every time you see her on screen.
2. The "scares." In this film, King is generally successful when characters are trying to move from Point A to Point B without being wiped out by big trucks. The way he develops tension there is actually fairly competent. Why then he badly cuts his own tension to shreds by 'augmenting' any potential 'scary' scene with an electronica Bernard Herrmann 'Psycho shower scene' score is beyond me. It makes scenes absolutely comical. They were cool when I was a child. Now they're laughable, cheap and derivative.
3. The Direction and Writing. I'm a big fan of Stephen King's early work but this just doesn't seem to work. The characters seem like caricatures: hypocritical bible salesman, grill cook who's a repentant ex-con, Snidely Whiplash styled restaurant owner, tough chick who hitchhikes but can take care of herself, aggravatingly saccharine newly-wed couple, kid who is smarter than all of the adults, and on and on and on. If given the choice between being punched repeatedly in the groin or meeting several of the characters from 'Maximum Overdrive,' I can quite cheerfully choose the groin punches. Please and thank you. That so many of the performances seem adrift makes me wonder how much guidance King was able to give them. A failure to reign in Yeardley Smith et al and to help some of the other characters and performances develop makes it feel like nobody was in charge. In fairness to Stephen King this WAS his first film. That doesn't mean it was good. Or likable. Or enjoyable.
Even with my criticisms and misgivings though, 'Maximum Overdrive' is a film that I'll find myself returning to from time to time. The soundtrack is perfect for the movie and is one of my favorite's. AC/DC do a great job. King has left the directing of his movie adaptations to others and that was probably a wise decision to make. Bad though this is, I stand by my original point that the ideas are really good. I wonder how it would do with remake treatment?
2. The "scares." In this film, King is generally successful when characters are trying to move from Point A to Point B without being wiped out by big trucks. The way he develops tension there is actually fairly competent. Why then he badly cuts his own tension to shreds by 'augmenting' any potential 'scary' scene with an electronica Bernard Herrmann 'Psycho shower scene' score is beyond me. It makes scenes absolutely comical. They were cool when I was a child. Now they're laughable, cheap and derivative.
3. The Direction and Writing. I'm a big fan of Stephen King's early work but this just doesn't seem to work. The characters seem like caricatures: hypocritical bible salesman, grill cook who's a repentant ex-con, Snidely Whiplash styled restaurant owner, tough chick who hitchhikes but can take care of herself, aggravatingly saccharine newly-wed couple, kid who is smarter than all of the adults, and on and on and on. If given the choice between being punched repeatedly in the groin or meeting several of the characters from 'Maximum Overdrive,' I can quite cheerfully choose the groin punches. Please and thank you. That so many of the performances seem adrift makes me wonder how much guidance King was able to give them. A failure to reign in Yeardley Smith et al and to help some of the other characters and performances develop makes it feel like nobody was in charge. In fairness to Stephen King this WAS his first film. That doesn't mean it was good. Or likable. Or enjoyable.
Even with my criticisms and misgivings though, 'Maximum Overdrive' is a film that I'll find myself returning to from time to time. The soundtrack is perfect for the movie and is one of my favorite's. AC/DC do a great job. King has left the directing of his movie adaptations to others and that was probably a wise decision to make. Bad though this is, I stand by my original point that the ideas are really good. I wonder how it would do with remake treatment?