Max is a must-see film for animal lovers. More so, it's a must-see movie for those who are oblivious to how poorly animals are treated in the US. Max is based on a true story about a Belgian Malinois used in military operations in Afghanistan. His handler, Kyle Wilcott (Robbie Arnell) is killed in action, and Max is sent back home. Much like humans, dogs experience post traumatic stress disorder; so upon his return Max is very irritable and unapproachable. Unfortunately, dogs that return in this state are treated no differently than a piece of equipment that returns damaged—they are discarded. This awful act is one of the messages this movie tries to convey. How can a dog be treated like a tank or a gun? Do tanks and arms undergo PTSD? So how can dogs be associated more with the equipment than the solders that return? Kyle's father Ray (Thomas Haden Church) is a veteran who sympathizes with the military trained dogs, and offers to take Max into his home; both as a rescue and as a responsibility to give to his younger son Justin (Josh Wiggins) who is in need of some discipline. The only time Max is calm is in Justin's presence—Max senses the relationship to Kyle. Justin's best friend is Chuy (Dejon LaQuake) Chuy has a cousin Carmen (Mia Xitali) staying with him. Carmen is familiar with dog rescues, and helps Justin to train Max. We see that Max is a good judge of character, lashing out at anyone evil while being calmer to good-natured people. Max's relentless ferocity to bad people causes problems. Josh finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time with the overzealous Max, and they get involved in some shady business between Tyler (Luke Kleintank), Kyle's partner in the military, and Emilio (Joseph Julian Soria) a thuggish relative of Chuy. The movie itself was an OK action adventure, but the movie was more about the message. Hopefully after seeing this film people will realize a dog more like a sergeant than an AK-47.
Max
(I) (2015)
Military dogs that return from duty are treated more like damaged weapons than damaged soldiers.
6 August 2017