Max was one of those movies that my family and I stumbled upon when endlessly looking through Prime Video trying to find something for a movie night. The German shepherd caught our attention, and the brief explanation of it sold us on watching it, and I’m really glad it did.
Directed by Boaz Yakin, Max is about a military dog named Max who had helped American marines in Afghanistan. After his handler Kyle Wincott was killed in action, he is adopted by the Wincott family and taken care of by his handler’s little brother, Justin, who initially has little interest in the dog and spends his free time pirating video games onto CDs. Max has PTSD from his time in the army, and they struggle with their relationship in the beginning as Max is unwilling to have anyone get near him for a time.
The film follows their story as Max and Justin grow closer and face difficulties that are brought to light after the death of Kyle Wincott and the appearance of Kyle’s old squadmate Tyler Harne at their home.
The movie, co-written by Sheldon Lettich, captured my heart from the beginning. The film represents one story of thousands of dogs who work in the army. Although this film is fictional, it doesn’t mean that the story isn´t reflective of real life situations.
Both the writing and the direction makes viewers feel for Max and his family, especially in the earlier scenes when his family is made known about Justin’s being KIA, or killed in action. At the funeral, when his casket is in the front, some soldiers bring in Max, who is crying and pulling at his lead before he runs to the casket and lays in front of it. The directors, and dog trainer Mark Forbes do an impressive job with displaying grief from the dog actors in these moments.
I really enjoyed watching this movie and I think about it often. You can feel the familial bond between Max and Justin grow as they continue to spend time and warm up to each other as the movie progresses. Even when they face danger much later in the movie, they stick together and help each other overcome it.
The main climax of the story comes with a twist, but the gist of it is a trusted family friend turns out to be illegally selling weapons and was the cause of Kyle’s death through friendly fire. Max and Justin learn this and go out together to face this person and save their father, Ray Wincott, after he was kidnapped by them. The action scenes keep you on your toes and pair well with the moments where the characters are portrayed as a grieving family with an equally grieving new companion. The movie was well directed and can be a good candidate as a story to represent canines who serve in the military.
Of course, the story itself is fiction and very unlikely to happen in the way that it did, which does take away from the movie a bit, but it’s still heartwarming regardless. Before watching this movie I knew little about military dogs and their service other than they existed, but Max helped me learn more about them and get a better understanding of what they do for the country.