Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Krautsalat ★★★ 1

  Woovember 2020: Film #6
  Watch a film featuring John Saxon (died July 25)

  If you're not gonna date me, the least you could do is shoot me.

  Angry chief John Saxon asssembles a team of mismatched cops (Sam Jones, Sherrie Rose and Jason Lively) to take down ruthless crime lord Richard Lynch. For budgetary reasons most of this takes place in some kind abandoned warehouse, but there's still plenty of kickboxing, shooting and exploding toy cars.

• 

  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★½

  Despite the truly surreal sight of Mickey Rooney appearing in a DTV 90s action film (he shoots his entire role in the back of a car), Maximum Force is a real disapppointment compared to the usual Joseph Merhi / PM Entertainment stuff.

  It has its strange moments and one or two decent fight scenes but it's so stop-start and lacking the usual chaos of Merhi's best. Even Richard Lynch doesn't seem to be making much of an effort. Poor Sherrie Rose gets treated so patronisingly that I wished she'd shoot someone for real. Occasionally bursts into life but not frequently enough for my liking.

• 

  Review by GarbageReelKids 🗑️ 🎥 🧒 ★½ 1

  I'm a 2700K, soft white bulb kind of guy and the warehouse's lighting really offended my sensibilities.

  The on-stage fight club is an interesting touch.

  I never would have recognized the redhead kid from Night of the Creeps & National Lampoon's European Vacation had I not done some reading on this beforehand. The fact that he's the focal point of the very first scene and not even shown on the cover doesn't bode well for his character's livelihood.

  John Saxon can't save this one. More like Maximum Bores. Bad even by PM Entertainment standards.

• 

  Review by Curtis ★★ 2

  Richard Lynch and John Saxon are troopers. They always seem to be up for whatever garbage is put in front of them. And this is pure, uninspired garbage. Maximum Force plays every trope it can think of, but goes about it all half-assed and, generally, inside of an dusty old warehouse.

  It's not without its moments, as the stunt work is occasionally decent. And it is pretty hilarious when Sam Jones seems to use the Force to take down his enemy. Or when a new member of the team gets introduced deep into the third act, only to stick around for about four minutes.

• 

  Review by Sofa Sinema ★

  Amusing to see the late Mickey Rooney turn up as a crooked slimeball, but he's never convincing and looks woefully out of place here, especially when juxtaposed with the more familiar genre faces on hand. John Saxon assembles a pretty bland B Team task force, too. It's entirely flaccid stuff lacking quality action or stunt work when compared to better DTV thrillers of the era. PM Entertainment later thrived as their budgets and reputation increased. I think the Hong Kong influence that later emerged also transformed their action sequences, which became relentless and more stylishly executed.

• 

  Review by Dennis Vehlen ★★★

  On paper 'Maximum Force' sounds like the perfect DTV-action movie with John Saxon assembling a team of three hard-boiled cops to take down Richard Lynch and corrupt Chief of Police Mickey Rooney.
  The film is definitely entertaining and the three cops (I guess they are the Maximum Force?) are fun enough, but it's also nothing you will remember a week later.
  The cast is what makes this worth seeing. We have Sam 'Flash Gordon' Jones, Sherri Rose (King of the Kickboxers) and Jason Lively (Night of the Creeps) who seems like a weird choice but does a good job. Lynch and Saxon are always good and Lynch's villain is probably the highlight here. The action is nothing outstanding and besides…

• 

  Review by Dan Gorman

  glad the filmmakers got some use of of that big empty warehouse they had (and the one really strong blue-gelled light as well)

• 

  Review by Justin Hullinger ★★½

  Your average PM Entertainment action flick can run the spectrum from wall-to-wall ridiculous action (Hologram Man) to occasional spurts of fun (Running Red). Unfortunately, this one falls more on the latter side. The plot of a trio of don't-play-by-the-rules cops coming together under the mentorship of the grizzled about-to-retire captain to take down a powerful and corrupt CEO is perfectly good, but it feels like 80% of the runtime is dead space.

  There's a lengthy montage that I guess is supposed to be a training montage, but it doesn't seem like anything they're doing the whole time is them actually preparing for anything. There's a forced love story between two of them that felt about as bland as the actors…

• 

  Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★½

  All good things must come to an end, and Sam Jones flirtations with GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME - with force in the title - came crashing to a halt with this dud.

  Sure, John Saxon seems to have an army of Black Ninjas on speed dial... but we all suspected that anyway. Rather than focus on Jones, we’re given equal time with the rest of The Maximum Force - playing out a PM Entertainment take on the Untouchables. A team so effective that when it comes time to actually take on Richard Lynch’s criminal empire, Jones opts to call in a random bodybuilder for help instead. Jason Lively completists will want all of this, but his comedic hijinks fall flat here, and casual fans are better off rewatching Night of the Creeps.  

  One of the weaker PM entries, which is a shame given the budget spent on the cast.

  Sam J. Jones Ranked

• 

  Review by Cameron Menefee ★★½

  5/10

  It definitely had its moments as well as some decent fights and some of the cast such as John Saxon and Richard Lynch for examples are doing their respective best they can given the scripts. But overall Maximum Force (not to be confused with the on-rails arcade shooter of the same name, lol) is a very mid-tier PM Entertainment movie. Far from being trash, but at the same time it’s kinda forgettable at best. No doubt I'll forget about this movie in a day or two.

  Watched on YouTube.

• 

  Review by Sam of the Night ★★ 3

  The aesthetic is astounding—it's gritty neo-noirish but like if aliens watched some good neo-noirs from the 70s/80s and then tried to copy it. Every. Single. Shot. Has a fog machine or is hazy and has bright saturated blue light coming from somewhere. Often they have an almost-complementary orange light as well. Lots of bokeh. Lots of anonymous empty urban spaces.

  In the one of the most amazing scenes ever put on film, Sam Jones asks the "brainiac" guy what he's making in his foggy nondescript orange and blue lit room. The dude says making a bomb. Sam Jones, cool, responds can I get some coffee. Jones, smoking a cigarette to add some smoke to the fog, then pours a boiling…

• 

  Review by mattstechel ★★

  Kinda disappointingly lame given who directed it. (that's right THE Joseph Merhi!!!) Me thinks the great Merhi must've been working with a tight budget this go round because the stunts here are of a much, much, much, much, much, much smaller scale then I'm used to seeing from him. Without the stunts we're kinda left with the story and the acting which is you know (shrugs) kinda on the generic side tho Mickey Rooney randomly showing up in a limo about halfway thru as a slimy politico on the bad guy's payroll trying to bribe John Saxon into easing up on his last major attempt to bust him was kinda fun to see in a "wow that's an actual name…