Bullet Points: Max 2: White House Hero

Bulletproof Action has a long history of dog action movies like Top Dog and Skull and Crown. Except that is only two movies and I reviewed both of them. I don’t know what that says about the rest of the staff and their like or dislikes of man’s best friend, but me and you both know we could use some more. That is why I decided to watch Max 2: White House Hero and decided to bring you along for the ride.

• Maximum Risk– Everyone’s favorite PTSD suffering Belgian Malinois, Max, from the titular Max returns and this time Max is joining the Secret Service. The Wincott family from the first movie are at least named dropped, but otherwise there isn’t really any connection to the original except for Max. It really works for me because I am really only here for the dog.
• Mad Max – Max 2 went with the wise choice of Lochlyn Munro as U.S. President Bennett. I don’t care if Munro is Canadian and once humped that lamp and screwed that couch in front of Zack Morris in Dead Man on Campus, he has my vote. His son, TJ (Zane Austin) is struggling with life in the White House and making friends at his new school. If there was only a four legged friend that would be able to help out. There is! Enter Max, on loan from the Wincotts because the normal Secret Service dog Charley is on maternity leave. Max and TJ become fast friends.

• Max Payne – Business really picks up when the Russian President Bragov (Andrew Kavadas) comes for a visit and because his wife is sick, brings his TJ aged daughter Alex.  A human friend for TJ! The pair quickly get into some shenanigans as they easily sneak out of the White House to try to go to a party only to be the victims of an attempted kidnapping. Luckily for TJ and Alex, Max was watching them escape and really the only Secret Service agent worth his salt and foils the kidnapping, even biting one of the kidnappers on the ankle. I am sure that ankle will be important in identifying the kidnapper. The scene of Max chasing after TJ and Alex is quite action packed with Max using some well placed scaffolding.

• Maximum Overdrive – TJ is convinced it was the Russians and his prime suspect is the head of the Russian security, but we all know it isn’t him because we have seen a movie before. TJ and Alex team up to try to find the kidnappers, who we later learn are trying to sabotage the U.S. and Russian talks. There is quite a bit of action, with a particular good white water rafting rescue by Max. The rafting scene also gives us a minor tiff between Bennett and Bragov on who will be coxswain. They settle on co-coxswains.
• Max Steel – The final third of Max 2 is pretty much non-stop action, with another amazing rescue by Max. This time Max shows us he has knowledge of stage rigging as he saves TJ’s mother from getting flattened by a chandelier while performing Tchaikovsky for Bragov. We eventually learn who the kidnappers were and I won’t spoil it, even though there is a good chance you will never watch, but not everyone is who we thought they were. There is of course a happy ending, with a nice Scooby-Doo reference, and even with Max returning to the Wincotts, just in time for Charley to return with her little puppies.

Max 2: White House Hero is completely different from the original Max. Sheldon Lettich and Boaz Yakin wrote Max and brought the serious issues of loss and PTSD to a dog movie and they did it very successfully. Max 2 brings a little more comedy, but also a little more action but is also entertaining in a different way. The one thing that both did the best was with Max. The dog, played by several different dog actors, was the star of both movies and the reason I wanted to watch the movies in the first place. I feel like I would be dishonoring the work of the movie dogs without leaving you with some Max 2: White House Hero Bonus Bullet Points.

• Slippery When Wet – When Bragov is told the First Lady will be playing Tchaikovsky on the piano, he says he prefers to hear Bon Jovi. 
• Familiar Face – Gary Chalk has a small role in the beginning as a government employee. I always remember Chalk as Sheriff Williams in Freddy vs. Jason. Also starring Lochlyn Munro!
• Best Pun – TJ fakes being sick and blames the borscht, saying “it is really Russian through him.” Hilarious!
• Cue the R. Kelly – The scene I needed to see the least is when the young lovebirds TJ and Alex get trapped in the closet. Like I said, I am only here for the dog.