Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I looked up Max on IMDb to see if I could find any information about the powers that be putting it on DVD. This was one of my favorite shows (along with Moonlighting, Magnum PI, Thirty Something, and Murphy Brown). I agree that it was intelligent and worth taping or scheduling your time around and SHOULD be produced on DVD!!! Get to it!!For all those who never had the good fortune of being able to view this show, I would compare it to a cross between Robocop on a computer network and combined with the comedy of Jim Carey on steroids. Max, the main character of the show, exists as the personality and life form of the computer--it's not-so-artificial artificial intelligence.I don't remember much else about the show, which is one reason I would love to see it again, because I love to reminisce, but as the previous posting pointed out...they only seem to come up with shows that have just been running and, mostly, are of no interest to me. So, put it out, Powers That Be!

For some reason unknown to me I received this video as a prize/gift from a company called 'Argus Press' who in the early '80's were one of many prolific ZX Spectrum games producers. Don't remember entering a competition, but there you go....Anyhow, the film was brilliant, and not to be confused with the later TV series that, from the other write ups, I now learn of.If this film is not on DVD then it should be. The dark urbun setting of some nightmare future is perfectly portrayed and the story is much as has been described in previous reviews.Blipverts! - I'm surprised they aren't on Fox nowadays, in saying that the most indolent members of society may be most at risk there! The one thing that hasn't been mentioned, but that should be emphasized, is the fantastic soundtrack, coming as it did from the pen of Midge Ure who had recently departed the prolific 'Ultravox'. The setting, soundtrack, script and performance from a tremendous bunch of characters made this a film that, to this day, I still pull out of the loft and watch on my annual pilgrimage back home for Christmas.To me its the urbun dystopia, the (then) futuristic use of desktop computers to track the action and the soundtrack that made this one hell of a movie and one of the most unsung of the 1980's.

I happened on the "Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future" film on the cable channel Cinemax by accident in 1986 or so. The story, the setting, and the characters drew me in and I was blown away. It had the dreary, rainy, dark mood of "Blade Runner" and "Alien" with a touch of film noir where everyone smokes and the surrounding city is dirty and decaying. The cautionary tale of corporate control is dead on target even becoming more true than when this film came out.There is an underground of people who don't exist - called 'Blanks' - and others who kidnap and kill people to sell their organs at the local tissue collection agencies.Amongst this backdrop is Edison Carter - played by Matt Frewer - star reporter for Network 23. He uncovers evidence that his employer is killing viewers in an effort to generate more ad revenue. Instead of "killing the story" as happens today, the bosses decide to kill Edison. They have a problem in doing this however. Being that Edison is the star of the network, if he dies then people will know something is up. Enter teen genius Bryce Lynch - played by Paul Spurrier - who does his best thinking while taking a bath, downloads Edison's brain into a computer. He uses that to create a computer version of Edison in hopes of fooling the viewers.All is not well when virtual Edison takes the name Max Headroom and escapes the control of Lynch and Network 23.Helped by the lovely Theora Jones - played by Amanda Pays - and the leader of the Blanks, Blank Reg - played by William Morgan Sheppard - Max puts the screws on Network 23 and the whole corporate control culture.Frewer is a hoot as Max. His zingers through out the movie help lighten the dark tones and Max is not just a computer clone of Edison. Max is how Edison wishes he could be.Pays is lovely as Edison's and later Max's producer. She and Max have a good relationship.Sheppard's Blank Reg is an aging punk rocker with a Mohawk to boot. He has it all figured out.If you get a chance to see this movie then do it. You won't be sorry.

The original version of this film, which was titled 120 minutes into the Future (I believe) was by far one of the most impressive and subversive things I have seen on TV. The premise involves the idea that Blipverts, or high-speed advertisements, are allowing the TV stations to create more ad time, but are also at risk of causing the most indolent members of society to spontaneously combust.This is absolutely wonderful!The whole Max Headroom angle was never really exploited until this became a (too short lived) TV series shortly after. However, this movie is nothing short of being among the most impressive and visionary movies ever made, and by far one of the most interesting (and underrated) cyberpunk tales told.The low-budget enhances the bleakness of this dystopic future, and the utter pessimism about the future of mankind is palpable at every moment. Watching the TV zombies wander the streets in search of more TV, the dark rooms where the future of man (and media) is decided... the burnt-out buildings, the police-state siege mentality. I have rarely seen anything this ambitious attempted in the past.This movie warned us about the dangers of mass media, and managed to do it in a way that was not ironic and was highly entertaining. Run out and find this movie if you can (I have seen it on tape, and Sci-Fi channel runs it occasionally). Go... NOW!