Max Steel seems like a distance echo in the recesses of our mind, but the Mattel toy line turned cartoon turned live-action movie is apparently still alive. It was more than two years ago at this point that first-look images were released, featuring Ben Winchell as the titular teen titan. To confirm it’s still actually happening, a new Max Steel trailer has been released for international audiences.
Winchell plays Max McGrath, a teen boy who meets and merges with an alien named Steel to become Max Steel. It’s simple math, when you think about it: Max + Steel = Max Steel. As it happens, the Max in this story has an ability to channel some sort of energy that’s the only thing that can stop the bad guys called Ultralinks. The end result is something like RoboCop + Tron = Power Rangers reboot.
Watch the international trailer below:
It seems odd that we’ve heard very little about Max Steel for so long. At one point Taylor Lautner was in talks to play the title role. At another point, Open Road was planning to release the film in 2015. It’s now a year after that hoped-for slot, and Max Steel will apparently be released in the U.S. on October 21st. You’d never know, though, since this is the first footage we’re seeing just two months before it will supposedly (according to IMDb) hit theaters.
What we do know is that Maria Bello plays Max’s mom, Andy Garcia plays Dr. Miles Edwards, and Josh Brener voices Steel. Here’s the official synopsis:
Max Steel is an in-depth “origin” story packed with captivating characters and fast-paced action. The plot chronicles the adventures of Max McGrath and his mother have just moved back to Copper Canyon, the town in which Max’s scientist father died in a mysterious accident shortly after Max was born. As Max adjusts to his new school, things get complicated when his body starts to generate strange energy flare-ups that he can’t control.
At first a confusing mix of inconvenient and exhilarating, this unpredictable power eventually grows too intense for Max to handle, causing him to distance himself from those around him including the girl he likes, Sofia. Eventually the energy pushes him to the verge of fatal combustion. In the nick of time, a techno-organic extraterrestrial named Steel, who has been secretly monitoring Max’s progress, saves him just before he loses consciousness. The two discover that when joined together they can control the energy and harness it into superhuman strength – and that when apart, neither can survive for long.
As these two unlikely friends learn to accept their connected fates, they begin to uncover secrets surrounding the death of Max’s father. As they dig deeper, they soon find themselves hunted by an unforeseen enemy bent on capturing Max and Steel for a sinister agenda of destruction. Uncertain who to trust, they will have to work together to find the truth, and fight the mysterious forces threatening our world.
