Review: ‘Maximum Impact’, An Embarrasingly Bad Spy Comedy

Maximum Impact is
an action comedy that highlights the clearly fragile relationship between the
United States and Russia. In order to ease the tension between the two
countries, the United States Secretary of State Robert Jacobs (Eric Roberts) is
heading to Moscow for a secret summit. Unfortunately, his granddaughter
Brittney (Polina Butorina) has stowed away on his jet in an attempt to meet
Pavel Chernov (Aristarkh Venes) one of her social media friends who happens to be the star of a Russian boy band. Accompanying Secretary Jacobs are two secret
service agents – Kate (Kelly Hu) and Barnes (Tom Arnold), the latter of which
has a bladder issue that is referenced far too many times for far too few
laughs. Leading the security efforts for Russia is FSB agent Maxim
Kadurin (Alexander Nevsky), who is known as the ‘Hammer from Hell’. Maxim enlists
the help of Don Sanchez (Danny Trejo) – a drug kingpin – to tip him off about any threats to the summit.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, an international terrorist
(William Baldwin) finds out about the summit from a mole in the state
department and sends his best man Tony Lin (Mark Dacascos) to cause an international
incident. Tony happens to be a former TV show star, still caught up in the
glory of his now defunct acting career. When Brittney ends up disappearing in
an apparent kidnapping by Tony and his men, the US secret service agents and FSB
agents must work together to try and get her back before any hopes of diplomacy
between the US and Russia are out the window.

Maximum Impact is
one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The acting is awful, the plot is
stupid, and there is a lack of legitimate action or comedy throughout. I could
see this movie being funny to a group of middle schoolers at a sleepover,
although there are adult themes including Danny Trejo preforming some sexual
activities on female friend. I usually try hard to find some redeeming
qualities in every movie I review, and I did the same here, but Maximum Impact had none. The film is from
the brain trust of director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Romeo Must Die)
and writer Ross LaManna (Rush Hour).
Bartkowiak and LaManna have been part of some solid flicks in the past, but Maximum Impact does not hold any water
compared to any of their past successes.
Some movies, like Sharknado,
are so bad that they can be good… unfortunately Maximum Impact is so bad it’s just that, bad. Really bad. There
have been spy parodies in the past that were extremely well done – Naked Gun and Spy immediately come to mind – and Maximum Impact isn’t close to the caliber of these. There are some
recognizable faces – with Tom Arnold, Danny Trejo, and William Baldwin having bit
parts. None of these roles is enough to save Maximum Impact from being a jumbled head scratching mess. Avoid
this movie at all costs, trust me.
Rating: 0 out of 5