A wonderful cast of actors, Matt Frewer, Morgan Shepherd, Hilary Tindall, Paul Spurrier, Amanda Pays, Paul Spurrier and George Rossi.
Why this movie has never been put to DVD is beyond me. If you get a chance to see this movie then do it. Sheppard's Blank Reg is an aging punk rocker with a Mohawk to boot. Pays is lovely as Edison's and later Max's producer. His zingers through out the movie help lighten the dark tones and Max is not just a computer clone of Edison. 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.
All is not well when virtual Edison takes the name Max Headroom and escapes the control of Lynch and Network 23. He uses that to create a computer version of Edison in hopes of fooling the viewers. 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. Being that Edison is the star of the network, if he dies then people will know something is up. They have a problem in doing this however. Instead of "killing the story" as happens today, the bosses decide to kill Edison. He uncovers evidence that his employer is killing viewers in an effort to generate more ad revenue. Amongst this backdrop is Edison Carter - played by Matt Frewer - star reporter for Network 23. 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. The cautionary tale of corporate control is dead on target even becoming more true than when this film came out. 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 story, the setting, and the characters drew me in and I was blown away. I happened on the "Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future" film on the cable channel Cinemax by accident in 1986 or so. Run out and find this movie if you can (I have seen it on tape, and Sci-Fi channel runs it occasionally). 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. I have rarely seen anything this ambitious attempted in the past. the burnt-out buildings, the police-state siege mentality.
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 low-budget enhances the bleakness of this dystopic future, and the utter pessimism about the future of mankind is palpable at every moment. 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.
This is absolutely wonderful! The whole Max Headroom angle was never really exploited until this became a (too short lived) TV series shortly after. 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. 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.