Max: I'll never get better. And that's a fact!
Maximum V
is a Web Video created by the makers of Aikido Magazine, made for a school project as a parody of the Rocky movies.
The movie, which is 16 minutes long, focuses on Max, a high school freshman who has lost his skill at cross country due to poverty. His friend, Paul, arranges for him to meet with a trainer, Mike, who trains him for a race against naruto runner and cross country star Victor Lee.
The movie is somewhat of an Inside Joke at the school, and has spawned a Fountain of Memes for the students who made it.
Tropes present in Maximum V
- Adaptational Mundanity: Maximum V is more toned-down than Rocky, as it takes place at a high school and was made on a zero-dollar budget. Due to this, a number of elements are reduced in complexity and scope:
- Rather than the opponent of the main character being a boxing champion, he is simply a cross country runner who has won many races for the school.
- Instead of a televised match at the end, there is a race through the neighborhood that is livestreamed by the school news network.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Downplayed: Rocky is left-handed in the original, which causes trouble for him while boxing. In Maximum V, there is no indication that Max is left-handed, and even then, it wouldn't affect his running ability.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: The original Rocky ends with Rocky being defeated, while Max wins at the end of the movie.
- Adaptational Job Change: All of the characters are students.
- Adaptational Wimp: The character based off Rocky is simply a scrawny high schooler.
- All There in the Script: The original script gives more screen time to Tony, who was based off Joe Gazzo, the Loan Shark from the original Rocky movie.
- He would be running with Max and Paul at the beginning of the movie and demand money from a character named Adrian.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Max is a great runner, but has lost the will to do well.
- Canon Foreigner: Bethany Edwards has no equivalent in the Rocky franchise, and is mostly there to move along the plot.
- Similarly, the unseen reporter Beck Brown has no named equivalent.
- Foreshadowing: Max struggles to run up some stairs when he begins training with Mike. At the end of the training montage, he runs up the stairs and poses victoriously.
- High School: The movie takes place at a high school in New Jersey, and all the main characters are freshmen.
- Jerk Jock: Victor Lee is a jerk and a jock. Pretty straightforward.
- Narcissist: Victor Lee cares only about himself and often uses ridiculous sentences to proclaim his superiority.Victor: Ha! I pity the fool who tries to challenge Victor Lee! Anyone who challenges Victor Lee, a loser he will be!
- Training Montage: Exactly halfway through the movie, Max begins a training montage set to the music from the original Rocky. He even assumes Rocky's Victory Pose at the end of the montage.
