Max is (at the beginning of the film) a member of Harry Stamper's crew on an oil rig in the South China Sea. When an asteroid threatens humanity's existence, he is asked by Harry to assist him in trying to save Earth by going into space, drilling into the asteroid, and planting a bomb to nuke it from the inside. Due to Max's size, Harry has to first check that the Shuttle has no weight limit.We can assume he has a very close relationship to his mother, as he is getting a Lovin' Mama heart tattoo on his arm when the FBI agents come to collect him. We can also safely assume that he has past convictions against him - regarding the agents, his mother asks Max if he is in trouble with the law again . Max insists he isn't, which implies he may not have done anything illegal in recent times.His response to the news about the asteroid is to put his head on the table in despair. It could be argued that Max appears to be the most frightened about the situation, as he keeps his head down whilst his fellow colleagues all calmly agree to go on the mission. However, after stumbling over his answer, it is obvious that he is willing to join the others in space. In return for his services, his request to the US Government is for them to bring back eight-track tapes.Max may be seen as quite a violent man. When the crew are having their physical examinations to check they are well enough for space, he threatens the medic wanting to inject him. This could also be interpreted as him having a fear of needles or injections.In the psychological examination, he names his favourite food as haggis ( heart, lungs, and liver boiled in a sheep's stomach ). He says this whilst stood tall over the assessor, perhaps in an attempt to be intimidating or to show that he is not intimidated by their questions. We also learn from this examination that Max suffered a major head injury in high school (however, we are not informed of what happened) and that he is a big sports fan.Max begins the mission on Shuttle Freedom with Airforce Colonel Sharp, NASA pilot Watts, and munitions specialist Gruber, as well as his usual colleagues Harry, Rockhound, and Chick.When Shuttle Independence is hit by debris from the asteroid and crashes on the rock, his grief for his friends is apparent, but he manages to hold it together and uses their equipment to drill into the asteroid. However, Max sadly loses his own life when there appears to be an earthquake on the asteroid. The equipment is said to have hit a gas pocket, causing the ground to shake violently and Max to be thrown (inside of the Armadillo) into the air. This would have resulted in the failure of the mission had the second Armadillo (containing other surviving crew members) not come along shortly after Max's death.