Pete_LeGrant October 27, 2008 Entertainment 4 views Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Max Payne is one of the very few games that I played from beginning to end with no other games interrupting. It has been a few years (like 7) since I played that game on the original Xbox, but there are still some things about the game that I remember. So when I saw the first Max Payne movie trailer starring Mark Wahlberg, I was very excited to see the movie to say the least. The only reservations I had were based on the poor reviews and the amazingly high amount of bad video game movies. I should also mention here that the movie is rated PG-13 which is a red flag to almost everyone that has played the extremely violent and mature game(s).

I went on Saturday afternoon and with the movie being a week old, there was little surprise that the theater would be at less than capacity. The parking lot was packed and so was the concession stand line, apparently for High School the Musical. I was the only one in this showing of Max Payne. With the high number of younger folks in the building and one adult in the Max Payne movie, brings the question: Was the gamble of isolating hardcore fans 18+ by going for a teen-friendly rating worth it?

The movie starts off the same way the international trailer does, with Max Payne in water setting up the story for us. This scene was a pretty good indication of how the video game would translate into the film. Already you got a sense of the somewhat “campy” voice acting from the game as well as the dark and well-done visuals that the franchise was known for.

Some images I have flashing back in my head from my time with the game from years before are of course the “bullet time” effects, the flashback of Max finding his wife and child murdered, the guns, and the heavy snow. This movie had all of that. Many of the critics have been complaining about the overuse of the “bullet time” mechanism, but for me it never really got in the way. If you have played the game, you might even feel like they dialed it down quite a bit. The film did ignore the graphic novel panels that the game used to lay the story out. I am not sure that effect would not have come off as anything other than as a gimmick.

The movie felt gritty and had plenty of action. The core concept of the plot is plenty solid: cop tries to solve and avenge the death of his family. The other choices around it didn’t seem too engaging to me. Also I found that I never really cared about any of the characters aside from Max Payne… and the World of Warcraft playing Mila Kunis of course.

Looking at Max Payne just as a film, with no preconceived opinion based on the game, I would have to say that this is a very average action movie. The sound and visuals are great. There is plenty of action, a couple hot women, and the star power of Mark Wahlberg. As a fan of the game, I would bump the rating of the film up a few points. This movie is probably only a “must see” for die hard Max Payne or Mark Wahlberg fans. For anyone that enjoys an action movie or good looking visuals, this movie should suffice. If you need a well done plot, emotional attachment to characters, or could care less about video games then go ahead and sit this one out.

My guess is that there will likely be an unedited or director’s cut on DVD and Blu Ray, but will the damage have already been done?