SummaryMax Payne is a maverick cop - a mythic anti-hero - determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murders of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and fac...
SummaryMax Payne is a maverick cop - a mythic anti-hero - determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murders of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and fac...
The attempts to out-Matrix "The Matrix," with bullet-time super-slo mo, are staged with such theatrics that they're unintentionally funny. This movie also has "Blade Runner" on its mind, and Raymond Chandler, but mostly it's a weak little sister to "Sin City."
With its flat story, numbed-out protagonist, and faux artistic lighting and set design - everything is dark or moody or darkishly moody or moodily dark - Max Payne seems a good half hour longer than its running time.
Turning video games into movies may be one way for studios to coax teenagers away from their laptops, but this time around, the results are miserable, in every sense of the word.
A stylish, neo-noir thriller that comes off as Sin City-lite. Where Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's comic book adaptation received praise for the originality of its stories (as well as the visuals) however, this offers a by-the-numbers revenge plot. Despite all of its references to Norse mythology, its twists and turns remain predictable throughout. In fact, the only unique thing they bring to the table are the bizarre hallucinations the characters have of demonized valkyries. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the games this is based on outside of the first one's surprisingly incredible GBA port, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any supernatural creatures in them, imagined or not. Even if there were, it doesn't change the fact that they feel wildly out of place in this movie. They do at least provide something interesting to look at though.
Of course, there is also plenty of bombastic blockbuster action. It's serviceable, but at the same time these slow motion shootouts have got nothing on a John Woo flick. Probably serving as the best example of how Max Payne borrows competently enough from other, better films to be watchable in a turn-your-brain-off sort of way without ever managing to be truly exciting. As a matter of fact, aside from being woefully miscast with Mark Wahlberg giving a performance with literally all the acting range and emotional expressiveness of an actual block of wood and Mila Kunis being the poorest excuse for a Russian gangster I have ever seen, the real problem with this movie is that it's entirely forgettable. Perhaps not the worst complaint one could direct at this, but it's still indicative of a rather fatal flaw. After all, as adequate as it may be, why should you watch this when there are plenty of other options out there doing the same thing in a more enjoyable manner?
Max Payne the film falls short of the Max Payne game series. John Moore takes the concept of the game it's story line and creates something basic. The fans of Max Payne were a bit disappointed at the films depute. Unfortunately the story and comics in the first game were so impressive for that time and made such a huge impact in the gaming industry and most importantly in the player's, or better gamers minds. Therefore it would be very hard to make a movie with a similar impact and create a Max Payne as Bad ass as you could possibly make it in the game. I mean you as a player. It is a shame, the film could have done more justice to the Max Payne novelty. Maybe future remakes will be taken into accord although I know the reason they are not at the moment. The directors saw how hard it was to make an actual impression on the fans. It is a shame really, Mark Walkberg is a decent actor but unfortunately he did not make a true impact in this film. I would suggest a more sickening looking kind a character. But hey, we cannot really get exactly what we want can we? Well.. sometimes we can. Film-makers have shows us before and will do so again..
"Max Payne" just goes to prove what movie critics have been saying for years. Yes, video game based movies do indeed ****. Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne is very bland and boring. The dialogue is also is atrocious. One example is at the very beginning when someone who works in the cold case unit asks if Max Payne wants a beer after work. Wahlberg just completely ignores him. Why is there no interaction between these two characters? Who knows. Action sequences aren't horrible, but I'm sure you can find better action in a whole bunch of other movies. The ending **** also. Not worth your time.