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Max Payne Movie Review

posted by Mark Fujii at 10:33 pm.

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Every time a video game based movie comes out I always get a little excited. I don’t know why I do it, but I always allow myself to nourish the small little glimmer of hope that this time the movie won’t suck. Time and time again I’ve had this flicker of hope cruelly snuffed out. First it was Resident Evil. Then Bloodrayne. Then Hitman. Time and time again it seemed like the combined evil forces of Hollywood and Uwe Boll seemed hell bent on taking everything that gamers held dear and cruelly raping it to death. Granted, some video game movies have been more successful than others (I’ll guiltily admit to enjoying Resident Evil: Apopcolypse and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) but none of them have genuinely been good enough to break from the stereotype that video game based movies suck major ass.

Tragically, Max Payne does very little to change things.

I suppose a great deal of my disappointment is derived from the fact that the trailer looked so awesome. For the first time in quite some time, it looked as though the director (John Moore -The Omen, Behind Enemy Lines) had nailed the essence of the game. The trailer was violent, bathed in gloom and darkness, had some awesome visual effects, and best, had Max’s trademark angsty monotone narrating it. It had a decent cast with Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, Shooter) and Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show, Forgetting Sarah Marshal) giving it credibility and star power. Everything seemed to be lining up into place for Max Payne to be the first awesome video game movie.

But that was just my hopes deluding my better judgment.

Personally, I feel as though the largest sin that Max Payne’s movie incarnate commits is the fact that it refuses to stay true to the original story. There was nothing wrong with the game’s story. It was about a framed DEA agent, Max Payne, waging a one man war against anyone who stood in his way after his partner and friend is murdered. It was a simple story full of great characters that was effective and compelling enough to give gamers a reason to keep playing after murdering thugs in bullet time got old.

The story that the movie follows deviates far from the story. Plot elements are changed, characters added or replaced, character’s that played no real importance fleshed out for no real reason (Max’s wife worked at a chemical plant apparently) and the role of Jim Bravura (Ludacris) has suddenly been transformed into an Internal Affairs detective who sympathizes with Max. Oh, and there’s also some generic army of thugs running around the city peddling drugs.

This is not Max Payne. I’m sorry. But it’s not. They’ve taken Max Payne’s story and rewritten it into a generic mess of half-assed cliches. Perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad if it remained true to the game (I can understand taking some liberties being taken for the sake of creating a cohesive narrative), but there are certain aspects of the story (whether it be characters or plot elements) that are so dissimilar from the video game that it’s difficult to see the resemblance between the film and the game at times.

So the story sucks. That’s not such a huge surprise I suppose, but the acting is pretty terrible too. Mark Wahlberg makes for an effective Max Payne (he scowls a lot), but Mila Kunis was a terrible casting decision as Mona Sax, the infamous hit-woman/love interest, that fights by Max’s side. As awkward as this may be to say, but Mila Kunis is simply too cute to be Mona Sax. She’s too perky of an actress to be believable as a cold blooded assassin. But Mila Kunis isn’t really the worst of the lot. All the supporting actors are varying shades of awful acting, but I suppose I can cut them some slack. The script they had to work with was pretty bad too.

The action for the most part is pretty decent. Even with a PG-13 rating (I’ll get to that in a second) there’s enough well choreographed, violent shoot-outs to keep the film entertaining. They even implement Max Payne’s trademark slow-motion and bullet time periodically.  On top of that, I definitely have to give props for the film’s visual aesthetics. In that respect, the trailer didn’t lie. It looks and feels like a level in Max Payne, gritty, dark and edgy.

For a film as dark as Max Payne, why the hell would the director design the movie to be a PG-13 film? Max Payne was all about murder, drugs, prostitution, satanic cults and dropping the F-bomb just for the hell of it. It was a grim and morbidly hilarious at times, and each level was bathed in blood and corpses. It was a game that earned its Mature rating -so why would the film be any different? To appeal to a bigger market? To allow high school kids in so it makes more money?

Ultimately, Max Payne isn’t the worst video game movie that’s come along, but it’s still a massive disappointment that’s left me bitter and upset. This was the messiah that was supposed to change things. This was the movie that was supposed to show Hollywood how it was done, and it would convince everyone that video games can make good movies. It’s an entertaining action flick and there are definitely some cool aspects of the film that Max Payne fans will appreciate, but between the acting, the dumbed down film rating, and the unrecognizable storyline; Max Payne will still disappoint video gamers and movie enthusiasts alike. It’s miles ahead of a Uwe Boll production, but don’t expect anything remotely akin in quality to Mark Wahlberg’s other movie where he played a hard-ass detective, The Departed.

But hey, at least we have the upcoming Bioshock movie to look forward to. Right?

Mark Fujii: I'm your typical college student who plays too much video games. I also work as an electronic sales associate, meaning I sell Ipods and violent video games to your children when not trying to sneak off and play Super Smash Bros while the boss isn't looking. Oh, and I'm totally awesome. True fact.