Theatrical Review of Max Payne

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Theatrical review

By Jason P. Vargo
First published Oct 19, 2008

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The film "Max Payne" is based on a video game of the same name. That´s all you really need to know. It´s a tamer, somewhat darker version of "The Punisher," minus most of the blood and guts. Mark Wahlberg stars as the titular character, a homicide cop whose wife and daughter were killed in their home. Now, he is obsessed with solving the case, deemed an unsolvable "cold case" by the department. When a woman and then his ex-partner turn up dead, all fingers point to Payne.

Has there been a good video game adaptation? While "Max Payne" is nowhere near as dumb as "Doom," it can´t hope to be a "good" movie in any way, shape or form. Wahlberg is respectable pretty much the entire time and, to be fair, the audience can sympathize with him in the wake of his loss. Yet the rest of the film is a cold shootfest with a plethora of good actors caught in mediocre material, among them Beau Bridges, Chris O´Donnell, Mila Kunis, Donal Logue and Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris.

Director John Moore ("Behind Enemy Lines," 2006´s "The Omen") has an eye for the visual aesthetic the material demands. "Max Payne" is shot primarily in dark locations or at night with a look reminiscent of any number of graphic novels. The film isn´t hyper-stylized like "300" or "Sin City," but doesn´t need to be either. It has more in common, visually speaking, with Chris Nolan´s Batman films. All three take advantage of shadows and darkness while maintaining a high level of background detail and allowing the action to be seen, as opposed to shrouded in darkness. Moore also employs "The Matrix"-style bullet time without overusing the technology. The camera continues to move through the action and dialogue scenes with the express purpose of being kinetic while still showing as much action as he can. (The director of the next "AVP" movie can learn from Moore…)

The acting isn´t a problem, either. Sure, Bridges´ security expert BB Hensley is the latest in a long line of halfbit villains, a role he undoubtedly modeled after brother Jeff in "Iron Man." Kunis as a Russian killing machine strikes the appropriate balance between beauty and deadliness. It should be mentioned O´Donnell and Logue are given next to nothing to do, with both their characters exiting the movie far too early after getting nothing of importance to do.

Really, the story itself isn´t the problem. The second half of it is. (I´m not saying the first half is high quality drama, but it is serviceable, almost inspired.) It´s there so many ancillary characters are introduced, all with their own agendas and backstabbing double crossing lies no one can possibly keep up with whose side anyone is on. What about the cop who calls BB near the end? How about the head of the company behind the…oh, never mind. Let´s just say the overall plot ties into current events, much like this summer´s "Iron Man." At some point the web becomes entirely too complex for its own good. "Max Payne" doesn´t bother to go back and reset all the events so we can fully connect the dots. (Not that it should: those montages are weak and pandering to the audience.) It doesn´t bother to connect the dots as the movie progresses, resulting in a-ha moments once the credits begin to roll.

A thought occurred to me halfway through. When the Russian girl Natasha (Olga Kurylenko) turns up dead with Payne´s wallet and he is investigated for the crime, why doesn´t he fully cooperate? His fellow cops wouldn´t be on his tail, some of them might want to help him later on and, when Alex Balder (Logue) is offed, at least one or two would believe his story. The easy answer is the movie would be considerably shorter and less at least one shootout if the cops all worked together. The hard answer is it doesn´t make sense in any real world situation. Running from the law is an appearance of guilt whether Payne did the deed or not.

One last thing to mention: trailers and TV spots make "Max Payne" out to be a variation of "Constantine" with CGI imagery of angels, fire and other beasties. There are precious few of these effects in the film, with the majority coming in at the end of the picture, thanks to drugs. Yes, you heard me. Drugs. It´s a side effect or something, according to O´Donnell´s character. I can´t help but think "Max Payne" may have been more engaging and thoughtful if the script tried to explain this aspect a bit more than it does…alright, if it explained it at all. It feels like a concept thrown in because it sounded cool. The film takes place solidly in the reality of 2008; don´t be misled.

Maybe if I was a fan of the game, I wouldn´t be looking for certain things out of the cinematic adaptation of "Max Payne." Truth is I´ve never even played. The entire film is video game-y in its approach, from the (admittedly cool looking) bullet time to the hopeless story gymnastics and malformed characters. This is an exercise in style over substance, an attempt to create a new franchise away from the comic book genre. A PG-13 rating doesn´t necessarily hurt the final product, but a hard R would have been welcome. "Max Payne" rates a 4 out of 10.

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