Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better then expected after reading some of the other reviews., 27 May 2009
I have played and completed both the Max Payne games on the PS2. Max Payne the movie follows the story of the first game in some areas, whilst adding it's own ideas which works for me overall. I can understand why some fans of the games may not like what John Moore the director has done with Max Payne. I think some people wanted lots and lots of action which might sound good but to much action with little story is boring for us more mature/intelligent people. Max Payne has a good dark atmosphere and Mark Wahlberg gives Payne soul. Olga Kurylenko is dead sexy like she was in the Hitman film too and the action is slick. Max Payne won't set the world on fire but I prefer it to that brain dead film called Shoot Em' Up!!!
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13 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
You won't experience Max Pain, but you may wince a couple of times!, 26 Jan 2009
Mark Wahlberg plays Max Payne, a hard-bitten, hard-boiled, tortured police detective who `bucks the system' and `spits in the face of authority' who works the Cold Case Department of his city's Homicide Division. He dresses in black, wears a killer leather jacket and is a bit handy with firearms. He is also out for revenge against the killers of his wife and child, and angry with his former partner for not investigating their murders thoroughly enough.
After traversing this sequence of world-weary movie cop clichés, Max finds himself investigating reports of an unusual new drug known as 'Valkyr' that has started flooding the criminal underworld with terminal consequences; it's victims prone to suffering terrifying visions of winged demons swimming in a sea of fire, just before they die. An early casualty of this addictive narcotic is Ukrainian babe Olga Kurylenko (from Hitman) playing Natasha Sax, who survives long enough to show off her lithe figure, get herself thrown out of Max Payne's apartment, and presumably question why she is starring as yet another prostitute in yet another movie-based video game adaptation. Then she gets killed. And her body parts are found strewn around a trash cluttered back alley just off the main street. She had lifted Max Payne's wallet from his apartment and it is found at the scene. As he was one of the last people to see her alive, Max is therefore prime suspect and is forced to endure the mutterings and suspicions of his colleagues whenever he enters the station house - `Yikes' this movie has all the clichés!
To crack the case Max has to join forces with the sister of his supposed victim Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), uncover the mystery surrounding his family's slaying, before indulging in a series of sub-matrix gunplay on his way to meeting up with the `end of level demon' responsible for all his hurt and....well....`payne'!
This movie will appeal to anyone who harbours a secret and slightly geeky obsession with the comic-book/videogame adaptation genre. It is suitably stylish and competently made, director John Moore conjuring up the requisite dark visuals of the environment Max Payne inhabits; whether it be the men's room of an underground metro station, or the dark and dank interior of a flea-bitten hotel. The production does quite well on a relatively low budget ($35 million) and the visual effects of the demonic hallucinations are quite something to behold. Unfortunately these effects, the movie's trump card, also turn out to be the picture's weak-link. Put simply; there is no reason for them to be there other than to look good. The director should have done more with this idea other than for the visions to be simple hallucinations. It would have been more interesting for the winged demons to have featured as real creatures - those that can only be seen whilst under the influence of the narcotic. Regardless of whether this aspect of the story is an internal part of the game is irrelevant. The director of a major motion picture is duty bound to give us a little more than simple `eye candy'. And sadly the aforementioned gunplay is actually a bit dull and poorly choreographed - the slow-motion shootings (inspired by the game play) are completely unnecessary, only really becoming exciting as Max, having forced to ingest the drug himself, goes postal on the assorted minions and security guards as he works his way up to the roof-level heli-pad for the final showdown with Beau Bridges' pharmaceutical corporation head honcho.
Chris O'Donnell also appears half way through as a slightly weasely corporate henchman, and demonstrates that he's been eating a few too many pies since his glory days playing Dick Grayson in Batman Forever. Mark Wahlberg's acting is pretty good, and is back on a surer footing after the embarrassment of The Happening earlier this year. Mila Kunis does an adequate job as Mona Sax and Beau Bridges delivers a new line in movie villain stereotypical stoic scene-chewing.
The DVD extras include a commentary from John Moore as well as the usual making-of documentaries and talking-head featurettes.
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7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the Video Game, 20 Jan 2009
Let us note that this film (obviously) isn't the video game. It's a film based on the video game. Slight difference. For one, this is a plot-driven film rather than a mindless action flick/shoot 'em up.
Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) is a cop tortured by the death of his wife and child, and he is hell-bent on finding who did it. He starts from the bottom and works his way up the hierarchy, uncovering military secrets along the way, which just lead him to climb higher. The film opens with Max Payne falling in icy waters with a film noir-esque monologue. It's a shame this monologue is so short and one of the few narrations, but it's enough to make the viewer wonder why he's there. From there it goes back in time and develops it's way back to that point. Along the way he meets Natasha Sax (Olga Kurylenko) and her sister Mona Sax (Mila Kunis). Unfortunately, I don't feel either of them, particularly Mona Sax got enough development or screen time.
The visuals are very good and certainly quite creepy. The finale is certainly a high point in cinema special effects, and the cinematography is expertly done with some scenes as photographic and artistic as those in Road to Perdition. There's also a good soundtrack that helps the viewer to emphasise and feel the emotions Max feels. This ranks amongst my top films and I will be soon to pre-order my copy, no matter what the price.
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