Director: John Moore
I'm a big fan of the Max Payne video game, so I can't tell you how much I have anticipated the release of this movie. Unfortunately, I left the theatre last night feeling very disappointed.
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell, Amaury Nolasco, Olga Kurylenko
I'm a big fan of the Max Payne video game, so I can't tell you how much I have anticipated the release of this movie. Unfortunately, I left the theatre last night feeling very disappointed.
The video game was released in 2001 and became an instant hit. The game was heavily inspired by the cinematography of John Woo movies and "The Matrix". The game play revolves around "bullet time" whereby when triggered, time slows down to such an extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye — it is a form of slow motion. The player, although his movement is also slowed, is still able to aim and react in real time, providing a unique advantage over enemies.
As you can tell, "bullet time" plays an important role in the video game. In fact, its the only reason why the game was so popular in the first place. Oddly enough, "bullet time" was only used in just two scenes throughout the entire movie. And to top it off, Max only fired one shot in each scene. Holy crap! What the hell happened to the slow-mo gun battles? The "film noir" feel of the game is also lacking in the movie mainly because the voice-over narration by Max is missing. On the other hand, the visual effects involving the Valkyries were quite stunning. I'm sure the director spent a lot of time to get everything to look right but at the same time neglected to develop a coherent storyline. As an adaptation, "Max Payne" is very different from source material in pretty much every aspect and doesn't capture the style and energy of the game at all.
IMHO, the best person to direct the "Max Payne" movie is John Woo, the man himself. If done right, this movie could be just as good as John Woo classics such as "Hard Boiled", "The Killer" or maybe "Face/Off". Instead, we get John Moore who turns "Max Payne" into a forgettable, mediocre film. Casual moviegoers who have no knowledge of the game will find "Max Payne" an average movie with some mindless action scenes linked together by an incoherent storyline. For fans of the game, this movie is simply disappointing.
Score: 5/10
1 comment:
I didn't really feel the movie too. Thought it was a little too disturbing the entire duration of the movie.
Also thought they could have done a better job at establishing the context of the characters (I'm not a gamer, so i wouldn't know the history of the characters). Did find it a little hard to keep up with the characters in the movie.
Also, security guards in a company with machine guns?! That's a little "over-the-top" right?
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