Review of Max Payne (2008) by Sergeryw. — 21 Oct 2008

Read most of the reviews before seeing this and I don't understand why everyone is so bent out of shape on this film. Obviously people that will love this film played the game(s). But I think others will like it just as much if you haven't.

To what Chris said of Marky Mark's performance...I thought Mark did a very good job. If you want to see Mark performing badly, go see The Happening...this film definitely has him back in the right direction.

This is a much grittier Wahlberg, a little like his character in The Departed, but Max Payne is very different character. Throughout this film, the director does a great job showing all sides of max, his depressed side and his vengeful side full of hate that fuels him throughout the film.

As far as the video game adaptation goes, it's definitely the best one I've seen. It's faithful to the core storyline, yet is brand new in terms of how things are set up. I was a little iffy on Mila Kunis being picked for her role as Mona Sax, but she fits the role perfectly.

One thing the game always lacked in Mona's character is her coldness. The game always displayed her seductiveness and her toughness, but to me it never felt like it could be realistic enough because she wasn't as cold as Max.

The scene in the film where she questions Max and has him on his knees, beating him around pretty good, I thought the director did a great job showing that coldness that was common between her and Max.

They both give the same looks. My expectations for this movie was high going into it from all the advertising and also my past experience playing both Max Payne 1 and 2. I was afraid it would end up like Hitman did, but it didn't thankfully.

This film was as good as the game, if not better in certain elements. The bullet time was not exhausted and was used at the key times. I'm glad Max was actually shot up in shootouts he gets in, shows realism over the whole he never gets shot sort of thing we usually get in action films.

The only thing I wish they did more of was show a little more connection between Mona and Max...it felt like you never quite got the story between them or much info on her, but that'll be explained more in the sequel im sure.

IMPORTANT: Stay until after the credits to see an important scene that sets things up for a sequel.