Max Payne (2008)
Release Date: Friday October 17, 2008 Running time: 100 min. Director: John Moore Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Chris O’Donnell, Donal Logue, Amaury Nolasco, Olga Kurylenko
Max Payne packed a lot of action punch but was disappointing over all. The action was great but I was banking a bit more on the supernatural element in the film. The trailer promised one version and the movie gave me another. The movie had great action scenes and the cast did a really good job–as did the Special FX team…and the CGI team. Now granted I didn’t know anything about the game going into it but I didn’t know anything about Resident Evil either and that turned out to be just what the trailer portrayed. I’m not complaining per se I’m just saying this felt like it was going to be a little more on the Constantine side and just didn’t turn out that way.
It’s an interesting cast that worked in some ways but not in all. The laughs Chris "Ludacris" Bridges inspired from the audience wasn’t a good sign–as no one really believed him at all in this role. He did a much better job in Crash and RocknRolla. This Lt. Jim Bravura really wasn’t realized well–at all. Next on my list of unconvincing characters is the Mona Sax played by Mila Kunis. Someone please explain to me how it is one sister speaks with a Russian accent (Olga Kurylenko plays Natasha) and the other crime lord sister (Kunis) has no Russian accent but speaks Russian with an American one. Also, how is it the perfectly made up cover girl gets away with travelling all over town with a machine gun–shot in the dark here? So many aspects of this character are unbelievable. Now I know it’s a video game brought to the screen–but, it’s shot realistically not surreally so one must account for certain things to make logistic sense for the audience if you want your audience to buy your movie. And someone tell my why Nelly Furtado is in this film? Is it a bring everyone out of the music industry and on to the big screen movie? How many singers/rappers gone actor are we going to see. Now, Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne) is a long ways from Marky Mark but when he was getting into acting he didn’t do it with an ensemble cast of rappers/singers. I really don’t think this casting helped the film as a film–it simply distracted the audience from the story line–I know this because people around me were identifying the singers not the characters. I could go on and on about this but I won’t because it’s just too negative, and I do have some positive things to say about this film.
The action sequences and CGI were beautifully choreographed and executed. If all you want to do is see some good ass kicking and great visuals with little regard for acting or story line this is definitely the film to see. It’s beautiful to watch and has some really great editing and transitions. My favourite is the happy home to murder scene to abandoned house transition. This film has some great action sequences as I’ve already mentioned and the one I like most in particular is the one where Owen Green (Joel Gordon) is pulled out the window by a dark angel. It is just fantastic and it’s one I really hope they have on the DVD special features. There are also a great bunch of "shoot outs" in this movie that are definitely worth watching because it looks more like a moving work of art than fight scenes. Overall the cinematography was good and suited the mood of the film. One continuity error I gasped at was when Jason Colvin (Chris O’Donnell) is outside in the pouring rain and then comes inside with a wet jacket but from his office window we see a bright sunny day with no remnants of rain. I just couldn’t believe it–I mean if you are going to make a film with this kind of budget keep something like that consistent. other than that the film is pretty flawless in terms of visuals and doesn’t disappoint.
The last film I saw by John Moore was The Omen (a movie that scared the daylights out of me) and although the visual strength is still there (from The Omen days) the basis for character and story is lacking in this picture. I know it’s not easy to take on a project of this size because it’s a tough balance act between big on screen theatrics with character acting. But when you look at a film like Constantine where those big on screen theatrics are matched by really good acting then you have a basis of comparison for when the big on screen theatrics outweigh the acting (disproportionately). I really hope his next picture Virulents that’s supposed to be about soldiers who stumble upon vampire zombies (according to IMDb) will find that lost balance so unique to John Moore. To check out what his next project might look like go to the Virgin Comics YouTube page for Virulents. I really hope good things for this up coming feature.
Max Payne is my favorite game and i also like the movie.:..