Payneful to Watch (Max Payne (Blu-ray))

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	Max Payne (Blu-ray)
Date:	12/08/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some decent action scenes, special effects

Disadvantages: Poor casting, no storyline

I recently reviewed the film 'Taken' and pondered what made a good revenge thriller. The answer was that you had to like the hero and really hate the bad guys. This type of film puts all its eggs in one basket as the central character is the story; they are the driving force that makes the film a success or failure. Make that person dangerous, charismatic, funny, absolutely anything but bland. Therefore, hiring the likes of top actor Liam Neeson is a good idea; hiring cardboard blandfest Mark Wahlberg is not. 'Taken' was a film that did everything right from showing the enemies as despicable to establishing that the hero would do anything to save his daughter. 'Max Payne' does everything wrong.

A new drug is sweeping through New York and it is killing its citizens. Junkies are imagining angels and think they can fly, only to realise moments before they hit the ground that perhaps they cannot. Max Payne is a former homicide cop who now works on Cold Cases. He's worked down in the basement ever since his wife and child were brutally murdered and no suspects were found. After several years Max finally has a new lead and it's linked to the new drug on the streets. With nothing to lose he sets out on a revenge fuelled odyssey to bring justice in the form of a gun. Who is behind the brutal slaying of his family? Is it the downtown scum he thinks it is, or someone far closer to home?

'Max Payne' is a film that is all gloss and no substance; with this in mind it is no surprise that the film is based on a game. Having played the game I am not shocked to see that the film has a flimsy storyline; the PS2 game certainly did. I remember it as a game that introduced one of the first instances of bullet time (slowing down) and for its noir feel. Whilst many adaptations take only a token notice of the source I was impressed to see that the bullet time and noir feel came through. Unfortunately, so did the absolute lack of a decent story.

Director John Moore has produced a piece of work in 'Max Payne' that is at times visually stunning, but nearly always dull. You can throw all the special effects and slo-mo around that you like, but if you do not care about the characters there is no point. On BluRay the film does impress, especially in the segments based around the drugs as trippy images appear and vibrant flames come out of the screen. However, the aesthetic is so similar to films such as 'Constantine' and 'Sin City' that you feel you have seen them done better before.

With the special effects doing a reasonable, if not inspiring job, the faults of the film lie elsewhere. I could blame the lapse story, but so many decent revenge thrillers manage more on less that this is simply not the case. The problem is the cast. Mark Wahlberg has to be the dullest actor working in Hollywood, he mumbles through turkey after turkey, yet he still gets work. I was impressed with him in 'Boogie Nights' as the naive and bland Dirk Diggler, not realising until recently that this is all he has. Most performers would not get past a resume including 'The Italian Job', 'Planet of the Apes', 'We Own the Night' and 'The Happening' - four of the worst films of the past ten years. Instead, he gets an Oscar nomination for 'The Departed' just for being able to swear in a bland way?

Wahlberg is terribly miscast as Payne. In the games Payne is vengeful, but also funny and charismatic. Wahlberg does not have these in his arsenal and instead he acts the role like a coma victim. With no sense of vigour the entire film collapses and you get a strange mixture of a bland man walking through a room that is exploding. The miscasting does not stop at the lead with femme fatale Mona Sax being played by the childlike Mila Kunis. This is a role that requires a sophisticated woman; instead you get a squeaky voiced girl handing out machine guns. The cameo of Olga Kurylenko hints at what should have been - that is a woman!

As a rule any film based on a game is going to be average; and this is coming from a huge game fan. 'Max Payne' is worse than average and it has nothing to do with the source material, but everything to do with the medium of film. Moore does a reasonable job at making some good set pieces, with a slow motion gun fight between Payne and some security forces standing out. However, all the clever camera work and flashy photography is not enough to hide the rotten core of the film that is Mark Wahlberg's bland performance.


Director: John Moore
Year: 2008
Cert: 15
Starring: Mark Wahlberg
Price: Amazon uk £17.99 (BluRay)
Play.com £16.99 (BluRay)


Extras

As mentioned the BluRay does bring out the special effects in the film, but the grainy noir nature of the rest of the film means that the benefits are not as good as they could have been. I cannot remember any of the extras on the disc which is unacceptable on the pricier format.

Summary: Rich to look at, but dull to the core - like its lead actor