Movie Review: Max Payne

What can I say about Max Payne? Well perhaps I can start with the fact that this review is several days late, yes yet again because of the election. So some of you may have seen this film by now. But others may be waiting for the DVD or cable. Choose cable.

Now don’t get me wrong, the film is not bad. In fact if I had to pick one word to describe the film it would be dark. Not because of the subject matter, that’s the camerawork. The lighting, where there is any decent light, is drab and shadowy. I suppose because they are trying to set a mood. What they achieve is making the movie seem like a bore.

The film is based on a video game of the same name, and when I say based I mean they have the same title. Very little of the video game transfers over to the film. Just the motivation of the titular character, dead family, and the final scene. Everything else is more director’s license than anything else.

Like the video game the hero, Mark Wahlberg, is a cop who has serious problems. He seemingly sleeps little – as he trolls the city for clues to the person that killed his family and got away. Of course this has had a detrimental effect on his career, as he works in the dead files department. So the first 5 or so minutes of the movie are a complete waste as I’ve basically covered all of that here.

We then move on to meeting Natasha. That’s almost all you need to know about her, besides the fact she dies. The real mystery, or at least that is what you are meant to wonder about, is how she dies. In fact several people kick off at this point, each with a quasi-mysterious mannerism.

Now I will tell you this, the film does not have angels, demons, or other such creatures. Though the question is meant to be asked by the viewer. But you never get to a point of really caring about the question in the first place.

That’s the bad part. For all the action, which is fair but not gratuitous, you never really care what happens to Max or anyone else in the film. The various characters pop on and off screen just slow enough for you to know that they are not background characters. The plot keeps moving forward and you just don’t care if you missed anything prior. Because none of it is really important.

I like Mark Wahlberg. He’s come a long way in his acting, but he just not leading man material. At least not solo in a film like this. It’s not that he can’t make the moves look good, or that his acting is that bad. He just doesn’t convey interest from the viewer. Or maybe it was the writers just being lazy.

Hollywood has gotten too used to films where there is enormous back stories to work off of. Iron Man, Spiderman, X-Men, Hitman, Halo (when it comes out) and way too many television show revisionings. Because of all these films it seems the writers are just getting lazy, and this film shows it.

Is this film a waste of time? Not exactly. You won’t feel better for seeing it, nor will you feel worse. It won’t make any impact at all really. But if you have time to spare, and you have to see a movie right now it’s probably the best choice for a while.