Gamertell

Title: Max Payne
Release Date: October 17, 2008
Company: 20th Century Fox
Rating: PG-13
Length 100 minutes
Pros: The storyline is close to the storyline of the game, being adapted in a couple of places so to not push away people who weren’t interested in the game. It appeals to the people who haven’t played the game and makes them interested in at least giving the game a shot. The special effects are incredible.
Cons: Realism is all over the place. Some of the camera work is distracting. When it’s supposed to be subdued to goes too big and when it’s supposed to be big it becomes subdued. The present-tense scene-setting is one massive continuity error.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one sideways, 80/100, B-, *** out of five.

For those who actually went to see Max Payne in the theaters, it was met with mixed reactions. Some people thought it was great and some people thought it was a good movie, just not a good Max Payne movie. There were also people who thought that it was simply horrible. Then there were the people like me who thought it was adequate. What it did right was dead on and what it did wrong were just things that could use a lot of improvement.

Max Payne was adapted into a better product as a film than the average game. The game had some problems in terms of programming and a lot of good ideas that were never fully fleshed out until Max Payne 2: Fall of Max Payne. It also changed up the story a bit by openly relating the story regarding Valkyr to the military.

Lights…

The mood of the game is one of hopelessness and despair. The mood of the movie is just as dark as the game but it lacks a bit of the edge due to the fact that you can only make something so edgy with a PG-13 rating. So rather than making the edgy Vicodin-laced hopelessness of the game, it shifted the story to something more vengeful and bitter. Rather than simply have a self-destructive deathwish with nothing left to lose, Max wants to bring justice to those who wronged his family. This run for vengaence works, just not as well as the deathwish.

The lighting of the film is absolutely genius showing you only what you need to see. Also when you see the Valkyrie hallucinations that were only mentioned briefly in the game, you never see them clearly. They either look like other-worldly shadows or they are distorted by the light.

Camera

Here’s where some of the biggest issues come in. The part of the story that happens in the present happens during three seasons (Spring, Fall and Winter) and the present events in the movie only span a week. It would be understandable if it were Chicago since you can go through the weather of at least two or three of the regular five seasons of Chicago (fifth being construction) a week. But the film takes place in New York.

Also some of the camera work, mainly for the cool bullet-time shot sequences, ends up being more distracting than anything. Yes, circling around a handgun while its being fired in slow motion is really cool and arty but there’s simpler ways to have the same artistic effect without distracting the viewer. You can start with an extreme close up of the gun and do a slow-mo straight pull back until everything you need is in frame rather than a close up rotating shot that goes into a pullback. Think about shot economy and it will actually work better because sometimes less actually is more.

Actin’

This is where things also get a bit messy. It seems to take the “go big or go home” mentality to heart. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, when things could stand to be more subdued, it’s time to pull back. When things can stand to get bigger, pile it on. Director John Moore just made some poor directorial decisions on this part.

Realism is also all over the place. An example is the fact that most of the original Valkyr junkies are military trained. You’d expect them to know how to shoot, especially if aiming with a scope. They don’t. It’s an old film stereotype that usually only one-in-12 bad guys actually knows how to shoot. It still works but come on. Military trained people on a drug that makes them more aggressive, heightens senses other than pain and heightens reflexes but they can’t shoot one person while aiming through a scope? Occasionally the action scenes come across as a Matrix clone full of junkies.

The acting is one of the highest points of the film. It takes the standard melancholy, gritty tone that is typical of film noir. It just heightens the experience that is given thrown the shots of the darkened bowels of New York City. It is beautiful in a harsh, brutal, ugly and unforgiving way. There is also a certain level of curtness when its needed which is necessary for film noir to be effective. The more long-winded explanations tend to be put in a very matter-of-fact way that also works in the favor of film noir. Oh a lot of people thought that Mila Kunis wouldn’t be able to pull of film noir. Then again if you’ve watched American Psycho 2, you know she can. She also confirms it doing one of the best acting jobs in the cast.

The soundtrack could’ve followed the melancholy, overbearing tone of the game. However, that wouldn’t have worked with the changes that were put in. Comparing the two soundtracks from game to movie can only be described as manic-depressive. They each worked in their own context of the franchise.

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