Max Payne (2008)

Product of Abandon Entertainment, Collision Entertainment, and Depth Entertainment
Directed by John Moore
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, and Chris O’Donnell

NYPD Detective May Payne’s wife and daughter were killed in a armed burglary three years ago, but something was always mysterious about it, leaving it unsolved and abandoned cold case.  Max suddenly needs to deal with a new drug on the market made by the pharmaceutical company Aesir, strangely enough the same company who his wife worked for before her death.  As bodies pile up and this supernatural drug becomes more and more prevalent, Max finally gets to the bottom of the case and exacts revenge from his wife’s murderer.


As I have stated before in my “The Punisher” review, I do enjoy movies based on and/or related to video games.  This one was on my list of movies to see, but I never actually got around to watching it.  There are plenty of reasons for this:
1. People never want to go the movies.
2. People go to the movie when I’m not available.
3. People never want to go when I am available.

So you see, I must be a terrible person to go to the movies with.  Just like Mark Wahlberg is a terrible person to talk drugs and dead wives with.

I honestly have no qualms with the cinematography of this movie (big word thanks to my ex-girlfriend) as I had with “The Punisher.”  Wahlberg plays a very similar character to Jane’s character, being down-trodden and mysterious, but with a vengeance.  Mila Kunis provides the part of an angry sister who is (shocker) also seeking revenge, though for a separate death from the result of (shocker) drug use.  I was not impressed with her in this movie however, as she is very difficult to be taken seriously.  She has used her blank stare so often with a stern voice that when I see her holding up Wahlberg’s character in an alleyway, all I can think is “Holy shit Jackie has an MP5!”  Little flashback to my Call of Duty days there.  Bridges adds the part of the best friend-turned-bad guy as BB, the old partner of none other than Max Payne’s father.

I was greatly impressed by Ludacris playing a part as a lieutenant in this movie, trying to take down Payne.  I enjoyed his acting in this movie better than Tim Allen in the new Chevrolet commercials.  In fact, I think this is the only character in the movie that shows any sort of humor whatsoever…

The action scenes in this movie were very well placed, far apart, and very well acted, keeping in mind the one scene at the top of the Aesir building.  These scenes also dominate the movie with CGI animated Valkyries, the movie explaining their reasoning behind that.  This ancient mythological element simply yet drastically adds to the graphics of the movie, as well as setting the story in motion and keeping the characters alive - or dead.

The direction of this movie was not something to be one of legends, but its not direction to be initially left to the dumps.  The scratchy, dark almost comic book-esque shading of most of the scenes was a treat as not many movies are made like this.  I did not feel that there were wasted scenes or time in this movie as compared to “The Punisher.”  Mediocre at best.  Though he did not opt to use green screens often in this movie, deciding instead to simply film in Toronto at night.  Wahlberg has also stated that John Moore is one of his favorite directors.  I agree to disagree, but I’m not exactly an expert.
Overall, I would give this movie about a B+ in total.  I don’t really have no negatives to this movie, though there are few positives that outweigh the negatives.  See this movie is you’re a Wahlberg or a video game rendition fan, or if you just want a good action movie.  Otherwise, you can pass this one up without much of anything being missed.