It takes a film like Max Payne to really put in perspective what a crap shoot trailers can be. Of course your hope is that when you see a trailer it accurately represents just how good a movie is going to be, but the truth of the matter is, you just never know. Especially now, with all the fervor over the recent Super Bowl ads that aired for films like Transformers and G.I. Joe, you would hope that the movies could somehow be as entertaining as those 30 second spots, but more often than not the movies just cant live up to those few moments. Max Payne is a perfect example of this.
When the trailer premiered in the late summer of last year, Max Payne seemed to be the movie it was supposed to be, a film jam packed with action, stylistic direction and a look that properly translated the grim, gritty noir-like setting of the original video game. The game itself was driven on shootouts that resembled John Woo or Matrix-style gun battles, healthy with slow motion bullet ballets. Its story was steeped in a graphic novel-type approach, very reminiscent of Frank Millers Sin City yarns of anti-heroes taking down mob bosses and corrupt cops. You would think an adaptation to the screen would simply write itself. You would be very wrong.
The resulting picture is a tedious one, never really wanting to stake a claim as a straight out action picture or a dramatic thriller. First up, it doesnt make sense that a movie based on a “Mature” rated game would go out and try to be a PG-13 movie. Short, mindless, and pretty bloodless action scenes betray the nearly nonstop mayhem of the original game; the shootouts in this picture coming off as anemic, whether talking about the theatrical or “Unrated” cuts included here in this edition, not even coming anywhere close to the poetry of John Woos classics or the popcorn fun of the Wachowskis blockbuster efforts. With Hollywood coming up with more energetic actioners like Wanted and Shoot em Up to fill the needs of action junkies, films like Max Payne come off more like “Straight to DVD” efforts than big budget movies setting out to please either action fans or followers of the original games.
Its all the more frustrating that the movie isnt even bad enough to be fun either.
In fact, there some decent work done here in the art production side of things, as the movies look nearly gets everything right, saturating the picture to make it as gloomy as possible, but never quite going to Sin City levels of stylization. Everything in the look of this picture works really well; it just doesnt ever get past that stage. Were not thrilled by the action, the story is slow and prodding, and the acting across the board is pretty laughable.
Mark Wahlberg just simply had a rotten 2008, with Payne definitely unable to erase the memory of The Happening, a movie in contention for the worst film of last year. His performance in Max Payne might even be worse on some level, because what it does is hurt is biggest asset; his streetwise tough guy image. Just as he did in Shooter, Wahlberg wastes what goodwill we might have had accrued for him over the years in better films like The Departed by giving us another bland antihero, making you long for the days of acting thespians like Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris. At least those guys knew how to sell their on-screen machismo; Wahlberg seems to prefer to bore you to death by making his character as minutely interesting as possible.
When the best parts of an action movie are the inanimate objects in the background and the two-minute trailer that made you want to see it in the first place, theres definitely something wrong with your picture. Director John Moore takes what could have been the first great and seemingly easiest to translate video game movie and turns Max Payne into a watered down, dumbed down, snoozefest. Pleasing neither fans of Max Paynes video game roots or those of us who love a good shootout film, the movie instead seems to strive for pure mediocrity, and thats exactly what it achieves.
It seems like almost a waste, but the Blu-ray print on this “Unrated” edition of Max Payne looks absolutely spectacular. The print on this disc is as crisp as any Ive seen, giving the films look a boost in the right direction, even if everything else on screen is pretty lackluster. Honestly, this movie looks absolutely gorgeous, but all you can do is marvel at how bad the movie really is.
The sound on this disc is also pretty terrific, as the track really throws everything at you with full force, giving your surround sound a decent workout for short bursts.
Commentary by Director John Moore, production designer Daniel Dorrance and visual effects supervisor Everett Burrell – While you might not like John Moore as a director, you might still like him as a personality, and if that is the case, then this disc is for you. The first way to get into Moores insights is with this commentary track with the other two crew members. Its a decent track, with the best part being when he talks about an incident with customs when they find footage of tons of drugs and firearms, which was footage from the movie itself, making the director a bit nervous.
Pieces – This is the best feature on the disc, a two-part documentary running about an hour. Again, this kind of depends on whether you like Moore or not, as there is a ton a footage on the making of this movie, and the director is pretty outspoken about how good he thinks the movie is. The prime parts of this doc though, are interviews with Mark Wahlberg himself, who seems to want to go out of his way to say that he thinks that stars that act tough because they do their own stunts are stupid, and then later talks about how much he loves the role because its the most physical thing hes done in a while.
Picture-in-Picture – This is nice feature for the Blu-ray disc where you can access additional making of footage while the movie plays.
The segments can also be watched separately.
Walkthroughs and Cheats – Making Max Payne – This is more “making of” footage, and again Director John Moore is all over it. If you like what he has to say, theres seemingly no end to his input on this Blu-ray.
Michelle Payne – This is an animated comic similar to that of the cut scenes from the original video game, only not as well done.
Trailers
One of the biggest Action movie disappointments of 2008, Max Payne flushed all of its potential and promise down the tubes with uninspired heroics and dreary storytelling. Skimping on excitement and anything remotely resembling the adrenaline rushes of Wanted or Shootem Up, Max Payne is just another in a long line of forgettable Video Game movies. The Blu-ray disc does have some nice extras though, so if youre a fan of this movie, then this disc is definitely worth a look.
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20th Century Fox presents Max Payne: Unrated Edition. Directed by John Moore. Starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. Written by Beau Thorne. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG-13 or Unrated. Released on Blu-ray: January 20, 2009. Available at Amazon.
