Max Payne

When I first heard about this film i was excited, I was excited because I have always been a huge fan of the games but this just didn't do it for me, some games are best kept as games. Although if the director or producer actually played the games they would probably be able to craft something a little more entertaining next time. Mark Wahlberg is usually a personal favourite of mine but I feel he was let down by a terrible script.

The games are amazing, I've always been a die hard fan of them, the way the story comes together i compelling and the way this story comes together is just draining and I dont recommend it to anyone, its enough to put you off the Max Payne series even though its incredible. I do have to note that there were a few intriguing fight scenes but that's as good as it got for me.

I was just as let down as Wahlberg was when I watched this, utterly disappointed and its such a shame, they had potential but it failed as some do.

Mark Wahlberg plays popular game hero Max Payne, a cop who sets out to find the man who killed his wife and child, while doing so he uncovers a potential conspiracy that could lead him to the killer.

While Max Payne boasts a great tone, atmosphere and great cinematography, the overall film wasn't really all that great, the acting was tough to judge, there were some good performances but the actors seem like they didn't have much to work with, the action scenes are minimal, and was just a ton of shooting and they weren't all that exciting, however if you are interested in this film, you can watch it, but I feel that there are better options.

Without comparing it to the game, I felt they could have done more to make it a bit more interesting and exciting, and possibly add more to Max Payne's back story and they could've been more inventive with the action scenes instead of making people just shoot at each other.

Otherwise, its a good concept and is well shot, but the execution needed a little more work.

I have never played the Max Payne games, so I have no idea if the movie was faithful to its origins. I've heard some people say that it was and others say it wasn't. But in any case, this really wasn't as bad as everyone seems to think. No, there wasn't as much action as you might get in a "Transporter" movie, but that didn't really bother me because sometimes I like movies that have a little more thought behind them. There were still some really awesome action sequences though and it was definitely beautifully shot. The atmosphere that they created with the lighting was great.

However, there were still some things that I didn't like about this movie and that they could have done better. First, most of it, especially the beginning, seemed very jumbled and hard to understand. The writing and the editing were sub-par. Second, and this is probably due to the bad writing and editing, you never really connect with any of the characters and so you can never really feel any overwhelming emotion about their situation. The whole thing seemed slightly hollow and empty, as if the writer and director themselves were not quite sure what they were trying to get at. Third, the acting sucked big time in some scenes. It wasn't horrible throughout the whole movie, but it still left much to be desired. Fourth, there were many things in the story that weren't fully explained, which only contributed to the hollow, confused feeling of the entire movie.

So, overall, it is not a bad film, but I was slightly disappointed. It really could have been an amazing movie, and I blame the writer and editor for almost completely ruining it. The only thing that saves it is the few awesome action scenes and the cinematography. But please don't believe anyone that says it one of the worst movies ever because it's not. It's just not as good as it should have been.

7.5/10

No spoiler here - it doesn't need one, its already spoiled!

OK so I am biased, having played both games to completion several times over I loved them both - dark, gritty, twisted, film noir greatness. the games, as most will no doubt know, were almost a scripted story board that was ready to go as a movie - seriously it should have been easy - don't bother with script writers - the script was already there, the games are a screen play! even down to camera angles and lighting - it should have been a no brainer. I would love to know what would have happened in the production crew and actors had actually played the game, but alas I suspect they had a treatment to work with and they just ran with that - Mark was an awesome choice for the role of Max but there it stops.

My big question is if your going to make a film of a great game why risk alienating the original fan base by not sticking with the already existing story line and instead running with an "off the shelf" plot (that was on the shelf for a good reason - it sucked!) and just putting in the appropriate names.

So whats next? do we have to now watch as Hollywood works it's way through more games - maybe Halflife? or Deus Ex - both could make awesome films but if this is what they are going to do with them why bother.

Simply put if your going to make a movie from an award winning game that sold in the millions - STICK WITH THE f*&KING STORY! games designers spend a lot of time making great games with great stories - gamers spend a lot of time enjoying them where the hell does some half arsed hack of a director get off knocking out crap like this. Yes its a given you name a film after a game with this sort of following and it will sell seats in the cinema - but do a good job of it- stick to the story and it will be a blockbuster! - it can be done - they said that Lord of the Rings and The Watchmen couldn't be done - but they were and were fantastic - granted they aren't games but the principle is the same - you research the material of the story before you make the film - get some of the original artists and creative producers involved instead of knocking out crap like this, it's not fair on the fans - and thats who the film is made for surely - do it well and they will market the game via word of mouth far better than any amount of trailers and hype will ever do and that means more money for the producers, I really don't understand why you would do it any other way.

Poor Mark Wahlberg. Ever since he obtained a fully deserved Oscar nomination for The Departed, he has struggled to hit it as big again: Shooter was enjoyable but unmistakably shallow, We Own the Night received very mixed reactions, and The Happening was one of the most unjustly panned movies of 2008 (well, minus the plastic plant scene). None of those, however, is as bad as Max Payne, which just about tails The Truth About Charlie for the title of Wahlberg's career low.

But hey, few people expected Payne to be any good in the first place. For starters, it's based on a video game, and those never turn out well on film. Secondly, it's directed by John Moore, whose body of work is all but encouraging (he remade The Omen, for crying out loud). Plus, it comes off as a mix of fantasy, action and revenge thriller - in short, a mess.

For those not familiar with the game, the story centers on the titular cop (Wahlberg), a brilliant homicide detective who's been reassigned after the brutal murder of his wife and kid. When a Ukrainian girl (Olga Kurylenko) is found dead with his wallet in her pocket, he's immediately charged with the murder, and the only way to clear himself is to find a thug named Lupino (Amaury Nolasco), who might even have something to do with Mrs. Payne's death (go figure..).

With some minor adjustments, this could easily be the latest installment of Death Wish. If only things were that simple: the plot is twisted even more with a subplot concerning a mind-altering drug called Valkyr, which makes everything look like Hell on screen and destroys Norse mythology's credibility off screen. Then again, decent scripts are rare when it comes to this sort of flick, so Moore is supposed to redeem himself with visuals and action scenes: in the first case, he delivers more than enough; in the second, he disappoints, and big time - not counting the first ten minutes and the last twenty, there's a serious lack of pace and ass-kicking.

Last but not least, the acting. Wahlberg does pretty much the same he did in Shooter: gritty and watchable, but never exploits his huge potential. Mila Kunis, who plays the "Payne girl" (sorry, couldn't resist), is totally miscast, being too young and with the wrong background (That '70s Show), except for the fact that she is of Ukrainian descent like her on-screen sister Kurylenko. Beau Bridges, generally a fine presence, manages the unenviable task of becoming worse as the picture progresses, and Nolasco's villain is as lifeless as they come (and let's not even get started on Ludicrous' "acting").

Long story short: if this were a game, it would reach the "Game over" stage after twenty minutes. Compared to this, even Tomb Raider looks decent enough.