BluRay Review: Max Payne

Max Payne
Written by: Beau Thorne
Directed by: John Moore
Starring: Mark Wahlburg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Donal Logue, Chris O'Donnell, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

Mark Wahlberg stars as Max Payne in the story of a cop who's lost his family on a quest to discover the truth behind their murders. He teams up with the, I assume, killer for hire sister (Mila Kunis) of a recently murdered woman, to track down those responsible for the deaths.

Max Payne is an adaptation of a rather popular video game series. I played the original game briefly so I am coming to this film pretty much fresh and with no preconceptions or loyalties to the game.

That said, I was woefully underwhelmed by the film. My first issue is that it is extremely predictable. I knew where this movie was heading as soon as a certain character stepped on screen and that ruined any kind of suspense or tension I could have expected. Not that there is any.

The film feels disjointed, almost as if they just took scenes and stuck them together to try and make a cohesive story. It is also stylistic to a fault. It never feels natural. I will say that there are some gorgeous scenes that are wasted here. The snow fall looks incredible at times but over all Max Payne feels like its aiming to be more stylized that it has any right to be.

There are numerous unnecessary Norse mythology references that do absolutely nothing for the movie. The whole Constantinish trailer points to an underlying supernatural vibe to the story that absolutely isn't there. Any reference to angels and demons in the trailer is the result of hallucinations by drug addicts.

The acting is for the most part serviceable or downright bad. Mila Kunis, who I actually did not recognize until she spoke in English for the first time, was okay. Wahlberg and Beau Bridges were decent. I have to say that SNL has probably ruined Mark Wahlberg for me because every time he spoke I was waiting for him to say "Say hi to your mother for me," and was disappointed when it never happened. Chris "Ludacris" Bridges was terrible. I had actually pegged him as a decent actor after Crash but he was lousy in this. I didn't buy a single word out of his mouth.

On the upside, the film looks beautiful on Bluray. The disc comes with the theatrical version as well as the unrated directors cut. Special features include a never-before-seen animated graphic novel, audio commentary from Director John Moore, Production Designer Daniel Dorrance, and Visual Effects Supervisor Everett Burrell. The BonusView features takes you behind the scenes with walkthroughs and cheats with Picture in Picture footage with John Moore. It also has a second disc featuring an digital copy of the unrated version of the film.

I was a staunch HDDVD supporter and have been turned to the side of bluray, not only because it won the format war but because it looks incredible. Even a lousy movie like Max Payne can be made better simply because of how stunning the picture and sound are.

Bottom line: Max Payne is a lousy film. It might be worth a watch to fans of Mark Wahlberg but fans of the video game will most likely be disappointed (as the makers of the game reportedly were). Action fans might enjoy the minimal action scenes but the convoluted story will turn off anyone with half a brain.

Max Payne is available on DVD and Bluray now.