Max Payne Brings Pain, Not Payne

I’m not a gaming authority by any means, but for me, Max Payne is by far the most spectacular game ever made. Over the last seven years, I’ve played it and its sequel through to the end at least a dozen times. The gameplay and action are unparalleled, and the storyline—about a tortured cop on a fiery crusade to kill everyone connected to the murder of his wife and child—is amazingly intricate and the design is brimming with a noir-esque style that is captivating but never cheap or flashy.

Needless to say, I was excited to see a film version, and thought that if ever there was going to be a good movie made from a videogame, Max Payne would be it. I’m disappointed to report that Max Payne fails to break the cycle. It definitely comes the closest, but walking out of the theater I couldn’t fool myself into thinking it was everything I had hoped for. I believe some people will enjoy the film, and it’s worth seeing if you’ve got ten bucks burning a hole in your pocket and want to see some action this weekend, but I had high (though certainly not unreasonable) expectations for the film and they were not met.

But I”ll start with the good. First is Mark Wahlberg. He’s not who I would have first thought of playing Max Payne, but he actually looks the part extraordinarily well and gives a commanding performance. Payne is such a grim character that could easily have come off as a one-note caricature in the hands of a lesser actor, but Wahlberg succeeds in bringing a complex presence and energy to the role.  I was impressed.

Second is the film’s production design and cinematography. The movie—lensed entirely in Canada—looks stunning, and anyone who played the game will instantly feel like they’re back in that grimy, decayed, dour world. Almost every shot is a work of art. Director John Moore and his team got everything visual absolutely perfect—the dreary gray, black and vomit green color palette and the relentless, snowy cold. Nearly all of the key locations from the game like Roscoe Street station, Jack Lupino’s lair, Ragna Rock, and Nicole Horne’s building are flawlessly recreated. I was stunned.

On those two levels—Wahlberg and the visuals—Max Payne truly impresses. But that’s all there is, and it’s not enough. Everyone besides Wahlberg is dreadfully miscast. Rapper Ludacris is in the movie as Lieutenant Jim Bravura, who in the game was a middle-aged white guy (think Christopher Plummer). So what the hell is Ludacris doing in this role? I don’t know why the powers at be felt they had to change the character, but beyond that, I still do not understand this recent trend of hiring rappers to act in movies. Is there a shortage of legitimate actors—you know, those people who have dedicated their life to the craft of acting? 50 Cent, Eminem, and Ludacris are not actors, why don’t they stick to what they’re good at? Every time Ludacris was on screen, every time he opened his mouth, the audience I saw the movie with howled with laughter. Howled. I don’t think that’s the reaction the filmmakers wanted to provoke.

And Mila Kunis is a terrible choice for assassin/femme fatale Mona Sax, who is the most integral character to the Max Payne storyline besides Payne himself. She’s too young and doesn’t have the sophistication. She brought no credibility to the part, just spent the duration of the movie looking like a petulant little girl in black leather holding a machine gun. Famke Janssen would have been perfect. And poor Chris O’Donnell is in the movie for about ten minutes! He barely registers onscreen, I don’t know how he got suckered into such a thankless part. I guess Joel Schumacher and his Batnipples killed poor O’Donnell’s career, but the guy can be a strong actor in the right part (anyone remember Scent of a Woman?).

Here’s what really kills the movie: the script—by first-time screenwriter Beau Thorne—flat out SUCKS. The story doesn’t flow, is impossible to follow, destroys the dark complexity of the relationship between Max and Mona, and manages to add every action movie cliché in the book. (Examples: whenever someone falls off a building, they manage to land squarely on top of a parked car; instead of just putting a bullet in him, the head honcho has to tell the hero all of the secrets of his evil plan before devising some ridiculously convoluted way to kill him so that the hero can escape).

Now I know what you’re thinking, that it was absurd for me to expect a strong piece of writing given that the movie is based on a video game. But here’s the thing: the script for the video game is infinitely more complex, original, believable (yes, believable!) and skillfully told than the movie is! The source material was perfect. It had kick-ass action in spades, a riveting storyline and fascinating character dynamics. Translated right, I truly believe it could have made for the next great action franchise, on a level with Bourne, Die Hard, The Fugitive and even the first Matrix. Wahlberg deserves a worthy franchise, and this isn’t it. And judging from the frequent howls of laughter I heard in the theater, I’d say most people will agree with me.
Truly a shame, and further proof that the current regime at 20th Century Fox cares more about their bottom line than making quality films. After all, this is the studio that, after creating one of the most seminal, beloved and potent action franchises in Die Hard decided to bastardize it last year by watering the long-awaited fourth installment down to a PG-13 crapfest that even Bruce Willis couldn’t totally save, just so they could bring in some more cash flow from seven-year-olds.

They do the same thing with Max Payne, watering down the action sequences with creative cutting so as not to be too offensive so that all audiences can enjoy. Yes, Max Payne, about a cop who goes on a justified killing spree…let’s make it a family film that everyone can enjoy! Some movies should be rated R, okay?! I swear Fox and some of the other big studios are censoring their films more severely today than they did even when the Production Code was in existence. Didn’t they learn anything from Rambo back in January? The reason that movie was such a cultural phenomenon was not just because it was the return of an iconic character, but because it was a return to action movies the way they used to (and should be) made: for adults.