Max Payne

Max Payne - I finally saw this movie, the first actual film I went out to see since Clone Wars back in August. I have played both games, so I know my Max Payne stuff. Here it goes.

Not bad. There were a lot of differences, most of the plot was streamlined to make it into a 92 minute film, but still kept the overall feel of the game. I do have a few problems. Like, the demon creatures that are seen as hallucinations after taking the drug. I can understand the whole metaphor and how they influence actions and how they turn the person into a schizophrenic, but they aren't really necessary.

And the character development is pretty terrible. I mean, if your wife and child were murdered, I should feel bad for you. And I felt bad for Max Payne in the game, but not in the movie. The game was about death and getting revenge. The movie was about redemption and finding peace. In the end of the film, Payne finds peace in getting revenge. In the game, there is no peace for Payne. He got his revenge, so what does he have now?

Even when there were flashbacks to what happened to his family....it was just kind of boring. In the game you lived through nightmare sequences, which were the best part of the game. You really felt the pain of Payne. I think the nightmare sequences should have been in the movie, but then it would have been rated R and John Moore would have been pissed and blah, blah.Mila Kunis's character, the mysterious Mona Sax from the game, isn't as interesting in the movie. he is just there...and then she isn't. Apparently I missed out on an extra scene after the credits that has her and Payne talking or something, but I didn't stay and now I am mad. I might have to go see it again for this one extra scene.

And Olga Kurylenko, who played Natasha Sax, was there mostly to give Mona some incentive to be in the movie and to provide some (actually the only) T & A in the film. Heck, you can see her again in the next Bond movie coming out next month.

In the end, the film wasn't THAT bad, but it just wasn't good. The game is very good though, so don't blame the game. But the movie could have been more, and most people will probably leave the theater unhappy about the plot but liking the action. And I mean the last 15 minutes of the film was really intense. I enjoyed the big gunfight in the building, but it didn't leave me satisfied story-wise.

The film looked gorgeous (darkness with the bright snow everywhere), but I think I am going to go play the game and enjoy it more than I did the movie.

5.9/10 "When the people a man needs get taken away from him, you can't ever go back to the way you were before."