Video game rendition 'Payne-ful'
Movie Review
Wesley Colvin
Issue date: 10/28/08 Section: Features
Action
PG13 for violence/profanity/sexual situations/drug content
99 minutes
Plot:
Years after the brutal and bizarre murder of his wife and child, Max Payne has been assigned to the cold case division. His co-workers have given up on it but when a series of bizarre murders are connected to the company that his wife worked for, new blood is given to the case.
Review:
I didn't have high expectations for this movie considering Hollywood's reputation for butchering the video game-to-movie translations they've tried in the past. The action, despite being very entertaining, cuts into the character development with several unnecessarily slow-motion action shots. At an hour and fifty minutes, there's still almost no time spent explaining the origin of the movie's central plot point, the drug Valkyr.
Mark Wahlberg still has the market cornered as the edgy hero, Max Payne, but his wife, Michelle (Mariantha Evens) has so little screen time it's hard to feel bad that she's dead. Chris Bridges (Ludicris) has come a long way as an actor and is convincing as detective Jim Bravura, the cop assigned to keep an eye on Max.
Very little time is spent expanding on the broken relationship between Max and his former partner Alex Balder (Donal Logue), so the character seems completely useless in spite of Logue's performance. Mona Sax (Mila Kunis) is the only female lead and doesn't add to the film. Beau Bridges performs well but his actions later on in the movie are too generic.
Visually this movie is stunning and could be worth a best special effects nod when the Oscars come around this upcoming February. Moore's moody direction adds flavor to the movie but the useless action sequences and unnecessary characters take away from the story. The film had a lot of unreached potential, but it could have been worse.
Grade: C+
PG13 for violence/profanity/sexual situations/drug content
99 minutes
Plot:
Years after the brutal and bizarre murder of his wife and child, Max Payne has been assigned to the cold case division. His co-workers have given up on it but when a series of bizarre murders are connected to the company that his wife worked for, new blood is given to the case.
Review:
I didn't have high expectations for this movie considering Hollywood's reputation for butchering the video game-to-movie translations they've tried in the past. The action, despite being very entertaining, cuts into the character development with several unnecessarily slow-motion action shots. At an hour and fifty minutes, there's still almost no time spent explaining the origin of the movie's central plot point, the drug Valkyr.
Mark Wahlberg still has the market cornered as the edgy hero, Max Payne, but his wife, Michelle (Mariantha Evens) has so little screen time it's hard to feel bad that she's dead. Chris Bridges (Ludicris) has come a long way as an actor and is convincing as detective Jim Bravura, the cop assigned to keep an eye on Max.
Very little time is spent expanding on the broken relationship between Max and his former partner Alex Balder (Donal Logue), so the character seems completely useless in spite of Logue's performance. Mona Sax (Mila Kunis) is the only female lead and doesn't add to the film. Beau Bridges performs well but his actions later on in the movie are too generic.
Visually this movie is stunning and could be worth a best special effects nod when the Oscars come around this upcoming February. Moore's moody direction adds flavor to the movie but the useless action sequences and unnecessary characters take away from the story. The film had a lot of unreached potential, but it could have been worse.
Grade: C+
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