I remember those idyllic afternoons(days really) which I spent playing the first installment of Max Payne on my PC some 7 odd years back. Ahhh.The wonders of’Bullet Time’.The feature with which one could slow down time so to speak and play the game in slow motion(for a limited period of time).Playing the game on its toughest’New York Minute’ mode.Then came the second installment of the game.I played it on the PS2.and loved every moment of it.One thing that particularly had me hooked on both the games was the story, the game play and the references to Norse Mythology(read Valkyr, Ragnarok etc. etc).What a pity that almost NOTHING has translated on to its’BIG’ Hollywood outing.I say almost instead of absolutely nothing just because of the fact that Max Payne has been played by Mark Wahlberg.The only saving grace in what is otherwise a disaster of a movie adaptation of a cult video game.
The Plot:- Cops wife and kid are Killed.Cop seeks revenge.Kills a whole lot of people(read bad guys.well mostly.) to get to the bottom of who killed his family.Along the way he gets to uncover lot of other stuff which has bearing to his families extermination. That is the story line of the game in a nutshell. Thats what they have gone with in the film as well.more or less.Mark Wahlberg is the right fit as the brooding, caustic and trigger happy Max Payne.This and the occasional stylised violence are the only bright spots in what is otherwise perhaps the most insipid video game adapt in the last decade(oh.wait that dubious distinction should perhaps go to Hitman).The director(John Moore) has given us better fare in the past such as Behind Enemy Lines.This movie however is definitely his Water world.
No high octane action or witty lines, screenplay that drags and Even Quantum Of Solace’s hottie Olga Kurylenko fails to make an impression in the flick.All this adds up to a very disappointing movie experience. Shame on you John Moore for Max Payne might have been different. The influential third person shooter was incredibly cinematic, all dark characterization and bullet-time gunplay.Those wide-open possibilities about where this movie can go get so narrowed down into something very very mediocre.To all those nay sayers who say’what can you expect out of a video game adap?’.
say take a look at Tombraider to understand what can be accomplished.For every Mario super bros, Doom or Hitman that tanks at the box office one can have a Tombraider or Silent Hill.Possibilities are endless. This time we have been let down.