Moore directs like he's never seen a fast-cut he didn't like, and so apes videogame conventions that I any energizing effect the switcheroo had was evaporated as exhaustion set in. I don't think I've seen a movie in recent memory that so switches gears, both narratively and visually, to such camp effect. Lest I ruin any surprises, all I can say is that Max ingests some hallucinogenic drugs, and a trip to the otherworld follows. Then there is the film's final third, where director John Moore ( 'Flight of the Phoenix,' the terrible 'Omen' remake) goes totally whacked-out crazy. As the protagonist it's hard to drum up much empathy for his plight, or the potentially-interesting women he comes in contact with. And as played weakly by Wahlberg (who seems to be in sleep-walk mode ever since snagging an Oscar nom for 'The Departed'), Max is just a cipher.
As a cop-against-the-law flick it doesn't really gel either, because the numerous legal forces against Max are so convoluted and cliched we've seen it all before, and Max never really turns into a true vigilante, one-man army anyway.
It takes enough liberties with the source videogame that it doesn't work as a straight adaptation. I never quite figured out what it wanted to be. Things really get crazy by the film's third act, which is so loopy I can't even describe it here. Soon, he's being chased by her hit-woman sister Mona (Mila Kunis), as well as just about everyone else, including BB Hensley (Beau Bridges), the head of the company where his wife worked, and Internal Affairs. He killed two of the attackers, and continues to obsessively track the third, a downward spiral that eventually leads him to being framed for the murder of a party girl named Natasha (Olga Kurylenko). He's a burnt-out detective who, years before, saw his wife and child murdered by a trio of thugs. Here's a flick that could have been a modern 'Death Wish,' but instead has all of its edgier elements neutered by videogame-inspired blandness - this is a first-person shooter disguised as an actual movie.īased on the popular videogame of the same name, 'Max Payne' stars Mark Wahlberg as the title character. Which is why 'Max Payne' was such a disappointment for me. 45,' there's a great kick to be had in watching some unstable fellow go berserk, grab a semi-automatic, and start wasting people at the local laundromat. Whether more mainstream fare like 'Dirty Harry,' or masterpieces like Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' (which arguably isn't really a vigilante movie, though I'd call it one), or best of all, true exploitation gems like the unjustly overlooked 'Ms. Ever since I first saw Charles Bronson kick ass in the original 'Death Wish,' I've been hooked on the naughty, subversive sugar rush of out-of-bounds societal behavior this oft-repudiated subgenre provides. If I have any secret guilty cinematic pleasure, it is vigilante movies.
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