I am going to write down this entire comment in an FAQ format. Frankly, there is no other way I can think of writing anything coherent about this movie. So, I'll just try and answer some of the questions people have in mind about the movie.
How faithful is Max Payne to the original game? Well, the plot has been borrowed from the game. Mark Wahlberg is just about okay in the shoes of Max Payne but there is no proper script nor anything else that supports him and makes him believable as a Max Payne. There is bullet time in one scene and that's all. The dark, unfriendly and the coldness of the environment has been faithfully brought into the movie but all the one-liners, depth and emotion of the game is completely missing.
What are all those supernatural elements in the movie? The game was realistic in the sense that we did not see deranged people behaving crazy and nuts under the behavior of the drug. However, in this movie, a side effect of the Valkyr drug is hallucination. All supernatural elements like angels are hallucinations of the drug users.
Does this supernatural stuff add or subtract to the goodness of a movie? It takes us away from the pain that Max endures due to the loss of his family. Even suspension of disbelief does not help if one wants to appreciate these sequences. It is way too silly for the theme of the movie.
Does Mark Wahlberg make a good Max Payne? In looks and style, yes. Emotions and body language, okay on his own but not faithful to the original Max Payne. He is a different Max Payne from the game. But he hell sure should have played the game, it would have helped him. But since he has reported not to have played the game, I am okay with the off beat version of Payne he portrays but surely the script writers have been pathetic.
Anything good about this movie? A bullet time sequence is decent. At one point, Max pays a visit to his wife in his dream who tells him that it not his time yet. Max gets an adrenaline rush and makes an attempt to get out of the ice cold water. This is a relatively well done scene.
What about the bad part of the movie? This is the majority part. The script is horrible. You cannot understand no matter how hard you try the pain of Payne. There is no screen time devoted to convincing you that Max Payne has suffered a terrible loss. Nothing convinces you about the main plot. It is perfectly lame. The ending of the movie is horrible. The dialogs are horrible. Mona Sax is horrible. Natasha Sax is pointless. Overall, the movie is pathetic from both 1) Point of view of the game fan 2) Point of view of the unprejudiced movie watcher.
What should have changed for the movie to be made better? Well, 1) Add 10 minutes of more screen time and convince us why we should sympathize and identify with Max. 2) Add 20-30 minutes of more screen time and make us understand the operation of the Valkyr drug and Michelle Payne's connection with it better. 3) Remove the supernatural element from the movie. 4) Either eliminate Mona Sax from the picture or give her something significant, nothing something in between both.
These are four major points I found could have saved the movie.
Movie goers, beware!
How faithful is Max Payne to the original game? Well, the plot has been borrowed from the game. Mark Wahlberg is just about okay in the shoes of Max Payne but there is no proper script nor anything else that supports him and makes him believable as a Max Payne. There is bullet time in one scene and that's all. The dark, unfriendly and the coldness of the environment has been faithfully brought into the movie but all the one-liners, depth and emotion of the game is completely missing.
What are all those supernatural elements in the movie? The game was realistic in the sense that we did not see deranged people behaving crazy and nuts under the behavior of the drug. However, in this movie, a side effect of the Valkyr drug is hallucination. All supernatural elements like angels are hallucinations of the drug users.
Does this supernatural stuff add or subtract to the goodness of a movie? It takes us away from the pain that Max endures due to the loss of his family. Even suspension of disbelief does not help if one wants to appreciate these sequences. It is way too silly for the theme of the movie.
Does Mark Wahlberg make a good Max Payne? In looks and style, yes. Emotions and body language, okay on his own but not faithful to the original Max Payne. He is a different Max Payne from the game. But he hell sure should have played the game, it would have helped him. But since he has reported not to have played the game, I am okay with the off beat version of Payne he portrays but surely the script writers have been pathetic.
Anything good about this movie? A bullet time sequence is decent. At one point, Max pays a visit to his wife in his dream who tells him that it not his time yet. Max gets an adrenaline rush and makes an attempt to get out of the ice cold water. This is a relatively well done scene.
What about the bad part of the movie? This is the majority part. The script is horrible. You cannot understand no matter how hard you try the pain of Payne. There is no screen time devoted to convincing you that Max Payne has suffered a terrible loss. Nothing convinces you about the main plot. It is perfectly lame. The ending of the movie is horrible. The dialogs are horrible. Mona Sax is horrible. Natasha Sax is pointless. Overall, the movie is pathetic from both 1) Point of view of the game fan 2) Point of view of the unprejudiced movie watcher.
What should have changed for the movie to be made better? Well, 1) Add 10 minutes of more screen time and convince us why we should sympathize and identify with Max. 2) Add 20-30 minutes of more screen time and make us understand the operation of the Valkyr drug and Michelle Payne's connection with it better. 3) Remove the supernatural element from the movie. 4) Either eliminate Mona Sax from the picture or give her something significant, nothing something in between both.
These are four major points I found could have saved the movie.
Movie goers, beware!