Change Your Image
npvbrukout
Reviews
Max Payne (2008)
Max Payne without any of the charm...at all
May contain one or two spoilers!! When I found out they were making a film based on the game I was in two minds about it. If they managed to capture the sheer dark, sinister, and deeply poetic nature of the game (which in my opinion is what made it as good as it was) following the evermore tortured mind of Max, then it could have been one of the best films of the last few years. If they didn't, however, then it would be another half baked action film.
Unfortunately it was the latter.
For all of those who have played the game and liked it for it's sheer dark, sinister, and deeply poetic nature will be sorely disappointed.
I find it hard to see where they went wrong. Maxy Payne the VG was more or less a film in itself. If they had followed in Sin City's footsteps then they could have made an amazing game into an amazing film. In this instance following in another films footsteps may not have been such a bad idea.
This film paints Max Payne as a somewhat more pathetic character than seen in the game. There is none of the charisma in this film that made Max Payne (the video game) what it was. There are references to the game within the film. A few references, however, are not enough when they miss one of the fundamentals of the game. There is none of the mental torture that Max Payne suffered in the game. As sadistic as it sounds, that was the point of the game. You watched and played a man slowly falling further and further into the darkness of his own mind. The film shows very, very little of this. And what little it does show is just making him, again, look pathetic rather than deeply troubled. The inner monologue is also ditched entirely. Another similarly fundamental aspect.
Saying this, the action scenes were quite well done and, despite my moaning, the storyline was not terrible. Some of the acting was pretty poor in places. Towards the end of the film it does start to get better. But the first 5 minutes seemed so amateurish and poorly edited that I almost wanted to stop watching there and then.
This may be a little harsh. But then, this is just my opinion. I wanted, and they could have given so much more.
Gantz (2004)
Could have been far, far better...but still worth watching...
The first Season of Gantz, and indeed most of the second, was really quite a good watch. In fact it was pretty amazing. If it had carried on in that way then it could quite easily have been one of the better anime series by far.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the second season (after the episode with the statue) the last few episodes get pretty tedious and I was left feeling hard done by. Over a course of 22 episodes they build up characters that are annoying at times but gradually become really likable. It was an odd feeling to see all the members pair off into couples and consider it to be not only cute but well done. The last mission they are all sent on (involving the statues)was good up until all but one of the members of the original group dies. The only characters that weren't annoying are all killed off in the space of 10 minutes by the same alien.
Generally after this it becomes very, very bad. Although I feel the main reason for my disappointment was due to the likable characters (that took around 9 or 10 episodes to get used to and like) dying right near the end, and being replaced with some really quite annoying characters.
Combine this with a lack of plot; half baked/arsed philosophical rants; and an air of confusion (based upon the characters themselves not knowing what is going on and having to use them to try and establish what is going on) and you are left feeling a little disappointed. Not finding out what Gantz is didn't bother me at all. The way Gantz in it's later episodes was going I really wasn't expecting any kind of remotely enlightening information. However, the final straw to break the donkey's back was not even knowing what happened to Kurono, or equally as annoying; why in the final episode.
To be brutally honest if you are going to watch this series you can quite easily get away with watching up until episode 22...then just turn it off. It will only go downhill after, and leave you with more questions and ultimately feeling as if you wasted your time. Only a little though.
Oh and way, way, way, way too many flashbacks. All of the same ****ing things.