Film Reviews

Max Payne

• Rating:
• Director: John Moore
• Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris O Donnell
• Details: USA / 100mins / (15A)

Anyone who's played the video game that this film is based on, will know that it was no fun unless you were utilising its Matrix-like 'bullet time' function, and basically blowing the crap out of multiple baddies in one fell swoop. Here, transferred to celluloid by Irish director John Moore, the first real action sequence doesn't happen till about an hour in. Instead we're subjected to Mark Wahlberg moping about in a cool leather jacket, ponderously looking on while snow stylishly engulfs every frame. The plot is a simple tale of revenge, as the titular character mourns the death of his Kodak wife and (barely-seen) child, silently vowing to take revenge on the criminal underworld that took them from him. When junkies start messily buying the farm, Max finds a link to the untimely demise of his family. Treading similar ground to last year's Hitman, Max Payne is less violent, but still more enjoyable than that shoddy video game adaptation. Granted, that is somewhat akin to being the smartest kid in the dumbest class; but Moore does a fine job of handling the shootouts and restrictive rating,when he actually has a chance to let loose. More of the budget should have been spent on the bullet-ridden carnage, and less on the metaphor-saturated imagery that becomes tiresome after the first couple of deaths. There are plot holes as deep as they are wide, and the "twist" is so predictable that Ray Charles could've seen it coming. Wahlberg is mostly fine, trying to wrangle back the street cred lost with the disaster that was The Happening, while Mila Kunis (as cute as a button in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) vamps it up as an Uzi-touting assassin, out for her own taste of revenge. It's just too stupid to fully enjoy though, and spends too much time pandering to its teenage fanboy base, when it should be concentrating on delivering the carnage that made the trailer such a pleasure. Still, despite an ominous elongated opening and nonsensical plot turns, this still entertains sporadically in the final third. Ultimately, though, it's too little, too late.

Review by Mike Sheridan