2001.  Sam Lake writes an amazing story about a dark antihero named Max Payne.  His family has been taken away.  His sunny job as a police officer has turned into a dark, brooding vendetta of retribution.  He must wade through junkies, mobsters, assassins, and the blood he spills from all of them.  His best tool, aside from his sharp mind and killer aim, is bullet time, which allows him to soar through the air in slow motion, killing enemies and dodging bullets.  It is the epitome of “film noir”.  It is an amazing story, with depth, character development, and purpose.  Humphrey Bogart and Charles Bronson would play the hell out of it.

2008.  John Moore decides to turn one of the best third person shooters ever into a film.  I’m not sure why video game writers are never fully involved in this process, but the choice for screenwriter was a cinematic virgin, and a reluctant one at that.  If John Moore sounds familiar…then you watch too many lame movies.  He directed Flight of the Phoenix, the new Omen, and Behind Enemy Lines.  And for the dark, brooding, badass lead role?  Marky Mark.  Mark Wahlberg is a good actor, solid in all his rolls.  However, he hasn’t aged a day since the funky bunch, and though he may have been scary in Fear, Max Payne he is not.

That’s not to say he detracted from the film.  Honestly, he did well with what he was given.  The whole thing was overall too light, too exciting, too…entertaining.  The darkness was there, but it wasn’t dark enough.  The pain was there, but not intense enough (PG-13? Seriously?).  The game was long, the story was elaborate.  The movie didn’t have enough time to flush out everything sufficiently.  The demonic hallucinations were well done, the girls were hot, and a couple shootouts were pretty sweet.  It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just that after playing the game, and loving the story, I was disappointed. 

Final Grade: B

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