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List Price: $34.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 41719
Released: January 20, 2009 |
| Our Price: $22.09 |
| Used Price: $2.34 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 20-JAN-2009
Media Type: DVD
Description of Max Payne (Two-Disc Special Edition):
Any film based on a first-person shooter video game should, as a rule of thumb, be full of epic shootouts on a level equal to Sergio Leone or the Wachowski Brothers, and in that regard, Max Payne is an unqualified success. Mark Wahlberg also lives up to the game's pedigree by brooding mightily as the title hero, a big city detective mourning the murder of his wife and child. Revenge is, of course, Payne's ultimate goal, and with the assistance of slinky Russian hitwoman Mila Kunis, he dishes it out in elaborate set pieces overflowing with gymnastic gun play. Viewers seeking just that and nothing more will get their money's worth from John Moore's film adaptation, and most likely be impressed by its fashionably gloomy art direction and cinematography. Those seeking a bit more than gunpowder and gristle will find Max Payne utterly derivative of a half-dozen better films (Christopher Nolan's Batman films, most notably) and violent to the point of cartoon absurdity. They may find some refuge in appealing supporting turns by Donal Logue and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as diametrically opposed cops and Beau Bridges, who offers his usual roguish charm as Payne's former superior. --Paul Gaita
Beyond Max Payne on DVD
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Stills from Max Payne (Click for larger image) Max Payne (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
Great action & camera but that's about it 
2009-12-05 - I enjoyed this movie for the action and cinematography but that was about it. The gun play is fantastic, and it reminded me of the movie "Desperado," starring Antonio Banderas and Joachim Almeida (it even featured Cheech Marin as the bartender) from 10 or 15 years ago in its emphasis on fancy gun play. That much was entertaining at least.
I didn't mind that the plot was full of holes (after all, the movie is based on a video game so I wasn't expecting anything profound there),but unfortunately, the worst thing about the movie is that Wahlberg, who is certainly a talented actor and who I like, just doesn't seem that involved in the role. His whole performance is somewhat wooden, and from his past roles he's certainly capable of better. He's also a quite competent martial artist and quite athletic, reminding me of Lawrence Olivier when he was young, who used to do all his own stunts, when he broke a lot of bones. My generation only remembers Olivier from his senior years' roles as an old man such as in "The Jazz Singer," and most don't know how physical he was when he was younger.
Anyway, I ramble on. I give this movie three stars for all the great action sequences, and also the cinematography is actually excellent, and in many ways quite beautiful and aesthetic in many scenes, so I want to give whoever was in charge of the camera his due. He did a great job with what was otherwise a less than stellar vehicle for Walhberg, who I hope will get some better roles in the future since he is certainly capable of more.
Really good, for a video game adaption
2009-11-02 - Max Payne came out in 2008, I didn't go see it in the movies even though I am a fan of the games. Lets face it nine out of ten times videogames do not translate into good movies. I did rent it this past weekend from Netflix though and watched it with my girlfriend who knows nothing about the games but loved the movie.
Here is the story in the movie. The movie starts off a week into the future we see Max played by Mark Wahlberg floating to the bottom of the icy ocean, we hear a brief narrative by the title character and then go back a week earlier. Max works in the Cold Case unit of the police department, where he spends most of his time investigating the murder of his wife Michelle, and baby. An informant Trevor leads Max to three drug addicts in an empty train station. (just like the games the drug Valkyr plays a big part in this movie) After a botched robbery attempt Max interrogates one of them about his family's murder, after getting no results Max heads back to Trevor's apartment where there is a party going on and meets Natasha Sax. Natasha gets into a fight with her sister Mona and heads into the back area of the party where partiers are using Valkyr. Max follows Natasha to the back room where he has a brief run in with one of the main villians of the movie Jack Lupino. Here Max notices a tattoo on Natasha and wants to question her about it, he brings her back to his apartment where she tries to seduce him. Max kicks her out, and while walking the streets calling Lupino for her next fix of the drug Valkyr she starts to hallucinate(the drug Valkyr causes users to hallucinate about angels of death flying around them). The next morning Natash is found dead in the alley with Max's wallet, this causes Max to become a prime suspect in her murder, and also puts him at the top of Mona Sax's hitlist. Mona by the way is a trained assasin and shady buisness women. The rest of the movie Max has to evade the police while trying to find the killers of his family and the link to the drug Valkyr as well as to the company his wife worked for the Aesir Corporation.
It's been a long time since I played the games to I can't remember the story exactly but from what I can remember they are pretty similar. In the game Max was an undercover drug enforcement agent if I remember correctly, but the setup is pretty much the same. I also would like to comment that the art direction in this movie fits the game perfectly, and really sets the dark tone of the movie. The action sequences are also shot very nicely including the signature bullet time slowmotion effect the games made famous. I must say I was surprised with this movie, I expected some crap movie that just took advantage of the name of a successful game franchise, but the movie did great on its own, like I said at the top of the review my girlfriend who knows nothing of videogames was really into it. I am going to give this movie a 3 out of 5 it's definitely worth a rental if not a buy. Also note the dvd had the option for theatrical version or directors cut, I choose directors cut so my review is based on that.
Pretty Good 
2009-10-14 - This movie in my opinion wasn't that bad.I saw it with my boyfriend(who of course loved it)I kind of liked it too.Its totally a guy movie.If you liked Sin City,300,and/or Underworld then you would like this movie 100 percent.Its along those same lines with the action and the video game/comic book feel to it.I didn't love the movie but I liked it and it would be something to add to my collection without a doubt.Its interesting and it just basically a movie made for all those hard core video gamers or any typical guy.
Max Lame? 
2009-10-13 - This is a bad movie, but what did I expect?
The acting is fine. Wahlberg, Bridges, Ludacris, Kunis, and the others do a creditable job.
And of course the EFFECTS are smashing. But, it would seem, the better the special effects of a movie, the lamer the movie usually is. See "The Phantom Menace." Or if you have any sense, don't see it.
But the writing is atrocious.
This is to be expected. After all, it derives from a video game.
But it is disheartening to see such acting and money wasted on such pretentious claptrap. IMDB has a spoiler-alert on their synopsis, but they hardly need it. You can see this ending coming 20 miles out.
The only good thing about the writing is the "circling" from the first scene, in the water, to the (almost) last. But even that is cheesified at the end.
Bad movie...Even for an Action Fan... 
2009-09-19 - This is actually the first review I've ever written. But this movie was so bad, I had to write about it.
I love Max Payne the videogame. It revolutionized the 3rd person shooter. Built on really cool slow motion gun battles. So in my mind, the movie should revolutionize the slow motion shooter action movie. I understand "The Matrix" created the super cool shoot-outs, and Max Payne shouldn't copy them. But maybe create a new unique version of it, and build the movie on those.
Instead? We get a bad script and a bad movie. Listen, I'm no film snob. I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed Doom the movie. I love action movies, and enjoy a lot of what most critics would hate. But the handful of slow motion gun battle scenes we get in Payne are not impressive. Certainly nothing new. And there's BARELY any shoot-outs! I think I was like 40 minutes into the movie, and there was not much action. A Payne movie should have bullets flying by minute 5.
The supernatural/LAME angle was horrible. Not even worth the time for me to type about the plot. Its predictable and uninteresting. I actually caught myself daydreaming during some of it. I don't blame Wahlberg, although I think Clive Owen would be a better Max. I just think the script is horrible. That makes the movie un-watchable.
If you dig Max Payne and action movies, understand this movie is at the bottom of the list. If the Blu-Ray comes down to less than $10, MAYBE get it. But think twice.
