He Said/She Said #04: Max Payne
Brad Sturdivant
October 19th, 2009
He Said/She Said is a bi-weekly column where a male and female reviewer from the site team up to debate the merits of a particular film.
He Said:
The original Max Payne video game on the Playstation 2 was the very reason I bought the system and became a “video game” guy. So the story of Mr. Payne will always hold a special place with me because without him, I may have never gotten into video games. When it was announced they were going to make a movie about him, I shrugged at the idea because I wasn’t sure there was enough story there to merit a movie. Yeah, the game was great, but not because of the story.
And my disinterest in the film was proven accurate because the film was a mess. I actually don’t mind Mark Wahlberg, but the guy has zero range of emotion. He can play the tough guy or he can play the dumb, confused guy, but that’s about it. With Payne, they asked him to do too much. For example, at one point, they asked him to be really, really sad…gasp! That’s just not fair for poor Mr. Walhberg.
But this is an action film, so who cares about story? Well, the action sequences were boring and very amateurish with the way they were filmed. Not only that, but they were few and far between. This is a movie about a guy seeking revenge by killing bad guys; there’s supposed to be a ton of action and even more gratuitous violence. Sadly, there wasn’t enough of either. So when it was all said and done, this is yet another video game movie that couldn’t make it, even with the lovely Mila Kunis.
She Said:
I enjoyed the film Max Payne even though I am not a fan of the video game. The game has a good story and seems to be a fun play but not really my style, the film however kept my attention, and I would even like to see a sequel.
I usually find video game-to-movie films exciting and I thought Max Payne was a good example of such genre. I liked the dark quality of the film and it gave a nice tone to the story. The storyline is nothing special but I found myself enjoying the ride and anticipating the next action sequence with Mr. Wahlberg.
Many people give Mark Wahlberg a hard time for always playing the tough guy and not having a range of emotion but I enjoy his performances. I like his tough guy image and I think he has talent—at least enough to get an Academy Award nomination. His movies are ones I look forward to because I know I’ll have a good time (and I usually get to see him with his shirt off), and isn’t that the point?
I will be the first to admit that the plot of this film is very formulaic and the action sequences were decent but nothing spectacular. In a world where Hollywood is always looking for a story to pull at the heartstrings or scare the crap out of you with torture scenes and supernatural thrillers, I’ll admit that I just want some old fashioned, not too graphic violence—and Max Payne delivered.
