Max Payne (PG-13) Starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kuni, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O’Donnell Director: John Moore Theater Release Date: October 17th, 2008 DVD Release Date: January 20th, 2009 Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller.
Synopsis: Max Payne is a maverick cop – a mythic anti-hero – determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murders of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.
I had the usual high expectations going into this movie, as I normally do with any new Wahlberg movie. Having high expectations for a movie can never be good, can it? Not knowing much about the video game or the plot of the movie helped, as I was going in blind, and that’s almost always a good thing for me.
I was pretty excited to see Mila Kunis, too. Ever since “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” I’ve been kind of jonesing for her. I’m not quite sure she fit the character, but she did a passible job as the movie lacked the seriousness it needed anyway.
I can’t say that Wahlberg did a bad job either, he was his typical self. He’s been more of an icon than an actor as of late, and his presence alone in an action movie is enough to make the movie worthwhile.
I was a little taken back by Beau Bridges. I think this movie would have been better with someone else playing his character. I’ve just never really liked him all that much and I think he stunk it up in this movie. His character really had a shot to stand out, and Bridges dropped the ball.
The plot was loose, maybe a little jumbled, and most of the supporting actors were bad. The story tried to sneak up on you with a twist here and there, but mostly it was pretty predictable, with the average “guy lost everything now seeks revenge” theme. Which I like. Kind of reminded me of “The Punisher”.
There were minor roles by Ludacris and Chris O’Donnell that were decent at best. You can’t really blame the actors for under-performing in a movie that doesn’t quite draw emotion from the actors, and has almost zero character development for everyone except Wahlberg.
You probably think I didn’t like the flick with the way I’ve been ranting and complaining, but you’re wrong. It was decent. Don’t see it in the theater though. It’s a good lazy action film to sit at home and zone and watch, as you don’t really need to pay real close attention, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride with this one.