Product Description

MAX PAYNE (WAHLBERG) IS A MAVERICK COP WITH LITTLE REGARD FOR RULES AND NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE. HELL-BENT ON REVENGE, HE'S DETERMINED TO TRACK DOWN THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BRUTAL MURDER OF HIS FAMILY, BUT HIS OBSESSIVE INVESTIGATION TAKES HIM ON A NIGHTMARISH JOURNEY WHERE DARK FANTASY COLLIDES W/STARK REALITY.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10511 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2009-01-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com

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

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Stills from Max Payne (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Suspend disbelief and enjoy!
The Blu-ray Disc includes the Theatrical Version and the Unrated, Extended Cut. We watched the 'Extended Cut' and were not disappointed. They spared no change in producing this film. If you want to see the best your Blu-ray system can deliver, then look no further. It was extraordinarily beautiful---almost 3D like. I'm left to think of some of the snow scenes and how I felt I could reach out and capture the giant snowflakes---how I reached for a throw, suddenly feeling a chill.

I thought Mark Wahlberg did a splendid job portraying Payne. I was immediately drawn into the storyline with him seeking those responsible for the brutal murders of his wife and baby and how he was willing to die to avenge their deaths. His grief and anger were palpable and justifiable.

I've enjoyed Max Payne video games and I don't feel that they did an injustice to the gaming fans, with this production. I could easily translate Mark Wahlberg's character and the setting, into that of the games.

I did have to suspend disbelief regarding the pharmaceutical company and, 'the drug.' This is why I took off one star. For example, every person who takes a hallucinogenic drug will not have the same hallucinations, so I was a little baffled by the big winged creatures that appeared to be everyone's' side-effect, but they looked really cool, so I almost forgive them.

Several have said they felt there were slow moments, but I have to say I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 103 minutes. Perhaps I would not have felt so positive about the movie, itself, if it had not been such a spectacular AV experience. But considering the complete package, I do recommend you give it a try. You might want to rent it first, before buying, since this one seems rather polarizing with folks either liking it a lot, or hating it.

lipstick on a pig
- About Max Payne, on the day his family was murdered: "He was, maybe, ten minutes too late."
- About me, on the day I sat down to see this movie: "He was around one hour forty-three minutes too early."

Whoever Mark Wahlberg's agent is, dude needs to get dragged to the back of the woodshed. Wahlberg's film choices in '08 have not been what you'd call career friendly. Firstly, M. Night Shamalamadingdong screwed the pooch with THE HAPPENING, and then there's this skunker. I haven't ever played the MAX PAYNE video game, and, truth is, this cinematic adaptation is just the kind of thing which might put off potential players of the game. MAX PAYNE the movie is so @$#%! bad that I'm compelled to inject punctuation marks to emphasize how truly bad it is.

Wahlberg over the years has built up a rep for good acting; dude was even recently Oscar-nominated for his role in THE DEPARTED. He's not the worse thing in MAX PAYNE, but it sure doesn't help that he sleepwalks thru his role. Mostly, he rolls with one expression, which is this frozen, sorta pained look, as if his co-actors were always breaking wind around him. Wahlberg is NYPD Detective Max Payne, currently toiling away in the lowly Cold Case Department, pretty much relegated to "glorified file clerk" duties. Echoing the back story of the Punisher, the Crow and others of that dark ilk, Max's wife and baby had been murdered and Max won't rest until he gets his ungodly smite on. But the trail is cold, the clues are faint. Max has withdrawn into himself and has alienated pretty much everyone around him, including his one-time cop partner, who Max thinks hasn't done enough in solving the case.

Some headway is finally made when a connection is unearthed between the murder of Max's family and the recent slaying of a slinky party girl whom Max had the night before taken home. And when Max's partner is brutally whacked, Max himself becomes the primary suspect. Vaguely teaming up with Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), a Russian assassin and the vengeful sister of the slain girl, Max haunts New York's criminal underworld, tangling with fellow badges, a shady pharmaceutical corporation, and homocidal drugged-out thugsters. But what gets me is that, the whole time, Wahlberg carries that same vaguely distressed expression. What, did the film's catering make it Burrito Night every night?

The SIN CITY-inspired visuals look good, no doubt, and there are even several flashy bullet time sequences. But, in a way, that cheeses me ever more, because, seems to me, if the filmmakers can pay so much attention on the special effects and the slick cinematography, why couldn't they focus just a smidgen on the story, which is always the most crucial component? As it is, MAX PAYNE dies a slow, agonizing death, the final verdict rendering it a thing of style over substance, some lipstick on a pig, moonlight on a pile of poo.

All the way thru, the film persists in its bad choices. The pace is sluggish, the script is all over the place, and characters walk on and off the screen like you're supposed to already know who they are (and I guess you would if you've played the game). But, for too much time, I wasn't clear on exactly who that cat was being played by a doughy-looking Chris McDonnell (who I guess wreaked havoc on Burrito Nights). The camera several times makes it a point to briefly cut to McDonnell's nervous mug, but until his big office scene, not much detail is provided regarding this guy, leaving me vexed and musing who the hell is this doofus? And what was the deal with the old woman who happens to be CEO of that dubious pharmaceutical company? Just how deep was she into shady shenanigans? The film leaves us in the dark. It's stuff like that, which smacks of lack of attention to detail, which helps to torpedo the film.

Mila Kunis simply feels out of place. Worsely, she isn't given much to do, other than occasionally spit some Russian dialogue and saunter with flair in her leathers and big, big gun. Olga Kurylenko, the latest Bond girl, shows up for a nanosecond, but then I think her agent called with some pointed career advice. Hip hop artist Ludacris shows up and tries to sink into his role and get serious about acting, except that when your character's name is Lt. J. Bravura, who're you really foolin'? Beau Bridges is also here, probably having told his little brother "Whatever you can do, blah blah blah." But he's got nothing on Jeff.

The trailers cheated us into thinking that there actually may be an otherworldy element to this thing, in the form of creepy shadow angels skittering about. Except that they turn out to be mere side-effects of this experimental hallucinatory drug, which by the way happens to be at the crux of this whole mess. There's a dispirited, soul-numbing tone in MAX PAYNE which wore on me and put me in a bleak mood (I was this close to putting on black clothes and a beret, changing my name to Olaf, and composing poetry that neither rhymed nor made sense). For folks who relish wallowing in that sort of emotional scene, stick around until after the credits for one last scene which, O Unfathomable God, may be setting up for a possible sequel.

The DVD offers two versions of the film, the theatrical version and the unrated version. If you're wondering which one to see, hint: the theatrical version is SHORTER. To be fair, the last half hour does pick up the pace as the filmmakers finally shake themselves out of their stupor and realize that, hey, this is supposed to be an action thriller. So, that's something. But, for Mark Wahlberg's sake, THE BRAZILIAN JOB can't come fast enough.

Oh, and if you're gonna handcuff someone, clap them suckers on with their hands behind the back. That's like, Basic Apprehending 101, brother.

film noir with a standard villian
As this is a high budget movie you really can expect alot more from it than it's low budget contemporaries. However this movie shines on blu ray with awesome special effects. The film is a ok film noir movie and it does have elements from the video game without being like a video game ; the recent "wanted" is more like one than this movie. THat would be fine except they rely on the corrupt betrayer who can
be seen from very early on. This traitor/betrayer theme has made many hollywood movies fall into a cynical trap, sure these betrayals happen but unfortunately they can't seem to make decent villians who are NOT
part of the team, force or a friend like they used to. THis ruined the Mission Impossible movies which failed to even feature a team in any of them! Just traitors and inside badies. The actors all do a decent job at their average type action noir roles,
especially the underrated Beau Bridges. This isn't a bad movie though and the drug that enslaves people
is all too close to the reality of meth (also known of the streets as the drug on fools.) It's worth watching on blu ray and if you are into film noir and don't care about the video game aspect. This does feature people flying when hit by shotgun blasts which does not happen in reality however. And that is videogamish to say the least but It doesn't do the game justice in many respects. If you can't Enjoy this as a ok film noir movie with a origin in a video game then you won't be happy owning this one.