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- Movie Review: Max Payne
Movie Review: Max Payne
- By Dave Urbanski
- Published 10/28/2008
- Movie Reviews
- Unrated
Dave Urbanski
Dave Urbanski is author of The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash (Relevant Books), senior developmental editor for Youth Specialties, and writes about music, film, and culture for several publications.
View all articles by Dave UrbanskiPG-13, 99 min.
Overview: The cinematic version of the popular video game has Mark Wahlberg in the lead role: A New York City detective out for revenge after finding his wife and infant son slain in their home six months before. A cross between The Matrix, The Fugitive, and (I’ll explain this later) Ghost, Max Payne should appeal to fans of the video game—of which a significant number are teenagers—as well as fans of Wahlberg and effects-laden action flicks.
The Lowdown: During the day, Payne rides a desk in the windowless, cold-case basement office of his precinct; by night he prowls the streets, shaking down shady characters for tips on his wife and son’s killer. One night Payne runs into Russian party girl, Natasha, who attempts to seduce him but is soundly rebuffed; on the way out of Payne’s dimly lit, saltbox apartment, Natasha helps herself to his ID. Trouble is, Natasha’s later found dismembered in an alley, and the cops find Payne’s ID at the scene. (Strike one.) Then Payne’s disheveled former partner, Alex Balder (Donal Logue), discovers a possible link between Natasha’s murder and the murder of Payne’s family; so he heads to Payne’s apartment to tell him more, and Payne arrives only to find Balder dead in his hallway. (Strike two.)
With his fellow police officers convinced he killed Natasha and Balder, Payne is officially on the run. The chase intensifies after Payne follows the clues Balder left behind, ending up at the pharmaceutical company, Aesir, where his late wife worked, acquiring more leads by threatening her former supervisor (played by Chris O’Donnell), then escaping the building in a barrage of automatic weapons courtesy of Aesir’s SWAT-like security force.
Turns out Aesir had been manufacturing a dangerous and addictive drug meant to alter the psyches of soldiers and render them practically invincible on the field of battle—but in almost all test cases, it left users deranged and delusional, believing they were being attacked by giant ghostly birds of prey. (When these “birds” made their spooky appearances, it wasn’t unlike the way the hellish demons showed up in Ghost, which isn’t the cleverest of creations.) And although Payne’s wife was only peripherally connected with this drug project, it dawns on Payne that she was probably killed by those a lot closer to it.
To thicken an already too-dense plot, Aesir’s head of security (played by Beau Bridges) is Payne’s father’s former partner—practically family—but there’s something amiss in the way he’s dealing with our hero.
Now Max isn’t sure who to kill. Definitely not a good day at the office.
Teachable Moments: Your best shot might be Payne’s macabre voiceover from the flick’s opening frames: “I don’t believe in heaven. I believe in pain. I believe in fear. I believe in death.” Since this isn’t a movie to watch with your students (way too much murderous violence), you might get some mileage from talking to your kids who’ve seen the movie about the deeper meaning of this statement. Maybe ask why Payne doesn’t believe in heaven—and why a lot of other people don’t, either (and what your kids can do, if anything, about that disbelief). There’s very little else you can use, however, even when Max Payne hits the DVD racks. Since the action plays a lot like the video game the flick originated from, there’s a distinct lack of plot development and details are forced and squeezed into lulls between shootouts—ergo, not much substance from which to draw for discussion starters.
Viewer Discretion: While there’s no nudity, Natasha gets herself scantily clad on Payne’s bed before he kicks her out—and that’s about it. The main issue here is the massive onslaught of violence, which isn’t dissimilar from the way gun violence is portrayed in The Matrix. (Whether that’s a positive because “that’s what we’ve collectively grown used to” or a negative because “that’s what we’ve collectively grown used to” is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.) There’s a fair amount of drug use, too, along with portrayals of the drug’s after-effects.
General Appeal: Again, for fans of the video game, Wahlberg, and Matrix-like action. There’s a distinct lack of substance, and you’re left to put a lot of the pieces together on your own. Not a great movie for those reasons, but one to keep your eye on in order to engage those in your care who have seen it.
The Final Grade: Entertainment value: C - ministry value: D
The Lowdown: During the day, Payne rides a desk in the windowless, cold-case basement office of his precinct; by night he prowls the streets, shaking down shady characters for tips on his wife and son’s killer. One night Payne runs into Russian party girl, Natasha, who attempts to seduce him but is soundly rebuffed; on the way out of Payne’s dimly lit, saltbox apartment, Natasha helps herself to his ID. Trouble is, Natasha’s later found dismembered in an alley, and the cops find Payne’s ID at the scene. (Strike one.) Then Payne’s disheveled former partner, Alex Balder (Donal Logue), discovers a possible link between Natasha’s murder and the murder of Payne’s family; so he heads to Payne’s apartment to tell him more, and Payne arrives only to find Balder dead in his hallway. (Strike two.)
With his fellow police officers convinced he killed Natasha and Balder, Payne is officially on the run. The chase intensifies after Payne follows the clues Balder left behind, ending up at the pharmaceutical company, Aesir, where his late wife worked, acquiring more leads by threatening her former supervisor (played by Chris O’Donnell), then escaping the building in a barrage of automatic weapons courtesy of Aesir’s SWAT-like security force.
Turns out Aesir had been manufacturing a dangerous and addictive drug meant to alter the psyches of soldiers and render them practically invincible on the field of battle—but in almost all test cases, it left users deranged and delusional, believing they were being attacked by giant ghostly birds of prey. (When these “birds” made their spooky appearances, it wasn’t unlike the way the hellish demons showed up in Ghost, which isn’t the cleverest of creations.) And although Payne’s wife was only peripherally connected with this drug project, it dawns on Payne that she was probably killed by those a lot closer to it.
To thicken an already too-dense plot, Aesir’s head of security (played by Beau Bridges) is Payne’s father’s former partner—practically family—but there’s something amiss in the way he’s dealing with our hero.
Now Max isn’t sure who to kill. Definitely not a good day at the office.
Teachable Moments: Your best shot might be Payne’s macabre voiceover from the flick’s opening frames: “I don’t believe in heaven. I believe in pain. I believe in fear. I believe in death.” Since this isn’t a movie to watch with your students (way too much murderous violence), you might get some mileage from talking to your kids who’ve seen the movie about the deeper meaning of this statement. Maybe ask why Payne doesn’t believe in heaven—and why a lot of other people don’t, either (and what your kids can do, if anything, about that disbelief). There’s very little else you can use, however, even when Max Payne hits the DVD racks. Since the action plays a lot like the video game the flick originated from, there’s a distinct lack of plot development and details are forced and squeezed into lulls between shootouts—ergo, not much substance from which to draw for discussion starters.
Viewer Discretion: While there’s no nudity, Natasha gets herself scantily clad on Payne’s bed before he kicks her out—and that’s about it. The main issue here is the massive onslaught of violence, which isn’t dissimilar from the way gun violence is portrayed in The Matrix. (Whether that’s a positive because “that’s what we’ve collectively grown used to” or a negative because “that’s what we’ve collectively grown used to” is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.) There’s a fair amount of drug use, too, along with portrayals of the drug’s after-effects.
General Appeal: Again, for fans of the video game, Wahlberg, and Matrix-like action. There’s a distinct lack of substance, and you’re left to put a lot of the pieces together on your own. Not a great movie for those reasons, but one to keep your eye on in order to engage those in your care who have seen it.
The Final Grade: Entertainment value: C - ministry value: D
