Max Payne (2008)

Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a police detective whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.

Director:

John Moore

Writers:

Beau Thorne (screenplay), Sam Lake (video game by Remedy Entertainment and 3-D Realms Entertainment)

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Max Payne
Mila Kunis	...	Mona Sax
Beau Bridges	...	BB Hensley
Ludacris	...	Jim Bravura (as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges)
Chris O'Donnell	...	Jason Colvin
Donal Logue	...	Alex Balder
Amaury Nolasco	...	Jack Lupino
Kate Burton	...	Nicole Horne
Olga Kurylenko	...	Natasha
Rothaford Gray	...	Joe Salle
Joel Gordon	...	Owen Green
Jamie Hector	...	Lincoln Deneuf
Andrew Friedman	...	Trevor
Marianthi Evans	...	Michelle Payne
Nelly Furtado	...	Christa Balder

Storyline

Three years ago, NYPD detective Max Payne's wife and baby were murdered. Max gets himself transferred to the cold case office where he can continue searching for the killer who got away. He's a loner, but two people reach out to him during a fateful week: Alex, his ex-partner who may have found a clue, and BB, the security chief at the pharmaceutical company where Max's wife worked. Meanwhile, bodies are piling up, some as a result of a drug on the street that is highly addictive and, for many who take it, brings hideous hallucinations. When one of the bodies is a woman Payne was the last to see alive, her sister comes looking for him armed to the teeth; Max must move fast.

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Plot Keywords:

hallucination | new york city | drug | police detective | ex partner | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence including intense shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Twentieth Century Fox [fr]

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English Russian Spanish

Release Date:

17 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Maks Pejn

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,004,995 (UK) (14 November 2008)

Gross:

$40,687,294 (USA) (9 January 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Abandon Entertainment, Collision Entertainment, Depth Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 103 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second video game adaptation Olga Kurylenko appears in, the other being Hitman. Coincidentally they both feature former Prison Break actors as antagonists.

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Goofs

In the Roscoe Street Station bathroom, Max fires a revolver 6 or 7 times (you hear an echoing boom when the scene cuts to the mugger running on the tracks). Max is using a Taurus Judge revolver, which holds 5 bullets.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Max Payne: I don't believe in heaven. I believe in pain. I believe in fear. I believe in death.

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Crazy Credits

Stay watching after the credits for an extra scene, in which Max is reunited with Mona at a bar to be shown further developments involving Aesir, implying both have more to do (setting the scene for a possible sequel).

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Connections

Edited into Max Payne: Movie Special (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Oscar 1208"
Written by Paul Stoney & Stephen French
Performed by Metsuo

User Reviews

Did anyone who made this film even play the game?

We know that Mark Wahlberg refused to play Rockstar's "Max Payne" game before performing in this film, but, in addition, I must assume that neither the director nor the screenwriter ever played this game before, either. If there weren't so many shots of the background scenery that tied in with the game (although they were never fully or, in some cases, partially explored), I would assume that no one involved in the movie had even seen cut scenes from the game. I would have assumed that they got a one paragraph synopsis on the game, with character names, and just made up their own story that barely connected to the game storyline.

When this movie was made for a "PG-13" rating instead of an "R" rating, most of the fans were nervous. And, after seeing the train wreck this film became, it's clear to see that our worst fears were realized. Worse even than whether this works as a movie adaptation of a video game is whether this film would works as a movie if you have no knowledge of the video game. Unfortunately, if you went to see this film looking for an action flick, you would say that this was one of the most boring, yawn-inducing films you'd seen in the action genre.

The lack of narration throughout this film, the lack of a solid action director like John Woo (who knows how to do slow-mo), and the lack of anyone from the Rockstar team helping with screen writing added up to what can only be described as a hollow, dull film that has virtually no tie to the amazing game that spawned it. The studio system strikes again.