Strictly speaking from the technical/production aspects of Max Paynae, the movie is stunning. Jonathan Sela (director of photography) truly does a phenomenal job at presenting a dark, gritty, and grim world in true noir style. What stands out the most to me in this sense mainly comes from the outdoor locational scenes. Whether it be on the docks of New York city, completely with spots of flood lighting to accentuate shadows, or in the snowy downtown alleys in which light and dark plays a key role in presenting the films strong mood, everything is beautiful.
So in this sense Max Payne excels at at not only capturing the "feel" of the game, but also in simply presenting a stellar noir piece in terms of atmosphere and style. Other than this, the move sadly fails to deliver anything memorable or impressive.
In terms of casting, there were definitely a few mistakes. Most noteworthy is Ludicrous who, and I'm sorry if anyone else thinks otherwise, just absolutely DOES NOT fit the tone of this film. He feels so out of place that regardless of the stunning cinematography or phenomenal lighting/atmosphere of the scene around him, the gritty/dark is shattered by the mere fact he is there. This simply comes occurs because of, in my opinion, the style of acting he chose to employ for the character of Jim Bravura is just not fitting for a film of this style. Maybe he was in fact trying to go for the character of a tough, grizzled investigator but I'm sad to say he does not pull it off. He's just not believable in the role and regardless of his confidence in line delivery, it shows.
In terms of plot it is overall decent. There is a very clear story arch and the narrative is rather straight forward so comprehension of whats going on isn't overly difficult to grasp. The problem arises in pacing and repetition. At its core, the story presented by the film is rather simple, and yet the narrative takes a large amount of time to "investigate" plot points that the audience may have already figured out (I say this because nothing was surprising for me and I seemed to figure things out far faster than Max did). Max spends a good hour or more learning about the drug Valkyrie, the tests on soldiers, his wife's murder and discovering those responsible when really not that much time is needed. Sure he has to link things together but the clues he stumbles across and information Mona learns make the revelations of the secrets glaringly obvious to the audience well before the investigation is concluded. As a result, when the "reveal" occurs it isn't exciting or shocking (with the exception of one surprise). It's more of a "oh NOW he finally gets it, about time Max." Due to this pacing, when the action FINALLY comes to fruition it is quick and far from satisfying. I personally believe that this is the fault of the films trailer which insinuates that the film will be "action packed". Here's this trailer with bullets flying, scenery exploding, bodies flying into walls, and giant winged hallucinations but when the film gets underway it is nowhere near as adrenalin pumping as the trailer makes it out to be. While proud supporters of the film may argue that you cant blame a trailer for leading false hopes... that is just not true. Simply put, the trailer for Max Payne leads the viewer to believe they are about to see a grand opus of utterly cool action, hopefully with a decent plot. Instead the film gives a decent plot with mediocre, worn-out, and unfulfilled brief moments of action.
Now you may think otherwise, but this is how I felt about Max Payne. It just wasn't that great. Sure the whole noir style and classic grizzled detective stint was cool but all in all I personally didn't find it flowed well.
In conclusion: While Max Payne is visually and atmospherically stunning, some misfires in casting and poor plot pacing bog the movie down to a mediocre level. Some may like it, others may not. But overall, in my opinion, it was a heartbreaking missed opportunity for a chance at being a stellar noir/action film.
So in this sense Max Payne excels at at not only capturing the "feel" of the game, but also in simply presenting a stellar noir piece in terms of atmosphere and style. Other than this, the move sadly fails to deliver anything memorable or impressive.
In terms of casting, there were definitely a few mistakes. Most noteworthy is Ludicrous who, and I'm sorry if anyone else thinks otherwise, just absolutely DOES NOT fit the tone of this film. He feels so out of place that regardless of the stunning cinematography or phenomenal lighting/atmosphere of the scene around him, the gritty/dark is shattered by the mere fact he is there. This simply comes occurs because of, in my opinion, the style of acting he chose to employ for the character of Jim Bravura is just not fitting for a film of this style. Maybe he was in fact trying to go for the character of a tough, grizzled investigator but I'm sad to say he does not pull it off. He's just not believable in the role and regardless of his confidence in line delivery, it shows.
In terms of plot it is overall decent. There is a very clear story arch and the narrative is rather straight forward so comprehension of whats going on isn't overly difficult to grasp. The problem arises in pacing and repetition. At its core, the story presented by the film is rather simple, and yet the narrative takes a large amount of time to "investigate" plot points that the audience may have already figured out (I say this because nothing was surprising for me and I seemed to figure things out far faster than Max did). Max spends a good hour or more learning about the drug Valkyrie, the tests on soldiers, his wife's murder and discovering those responsible when really not that much time is needed. Sure he has to link things together but the clues he stumbles across and information Mona learns make the revelations of the secrets glaringly obvious to the audience well before the investigation is concluded. As a result, when the "reveal" occurs it isn't exciting or shocking (with the exception of one surprise). It's more of a "oh NOW he finally gets it, about time Max." Due to this pacing, when the action FINALLY comes to fruition it is quick and far from satisfying. I personally believe that this is the fault of the films trailer which insinuates that the film will be "action packed". Here's this trailer with bullets flying, scenery exploding, bodies flying into walls, and giant winged hallucinations but when the film gets underway it is nowhere near as adrenalin pumping as the trailer makes it out to be. While proud supporters of the film may argue that you cant blame a trailer for leading false hopes... that is just not true. Simply put, the trailer for Max Payne leads the viewer to believe they are about to see a grand opus of utterly cool action, hopefully with a decent plot. Instead the film gives a decent plot with mediocre, worn-out, and unfulfilled brief moments of action.
Now you may think otherwise, but this is how I felt about Max Payne. It just wasn't that great. Sure the whole noir style and classic grizzled detective stint was cool but all in all I personally didn't find it flowed well.
In conclusion: While Max Payne is visually and atmospherically stunning, some misfires in casting and poor plot pacing bog the movie down to a mediocre level. Some may like it, others may not. But overall, in my opinion, it was a heartbreaking missed opportunity for a chance at being a stellar noir/action film.