Max Payne is a movie based on a video game of the same name. Directed by John Moore, the film stars Mark Wahlberg. The movie also stars Chris " Ludacris" Bridges while Nelly Furtado also appears briefly in the movie.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Mark Wahlberg in "Max Payne"
Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) is a cop transferred to "Cold Case" department after the death of his wife, Michelle and his kid. He’s determined to investigate their deaths and will not stop at anything.
When Natasha (Olga Kurylenko) is found murdered the day after she has met Max, Max becomes the prime suspect. Alex Balder (Donal Logue), whom used to be Max’s partner in the Homicide department manages to find some information relating both Natasha’s death and Michelle’s death as both of them had a tattoo on their hands. Alex ends up death in Max’s apartment when he went looking for Max. Then comes a man called BB Hensley (Beau Bridges), who is a former cop and Max’s mentor. They drop by BB’s office before going to Alex’s house to pay him the last respect. Christa Balder (played by Nelly Furtado), Alex’s wife appears shortly and she slaps Max before asking him to leave her house.
Mona Sax (Mila Kunis) seems to be angry over the death of her sister, Natasha and finds Max in order to kill him. Max convinces Mona to investigate the case together starting with a man called Owen Green. But when they reach Owen Green’s apartment, it’s too late as Owen jumps to his death but is apparently pulled to his death by a Valkyrie. Mona then shows Max the tattoo parlor that Natasha got her tattoo from. The tattoo parlor explains the tattoo as Valkyrie’s wing. He says that those people with the Valkyrie tattoo die violently and go to heaven while those who die in their sleep go to hell.
Max finds Jason Colvin (Chris O’Donnell) and forces him to tell the truth about Michelle and what they have done to her by resorting to violence. Even though this made his secretary calls the security, Colvin ends up telling Max about Aesir Corp was involved in a project called Valkyr, a failed military project to improve its soldiers’ stamina and moral but was halted due to its failure. Those who takes the drug will experience hallucination and sees birds flying around them.
Somehow, when the security guards arrive, they kill Colvin and try to finish off Max before he escapes. Max then goes to find Jack Lupino (Amaury Nolasco), the mafia boss whom he suspects is the killer behind Natasha and his wife. When Max’s almost killed by Lupino, B.B. appears and kills Lupino with a gunshot. Max feels relieve but he’s knocked unconscious by B.B.’s sidekick. They plan to throw him into a freezing lake but Max escapes and jumps into the lake to save himself. When he is almost drowned, his wife tells him it’s not the time yet and Max swims out to save himself. In desperation, Max drinks the Valkyr drug given to him by B.B. and becomes energetic with Valkyries flying in the background. He goes on rampage and kills everyone on sight, knowing B.B. has betrayed him. Even though in the end Max manages to kill B.B., he is arrested by the cops.
Overall, Mark Wahlberg plays his character, Max Payne very well indeed. The movie is almost like a combination of another video game movie, Hitman with the darkness of Gabriel, an Australian movie about archangel. Coincidentally, Olga Kurylenko plays Nika in Hitman and she also wears a short red dress in it! The visual effect is impressive as well although the story line is different from the video game. Ludacris’ character as Jim Bravura, an internal affairs agent seems unnecessary as it does not add any value to the film at all. The plot is poor but overridden by the incessant shooting, appearance of Norse mythology, the Valkyries and the incredibly beautiful Olga Kurylenko in an ultra short red dress (the good thing is we’ll get to see her again as the next Bond girl in Quantum of Solace).
My ratings: 6 out of 10.
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1 comment so far ↓
i suspect the storyline for Max Payne is a lot more exciting when it’s happening in the form of a video game… except for those few exciting parts that i already saw in the preview, it was a snoozefest
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