Surprisingly not a bad movie at all

Not in any significant order but here goes...(POSSIBLE HEAVY SPOILERS)



The first mistake that the movie makes is that Payne's family is already dead when the film begins. Even a 3D-realm producer of the game acknowledge this specific flaw(along with his disgust of the movie).

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/20/3d-realms-finds-fundamental-flaws-in-payne-movie/

The "flashback" method, if done wrong(like it was here), has NO dynamic and you can't connect with Payne's motivation to seek out his family's killers.

I like Mila Kunis(don't get me wrong), but I don't think that ANYONE brought her as femme fatale/assassin Mona Sax, whom in the game is employed by Nicole Horne. Olga Kurylenko (who they killed off) seemed more suitable for that role. Not to mention that the way that she is presented into the a similar scenario as Max is DEAD WRONG. LISA Punchinello(Who in the world is NATASHA?!) is Mona's sister and the abused wife of Mafia boss Angelo Punchinello(Not in the FILM). THAT SAID, the element of the mafia is COMPLETELY left out of this movie. WHY?!!! How are we supposed to feel for Max being a cop in over his head, while he's infiltrating the mafia.

Important characters from the game are taken out of the film and substituted for characters that are not even in the GAME(the Jamaican? Jason Colvin?). Vinnie Gognitti is referenced ONLY by a sign at some type of business. Angelo Punchinello, Vinnie Gognitti, & Vladamir Lem are NON-EXISTANT in this film (Many of which have very important parts within the game's sequel). On the other hand, video-game characters who DO make their way in the movie are BADLY written. B.B. is not a pawn, but the MAIN villain(MISTAKE I). Jack Lupino is a former marine and a test subject instead of a mafia boss and occultist who distributes Valkyr for Angelo(MISTAKE II). Nicole Horne(mentioned earlier), the CEO of Aesir Corporation and the MAIN villain of the video game is BARELY IN THE MOVIE (MISTAKE III). And last but not least, yours truly, Max Payne is not an NYPD detective, turned undercover DEA agent framed for murder, but a cold-case cop looking through files(MISTAKE IV).

The Action. Oh boy. It's indeed a shame that the makers of the movie had plenty, PLENTY of material to look at as far as reference goes. In the game everything is there to give you the feel of the action. It's no surprise that John Woo and The Wachowski brothers really inspired the action of the game and to this day, EVERY action sequence in both of the games is still breathtaking to look at. The action in the movie: FLAT AS PAPER. Every action sequence(which happens VERY LITTLE) bores you to no end. It may be just me, but filmakers PARODY slow motion in their action instead of giving you ACTUAL slow motion shots. They couldn't even get the bullet-time sequences(if you want to call them SEQUENCES)right. We see Mark Whalberg bend backwards for about a good 2 minutes to shoot ONE GUY on a railing.

What was up with the flying monsters?! Max Payne NEVER EVER EVER EVER had ANYTHING supernatural in the video game. NOTHING. Now before I get the argument, I understand that there is a big difference between hallucinations or nightmares and supernatural elements and the scenes within the movie would be called hallucinations; however, there is a slight problem: when the Valkyr drug is taken, why does everyone have the SAME HALLUCINATION?!!! Is this even explained? Plus, it is up for a strong debate because it's not really a hallucination when your hallucination PULLS YOU OUT OF A WINDOW TO YOUR DEATH.

I would personally say that Max's mission of vengeance upon the underworld of New York and later on, the Aesir Corporation technically doesn't really begin until the death of Max's partner, Alex, who had, as Max puts it kept him "realatively SANE for the past 3 years" after his family's murder.

Like people unable to buy Mila Kunis as a contract assassin, I was EQUALLY unable to buy Mark Whalberg as Max Payne. I generally like Mark Whalberg in some movies, but I was VERY disappointed with him here(in the movie AND behind the scenes). According to the trivia, he did not even bother to play the game because he claims that "he didn't want to become addicted" and that the script that they had was enough to connect to the character. To me that's very........LAZY. His lack of research showed completely as he gives the most dull, one-dimensional performance in the film.

If there is anything that Sucker Punch would go on to teach us later is that VISUALS can not save a badly-written movie. It did not feel like a noir-type film. Even Payne's narration is absent. It's shame that I got more of a Max Payne movie in Mel Gibson's performance in Payback than Mark Whelberg's "interpretation."

It's one of those situations where some bad movies can't be defended, especially when the people who wrote the material acknowledge how bad the movie is. I don't know what is so HARD about adapting stories to the big screen when the story is already written for you. And here comes along a director who goes a complete 180 and changes so many things that made the material great to the point to where it is almost unrecognizable(The Last Airbender ANYONE?). Max Payne is BEYOND mediocre. It's just plain, absolutely, extremely, downright, straight-up BAD period. It is a disgrace and an insult to the video games. LOL I'm convinced that that's half the reason why they are making Max Payne 3(which I'm really looking foward to) to get the bad taste of the film out of their mouths. Like characters quote in the movie I will glady quote for others: you want to avoid 2 hours of Maximum pain, "STAY AWAY FROM MAX PAYNE."

no, he's right, there is nothing of the max payne soul in this film; it is only outdone in "unrelated to the game"-ness by Farcry (2008) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400426/