Max Payne Trailer Surprise… It Looks Good! (No, seriously.)

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 10, 2008

The trailer for the upcoming film Max Payne has hit the web… and for a movie based on a videogame it’s actually looking pretty damn cool.  Mark Wahlberg stars as a NYC detective mourning the murder of his family at the hands of very bad men.  Aside from that tidbit it’s unclear from the trailer what the main plot line of the movie will be.  Check out the new trailer below.

C’mon, admit it… it doesn’t look anywhere near as bad as you expected.  Videogames aren’t known to be reliable source material for quality movies, but director John Moore seems to have done better than expected in capturing Max Payne’s dark, gritty, noirish tone.  Having played both videogames I’m not exactly clear as to what those angels of death are doing… unless they’re part of some drug-induced dream sequence… but the effects are sweet regardless.

The Max Payne videogames followed Max’s descent into a metaphorical and drug addled hell a few years after the slaughter of his wife and child.  While working undercover for the DEA he discovers a conspiracy that reaches to the upper echelons of society, as any worthwhile conspiracy is prone to do, and finds a connection to his family’s murder as well.  Several hundred bodies later, Max stands triumphant (and is promptly arrested for the bloody trail of corpses he left behind.)  The second game follows a similar theme… loss, guilt, conspiracy… all punctuated by slow-mo Woo-style action and gunplay.  Both games used graphic novel panels to advance the story, and featured spectacularly cheesy and perfect dialogue like “You’d find that Lady Luck was really a hooker. And you were fresh out of cash” and ”I would have laughed, if I could have remembered how.”

Moore, Wahlberg, and the suddenly hot Mila Kunis are all scheduled to be at Comic-Con 2008 later this month with a preview of the film.  This is Moore’s fourth feature film after the underrated Behind Enemy Lines, the mediocre Flight of the Phoenix, and the unnecessary The Omen remake.  (Per IMDB, his next movie, Virulents, is about lost soldiers in Afghanistan who stumble upon a nest of vampire zombies!)  Max Payne opens in October.


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  • Drew
    I foresee an abuse of Bullet Time.
  • Zap Rowsdower
    Looks like a DTV movie. And what bullet-time? All I saw was Marky Mark flailing his legs in the most ungraceful, un-Max Payne movement I've ever seen. What a hunk of shit this movie is.
  • I am willing to admit that, at least compared to my low expectations for this flick, this trailer kicks ass. I say get the tone of the game, deviate enough to make it a compelling story and churn out a kick-ass action flick -- that's all I ask. This trailer leads me to believe that they are on their way.
  • Mike D
    I think at the very worst this movie will turn out to be just ok (Or a C as you guys would give it.)
  • Ronnie
    Regarding the dark angels; maybe sticking to the source material isn't enough for video game movies(the reason why they fail) and adding some story arcs may be necessary to advance a cohesive plot.
  • Nish
    Probably wont turn out to be a bad movie. Seeing as more games nowadays are aiming to be like movies, with their stroyline and character development, it wouldn't surprise me if more video games like Mass Effect or even GTA are made into movies.
  • The trailer makes the movie look better than most videogame adaptations. That might sound like faint praise, but considering the source material, this has the potential to be one kick-ass film. As long as it succeeds at being a tense and exciting action film, it should be all right. I'll be looking forward to it...
  • I loved these games, and have replayed them more then once. I soooo want this movie to be goodI I want to be surprised at how good this movies is. I want to walk out of the theater going "yeah baby!" - - BUT - - I dont THINK it will be that great. But I do HOPE and PRAY that it will be!
  • JMoney
    Suddenly hot Mila Kunis?

    I'd say she's been hot for awhile.

    If they can capture the despair and darkness of the game, and throw in some nice action scenes, and a bit of bullet time, then I'll be happy. this isn't citizen kane here, its just an action movie
  • Eddie
    I think moving away from the reliable source material could be this films downfall. Imagine if Resident Evil would have been done like the game? How much better would that have been, turning a gripping, tense and shocking horror game into a mediocre action bore. What a joke. Hitman did ok in my opinion, but changed the fascinating backstory. If Max Payne is made faithfully to the first game, we may have a revolution on our hands. Game to film = good? Maybe....
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