Movie Month: Max Payne (Part 1)

It already looks better than the
film.

I’ll admit that I know very little about the Max Payne franchise… if we can call a series of three games a franchise. I do know that it was an attempt at bringing to video games a story genre that had seldom been done before, the noir genre to be precise. We would see that genre appear in more games as time went on, but in 2001? It was pretty unique. I also know that it’s the story of the eponymous Max Payne, who likely shares most of the common traits of noir protagonists. 

The series, which had two games at the time (one released in 2001, one in 2003), was adapted into a film released to theaters in october 2008, starring Mark Wahlberg in the titular role. Now, as we’ve discovered over time, there are two ways to adapt a game into a film: Try to follow it as closely as possible… or don’t, and pull whatever crap you feel like doing, even if none of it makes sense. Why, yes, I am still bitter about the live-action Super Mario Bros., and that abomination (I refuse to call it a movie) came out 27 years ago.

I've done some research on the franchise for this review, of course, but it wouldn't measure up to the knowledge of someone who has actually played the games. I'm not going in entirely blind, but still mostly as someone with no experience with the series. I'm of the belief that a movie adaptation of a work in another medium needs to be interesting even for the viewers who aren't familiar with the source material. This is going to be my angle for this review.

Let’s take a look, shall we? 

Max Payne is a tormented NYPD officer working at the cold cases department. He is desperate to find more clues regarding the murderer of his wife Michelle and their baby, three years ago. His only lead is that the junkie who broke into their home, the man responsible for the act, was high on a dose of Valkyr, a drug that’s been making the rounds, usually sold in vials and taken orally. 

He obviously can't bring himself to care.
..Wahlberg, I mean, not Payne.

"You're out of luck, buddy; there's no good cop here."

Max is so caught up in avenging his family that he won’t even socialize with new recruits at the precinct, and spends all his time looking for clues. Oftentimes, his informant will drop a new name, and Max will prepare and run headfirst into action, no matter the dangers. That night, he confronts three thugs high on Valkyr in the metro, interrogating Jack Bauer-style the one among them who was seen breaking and entering into homes. Unfortunately, the guy is under the influence, barely intelligible, and keeps mumbling about wings. We also see the effects of the drug for the first time, as one of the thugs, running away onto the metro tracks, hallucinates the shadows of winged creatures on the walls. 

The detective invites himself at a party held by his informant, hoping to get new leads to follow. That guy says he’s gone straight, but there’s a high number of dodgy-looking people in here. Including this woman in a red dress, which Max instantly notices. 

Gee, I wonder which of these characters has plot relevance.

But, to be fair, if you were the first splash of color in a grey, grey movie, you’d be noticed too – this film isn’t subtle with its color cues. This is Natasha Sax, a Russian spy portrayed by Olga Kurylenko. She’s better known for playing Camille Montes, the Bond girl of the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, which came out in theaters merely two weeks after Max Payne. Take a guess which role she remembers more fondly between those two. After she approaches Max, he notices the wing tattoo on her wrist. He also gets to meet Natasha’s sister Mona, a Russian assassin portrayed by Mila Kunis, who tries to take her sister away from the party. 

"...Yes? Can I help you, mister blatantly-villainous guy?"

Later, when Max leaves the main party area, he peeks into a room where partygoers are given vials of Valkyr. One of the partygoers getting a dose is Natasha. His peeking almost gets him in trouble with a tough-looking guy with wing tattoos on his face (sensing a theme yet?), checking all the boxes of the "criminal type" checklist. However, Max is soon joined by Natasha, who convinces him to leave the place. 

They wind up at Max’s apartment, where Natasha tries her best to turn on the detective (and the audience as well), but the cop is so tormented that he doesn’t reciprocate her interest whatsoever. She gets on the bed, even attempts to entice him into roleplay. “You can call me by her name~” Oh, that was a mistake, Natasha. If his libido wasn’t already dying, it’s just been fatally shot. Max instantly tells her to get out. 

"I feel like I'm gonna die, but it's still better than
that time I did bath salts."

Natasha leaves his apartment in a huff, stealing his wallet in the process, and calls her Valkyr pusher as she walks down the alleyway. However, the nastier effect of the drug starts to act on her and she flees from winged creatures that look more and more realistic, with the scene shot like she’s being attacked by monsters materialized from thin air. Before you get your hopes up, no, this isn’t building up to a Constantine-like story where the supernatural is real. It’s all drug-fueled hallucinations. But there ARE indeed monsters in the shadows… 

Those tattoos keep turning up in the worst places.

It's raining during this exchange. Symbolism?

The next day, Max is driven by his ex-partner Alex Balder to a crime scene – the aforementioned alley. Natasha’s body was found dismembered, with Max’s wallet in the area. The detective knows it’s her, as her wrist bears the wing tattoo. Despite Alex’s best efforts to discuss, Max keeps silent. Some lingering resentment between these two men, as Max is still laser-focused on solving Michelle’s murder, and while Alex did everything he could, apparently it was never enough, which is why they cut off their partnership. This exchange does encourage Alex to look back through the case file of Michelle’s murder, comparing the photos taken at the crime scene that morning to pictures of the thugs that broke into the Payne household three years prior. Yep – the wing tattoos match. He tries to contact Max but gets to voicemail, so he arranges to meet Max at the latter’s apartment. 

Meanwhile, Mona Sax gets the news about her sister Natasha’s murder. She also gets two pieces of information: One is a list of the last calls Natasha made before her death, with the last person, called twice, being a man named Owen Green; and a photocopy of Max Payne’s driver’s license.

Not even landing in the hospital will make Max Payne
stop. Even if he could use some damn rest.

After getting the message, Max goes to his apartment, only to find Alex’s body on the floor. He’s then assaulted by someone in the shadows, and fights back by shooting at the unknown attacker. He then wakes up in a hospital bed, found in time, albeit wounded, and taken there after the assault. Next to him is B.B. Hensley (portrayed by Beau Bridges), an ex-NYPD officer who used to be Max Payne’s father’s partner on the force. He now works as the head of security at Aesir Pharmaceuticals. B.B. tries to be reassurring, but the truth hurts: There are now two murders pinned on Max.

So Michelle worked in pharmaceutics and died
in a case that involved drugs. Coincidence?

Alex’s wake is later that day, so in spite of his weakened state, Max wants to go in order to pay his respects. B.B. promises to take him there, and the two pass by his office at Aesir to get some clean clothes. This is where we get an important bit of information, as we learn that Michelle Payne worked for Aesir Pharmaceuticals, and although it’s been three years, the head of the company, Nicole Horne (portrayed by Kate Burton), still feels this loss. To the point where the company created a scholarship in Michelle’s name. 

Now properly dressed, Max and B.B. head to the wake held for Alex. Our protagonist feels less than welcome; he is, after all, the prime suspect in his death. To think, if he had actually talked to his friend, that might not have happened. Honestly, if Max just freaking talked to people, sorted through his issues, a lot of problems would have been solved already. As Max leaves the wake, a car pulls up. Out comes the NYPD Internal Affairs Lieutenant Jim Bravura, portrayed by… 

…Ludacris??? You again? I haven’t seen you since… 

Scene from: Gamer (2009)

Well, Ludacris looks like a better cop than all the cops
we've seen in this movie so far.

…That OTHER really bad movie about video games! According to my research, the original Jim Bravura in the games was an old white man – giving the role to Ludacris is a daring decision that brings a different feel to the character, it's an interesting choice. I’m all for better representation in films, and if Ludacris plays the part well, I can’t complain. And he seems to be doing it well. He’s certainly showing more emotion than Wahlberg!

Seriously, if you want a movie where Mark Wahlberg offers a godawful performance, watch Max Payne. You can count on your hands the number of times he doesn’t just look angry. Yeah, he has to play a guy who’s constantly tortured by inner pain, trying to solve a mystery that seems without an answer. But if there are any layers to his acting, we don’t see it, don’t hear it. Whatever he tries to do, he fails. It's not even memetically bad, to the extent of his "Whaaaaat? Noooo!" from M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening!

Back at the NYPD, Jim Bravura grills Max on the situation, but once again, the cold cases detective is a Payne in the ass. …Alright, I can cross that one off the list of mandatory jokes. After he leaves, Max stops by the homicides department, and he’s not welcome there either. But before his ex-colleagues can do anything, he locks himself into Alex’s office and rummages through the files. He finds what he was looking for just in time (Natasha’s phone records and the break-in crook’s photo) and flees through the window and into the cold winter night. 

Professional assassin VS a cop with nothing to lose.
Who wins?

Walking down the streets, Max is attacked by Mona Sax, but he manages to convince her that he didn’t kill her sister, and that they’re both looking for the same guy – Owen Green. They might as well help each other, right? Load of good that does them – when they find Owen, he’s high on Valkyr and before they can get any answers, he throws himself down the side of the building and dies. So much for leads. 

Oh yeah, me too, I'd trust a pharma company that makes a
reference to Norse Mythology in its name. Wouldn't you?

Desperate for something, they stop by a tattoo parlor Natasha visited, and the tattoo artist explains the meaning of the wings. They’re Valkyrie wings. The games apparently delved a lot in Norse mythology symbolism – Valkyr, Aesir Pharmaceuticals, Alex Balder (Baldur)… The movie takes it to 11, but without the payoff. Well, at least the film tried to follow some of the game’s story beats. There’s that. The drug makes its drinker feel awesome for a while, then they’ll start hallucinating the black-feathered Valkyries.

Also of note about the game’s symbolism; the drug is taken orally in the film, but by injection in the games. Throughout the film, you can see a graffiti of a syringe in a V and a circle all over the walls – implying that the movie started with the drugs being injected into a user’s veins, and switched to a drinkable liquid later in development. But they never changed the graffiti. 

You'll be seeing this graffiti everywhere.

From her profession as an assassin, Mona has some connections in the criminal underground, and uses them to gather some information. Some more symbolism, blah blah blah, and then we finally get some relevant information: The leader of this drug ring is named Jack Lupino. Yes, it’s the big tough guy Max saw at the party. His base of activities? A club called Raglan and Brock; the neon sign has a few letters missing, so it spells RAG_N_A_ROCK …Ragnarok? Really? Ah, for fuck’s sake.

What's this? A picture with some color?
Did we walk onto the set of a different movie?

Oh, by the way, while we’re at it… Bless her, she tries, but Mila Kunis fails to sell herself as some sort of professional assassin. It feels very much like bad casting for this role. Oh, Kunis is a talented actress, I won’t deny it, and she went all-out, even learned some skills for the role, but this isn’t working. You know who would have fit the role better? Olga Kurylenko, who played Natasha! Although, if the role was to make her not too noticeable...

Piecing everything together, Max realizes that there might be some information regarding his wife’s murder in her files, kept in the Aesir Pharmaceuticals storage. He goes in… but finds the files empty. Someone knows he’s on to something… 

How about we stop here and continue in Part 2?