Renowned movie critic John Lichman has a lot to say about Max Payne, the [apparently] woeful movie based on the genuinely good PC game of the same name. (I played the PS2 version however many years ago, for the record.) The movie, which is currently sitting at a solid 19 percent at Rotten Tomatoes, “pretends it is a hard boiled detective story,” and “ignores” the original game on which it’s based. Given how well the game was received back in 2001, you wonder why the director decided to phone it in.
In a nutshell, the movie takes all the aspects that made the game more interesting than the average shooter and completely disregards them. Apparently, that doesn’t matter to many folks out there, since the movie made $17.6 million during its opening weekend.
At any rate, Max Payne joins the long list of terrible game-to-movie adaptations. Did you really expect anything different?
I really wish that I did expect something better out of the movie but I knew it was going to be a tremendous flop. I guess the real problem is a game that takes 20+ hours to play, and where you kill 300-400 people is probably never going to translate into either A. a movie with an awesome plot or B. a well made movie that still relates closely to the game.
I say Hollywood gives up on adapting Video Games to movies, and in all honesty adapting Movies to Video Games, it just simply does not pan out.
I thought the first two Resident Evil movies were genuinely enjoyable. Other than that, can’t think of any that worked out well.
I didn’t hate the Silent Hill movie. That counts for something, right?
That makes one of us…
I forgot about Silent Hill. “Didn’t hate” is a great way to put it, although I can honestly say I won’t be watching it again. I never played the game, but whoever made that movie certainly got the atmosphere right for a twisted horror movie.
I personally never saw the Resident Evil movies, or played any of the games so I do not have an opinion positive/negative on those.
However my list of:
Super Mario Brothers
Street Fighter
Tomb Raider
House of the Dead
Silent Hill
Doom
Blood Rayne
Dead or Alive
Postal
Hitman
Max Payne
seemed complete enough to make my conclusion.
You know “Life Force” was awesome!
Is is that the movie itself is crap, or just crap because its nothing like the game?
I expected at least something enjoyable if not good, and I was totally shitfaced wrong. It was horrifically terrible. But then I was recommended Constantine and it was the movie that Max Payne looked like it should have been. (Note I haven’t played the game)
Why would anybody want a one by one, picture by picture, move by move replay of the game?
If you wanted to watch Max Payne as the game… why not play the game again? Rotten Tomatoes? That’s a koolaid I would advise you not to take!
That is unless this is anywhere near Uwe Boll’s House of the Dead…
Nobody wants to see a movie exactly as the game is. The movie woud take over 100 hours or so.
But the game shown as the movie- that’s what people want I guess, that’s what I would like to see.
As for Max Payne, the movie should show more emotional approach for the main character. His strugglings, after his family’s death, with himself by deep narration that would resamble Max’s thoughts. Good writing, and a script of a broken American Dream. And finally, beautiful slo-mo action scenes, even better than in The Matrix, because this game deserves it!
Max Payne was a crime story filled with psycho-drama, and action/killing was just the only way for Max to fulfilled his need of revange. The other ways failed.