Mark Wahlberg Challenged by the Dark Max Payne
Posted by Rodneyon 18. 06. 2008in News Chat
One of the most fun games I played at the turn of the century was Max Payne. Great story, awesome use of effects, and rediculously fun game mechanics that allowed you to mix cinematic film noir styling with Matrix action.
I have always enjoyed Mark Wahlberg in film, so to find out that he was being cast as the titular Max Payne I was very optimistic.
The film-noirish, John Woo-esque “Payne” was a huge hit when it premiered for PCs in 2001, spawning a sequel and selling more than 7 million units. But its success comes not just from gameplay, which is untranslatable to the big screen anyway, said Wahlberg, but from a surprisingly adult, sophisticated, and yes, complex lead character unusual for the medium.“I read the script and said either somebody got really creative or it’s actually more like a movie than most games,” Wahlberg enthused.
Mark Wahlberg is no slacker when it comes to acting. He plays very different roles and shines in them all. So when someone this dynamic faces such deep challenge in the role, you have to consider that.
But more importantly, as a fan of the video game I am very encouraged to see that they are not sacrificing depth for some weak adapatation of a video game.
Also, some of the scenes were filmed in my hometown of Hamilton (most recently we also had the Hulk filming) and Union Station in Toronto, so I am looking forward to trying to pick out the locales.
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Rodney who has written 8899 posts on The Movie Blog
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Isn’t Wahlberg becoming a little typecast by the characters he played in ‘Boogie Nights’, ‘I Heart Huckabees’ and ‘Three Kings’? You know, the naive, somewhat clueless doofus with a good heart? It’s nice to see him trying to break into darker roles (and wasn’t Max a drug addict at one point?), but I’ll be skeptical before I see him in this. Especially since they seem to have added a Hollywood Love Interest™ in the form of Mila Kunis.
I loved the Max Payne games, but somehow I don’t think it would be that great a movie.
What do you get when you do a movie based on a game that was already based on several different movies?
“What do you get when you do a movie based
on a game that was already based on several
different movies?”
‘Doom’?
[ducks, runs]
Max Payne can be a great, inspired movie if they follow the games philosophy very, very carefully. A lot of people would look at Max Payne and just decide it’s a revenge flick, when there’s really a lot more detective work, mystery and entangled subplots than there is about revenge. Hopefully the script was written with this in mind, and we get a well-done Max Payne film.
I do have my fears. I’m afraid they may decide to shy away from slow-motion gunfights since most action films have abused that so much. At this point, slow-motion isn’t seen too often in films anymore, perhaps because of the mentioned abuse. Still, the Max Payne movie would NEED to make slow-motion great again.
Honestly, I think Mark Whalberg will do well and I have my hopes for the movie, although Rodney, lemme just say he doesn’t shine in EVERYTHING he does. Did you see the happening? Let’s just hope that’s a blemish and nothing more.
Well i love the second game very much but to me, its always been so much like a movie that it seems pointless adapting it into one because you’re not going to have as much fun watching Max Payne as you will playing it. But nobody will be more suprised than me if this is a great film.
To be fair I haven’t seen the Happening, but everything I have seen him in was good.
Even in movies that were not so great he still does a good job IN them. I have faith in Marky Mark.
Max did have a love interest in the games. She was most of the basis of the sequel. My guess is that she will be light in this movie and if they do the Fall of Max Payne, she will be more predominate.
YA ROD i here ya….all i give a shit about is bullet time…..lots of enemies
and for the love of god “flesh of my flesh” i need atable amounts of hopped up valkyrie fiends kicking ass under the organization of the meanest betch of all time!
ps she looks like mrs. bush kinda
Brings back fond memories.. Max Payne is one of handful of games that I’ve actually played to the end. Still one of the best action games ever made.