Max Payne Movie Primed To Deliver?

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Now that we've worked past the minor misinterpretation of facts that implied Mark Wahlberg wouldn't be playing Max Payne in the upcoming film adaptation, we can move on to becoming thoroughly psyched for this movie. At this past weekend's Comic-Con event in San Diego, the director and members of the cast sat down to talk about one thing: they want make sure this particular game-to-movie transition doesn't suck.

Director John Moore gave the following statements to the assembled press, and it should encourage both gamers and movie buffs alike, simply because he's hinting at something that may be revolutionary. We'll be very interested to learn how he intends to achieve his ambitious goal...

"Here's the funny thing about video games and movies: the minute you take that controller out of the player's hands, you better deliver something of equal value. Ya gotta give them something so exciting and kick-ass, and we thought the way to do that is to be highly subjective and make you feel like you are Max Payne."

Well, we can certainly feel like we're Max Payne when controlling the conflicted, gun-toting hero in a video game, but how is Moore going to do this in the movie? Hmm... Perhaps he's talking about innovative camera angles that puts the viewer in the shoes of Payne during the action; akin to a real-time first-person adventure on the big screen. That might be interesting, provided it's done correctly. Mark Wahlberg also had something to say about his new role:

"I read the script after Invincible and The Happening and Lovely Bones, I wanted to kick some ass again and I got an opportunity to do it in a way where I think I did more than I did in The Departed [and] movies like Four Brothers and Fear."

Oh, as Max Payne, you're definitely going to be kicking a whole lot of ass, Mark. There's no doubt about that. But getting back to what Moore said about a new way to watch this movie, Comic-Con attendees learned the crew would be using a new camera called "The Phantom," which takes up to 1,000 frames per second...so, are they using this for the trademark bullet time feature? Come on, you can't have a Max Payne movie without bullet time! In the end, we have to say we're pretty happy with how this particular project is progressing, and here's hoping that Moore, Wahlberg and the rest of 'em can give a terrible stereotype a colossal kick in the ass.

7/29/2008 Ben Dutka

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