Trailer Tuesday: May Payne

Last week the first trailer for Max Payne, based on the hit video game, appeared online.

I've blogged a bit on the film adaptation before, largely because the first Max Payne game is easily ranked among my top 10 favourite games of all time. "The flesh of fallen angels" ... whoo-whee.

Honestly I'll always be a bit conflicted about this movie, largely because it seems to be making an unnecessary circle - the main purpose of the Max Payne games was to put players in their own noir-ish John Woo action movie, complete with Matrix bullet time. So with this new film we're making the transition from movie to game back to movie.


This said, there was enough hinted at in the trailer to pique my interest. Enough in fact to make me overlook (well, just) the various barriers to my enjoyment I can see popping up:

A) The film is going to be PG-13 (ho hum, so much for mature content and/or intensity).
B) I honestly don't know if I can take Mark Wahlberg seriously after The Happening.
C) The overall project looks pretty, well, vanilla.

What is working for me though is the film's visual resemblance to the game, with its monochromatic snowy urban setting. All the actors look their parts (especially Mila Kunis as Mona Sax) and I certainly received a thrill from seeing the Ragnarok nightclub, with its garish neon sign, once again.

As for those angel-like creatures in the trailer, I can only guess that they're some kind of visual treatment of the effect Valkyrie, the drug that was so central to the first game's storyline, has on people. Presumably Max will be tackling more than one opponent high on the deadly narcotic.

Well, as a Max Payne fan, I certainly hope this is all true. Max Payne is not Constantine. There is no place for demons. The following plot synopsis just scares me a little in terms of how Valkyrie-free it is:

Based on the legendary, hard-hitting interactive video game, "Max Payne" tells the story of a maverick cop determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max (Wahlberg) is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.

I'm holding thumbs it all works out...


Max Payne opens in the US on 17 October.