Movie Review Max Payne

Max Payne This is the latest in what is becoming its own sub-genre; the underground comic movie. Mainstream comics have become, as we all know by now, huge money makers when done well, and there seems to be a niche consistent enough for these (usually darker) undergrounds to find an audience as well. I’m not sure what an underground comic is. The mainstream comics are DC and Marvel, by and large, so maybe underground is anything not DC or Marvel. They also usually have a more adult-oriented theme, are longer and darker, and the artwork is often better—or maybe just the printing.
At any rate, Max Payne is a good example of the film noir look the undergrounds seem to prefer.
The story revolves around a burnt-out DEA agent (Mark Wahlberg) whose wife and infant son were murdered, and one of the three perps is still out there. He chances into some kind of bizarre cabal, the members of which all wear a stylized tattoo of wings. The wings represent the Valkyrie, denizens of Norse mythology whose task it was to sweep the honored dead (anyone who died in battle) from the field and fly them to Valhalla. People are dying. Valkyries are involved, but no one is certain if they are real or hallucinations. Payne’s murdered family is connected. As he gets closer to the truth, he discovers a huge conspiracy behind the corporation his wife used to work for. And blah, blah, blah.
The movie has a look and a feel to it. In every scene it is either snowing or raining. It is cold and dreary with snow piled up everywhere. I don’t know why. It was filmed in color, but it looked as if they muted the colors to give it a dour look.
Wahlberg is good. He has turned into a decent, consistent actor. Beau Bridges turns in a fine piece of work as Payne’s fathers old partner, now head of security for the same corporation. Needless to say, our anti-hero gets to the bottom of things, makes extreme decisions and saves the day, sort of. His wife and child are still dead.
But he has a new girl, Mila Kunis, who, in one feature role, manages to put a bullet right between the eyes of her That 70’s Show character, Jackie. Mila has grown up. It’s fun to listen to her speak her native tongue in the movie (she is Russian) and know she isn’t doing it phonetically.
It’s a pretty good movie if you like the genre. I don’t recommend it to the grown-up middle-agers who are in the mood for a date movie. PG-13. Barely. Nita would have hated it.