24 Jul 08
Max Payne: The Movie Film and Gaming
A possible film has been in development hell and is unlikely to see the light of day any time soon. #
Little did I know, when I I blogged about the Max Payne duology, that just over 12 months later the film trailer would be released.
You can view the trailer in higher resolution on peter-noster.de
The film is directed by John Moore and stars Mark Wahlberg. For those who didn’t read my original post about the games;
Max Payne is a third-person shooter, (the camera floats behind the character), and follows the escapades of Max, a fugitive undercover cop framed for the murder of his wife and daughter by some junkies high on a new designer drug called Valkyr. His investigations lead him into the seedy underbelly of New York's crime world. On the run from the mob and the police, he desperately tries to find out who was really behind the murders and why he was set up for a fall.
Apparently the film takes place somewhere between game one and two. At the end of game one, Max was arrested for his killing spree of New York’s criminal underworld, however by game two he was cleared of all charges and Max has returned to work for the NYPD as a homicide detective. According to the trailer, this somewhat dull legalistic process includes a winged angel of death. Although this could be a Valkyre trip, which if the film makers get right, could propel this one up above the sad quagmire of previous ‘films based on games’.
Here is the problem: films based on games generally suck. This is an unfortunate truth. Also, games based on films generally suck although the Lego Star Wars / Indiana Jones games seem to have found their niche and Goldeneye for the N64 was an awesome game. I would love to see this do well, Max Payne was a simply brilliant game, with a cinematic look and feel from the word go.
For years, Hollywood has tried to capture the magic of comics and graphic novels and failed, and then recently along came Sin City, V For Vendetta, and Batman Begins. Finally the people who grew up with these games as young adults, have reached a point in the movie industry where they are able to make movies about the stuff they really get. Maybe soon, the film makers who like me grew up with the explosion of computer games will start making movies that really understand the gaming medium.
Maybe, just maybe Max Payne will be the one to brake the mold, the film to mark a change in how to adapt an interactive medium to a passive viewing one. The games were darkly, darkly noir, dripping with style and genuine passion for gripping story telling. I really hope that the film doesn’t simply turn out to be Shoot 'Em Up, only without the knowing smile.
Max Payne is scheduled to be released on October 17, 2008.