 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Max Payne
- Review Date: October 8, 2008
- PG-13
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- 2008
Common Sense Media says
Video game adaptation is bloody but boring.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this video game-based action movie -- which was originally rated R and still feels more like that than a PG-13 -- is extremely violent and loaded with images of characters shooting or being shot. The plot revolves around a major corporation murdering to protect the money it's making after turning a failed military performance-enhancing drug into a street drug. The lead character takes a couple of doses to take advantage of the drug's energizing properties after a near-fatal drowning, so the last 20 minutes of the film are seen, in part, through his hallucinatory perspective. In addition to the constant violence, the movie also has plenty of salty language, sexual content, and drinking.
What's the story?
Based on the 2001 video game, MAX PAYNE follows the titular NYPD cop (Mark Wahlberg) as he hunts down the last of three men who killed his wife and baby son three years ago. Max's quest pulls him into the city's underworld, where a debauched, dangerous crowd is addicted to a new, high-powered street drug. Max soon learns that his wife's old employer, a major pharmaceutical company, may be behind the plague on the streets, as well as his wife's death. Max's search leads him to a glamorous assassin, Mona (Mila Kunis); his father's old NYPD partner, B.B. Hensley (Beau Bridges); and Internal Affairs cop Lt. Bravura (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) -- but who are Max's real allies, and who are his enemies?
Is it any good?
A bloody yet pale imitation of stylish action films like Sin City and the brilliant action choreography of John Woo, Max Payne is an effects-loaded action film that's surprisingly ineffective. Part of the blame goes to Wahlberg, who seems to only deliver his lines in a low, hunched mumble or a full-throated bellow. Max is avenging his murdered wife and son, but Walhberg never generates any sympathy as Max -- it's one thing to be an anti-hero, but Max is anti-interesting.
The Max Payne video game came out in 2001 -- a lifetime ago in the accelerated timeframe of video games -- and you have to wonder why Fox is striking while the iron is, at best, lukewarm. The action is nothing viewers haven't seen before -- lifted from real action classics like Hard Boiled, Die Hard, and The Killer -- and the bizarre, monster-filled hallucinations endured by the characters who take the experimental drug just make the film feel even more ridiculously over the top. The post-credits scene includes a clear set-up for Max Payne II; the movie before the credits makes that feel more like a threat than a promise.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about why Hollywood turns video games into movies, and whether the (theoretically) interactive experience of playing a game is different from the more passive experience of watching a movie. Does violence impact you in different ways when you're participating in it vs. just watching it? How so? Families can also discuss revenge and vengeance -- movies glamorize them, but are they, in fact, ethical things to pursue when wronged? How else can people seek out justice?
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AGE
Ok (Unrated Version)
Not That Great there is 2 f-words (one with mother) Some spraying blood (not like an r movie) and brief drug use. There is also brief sexuality
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AGE
Great Movie. I have not played the games but this movie is great and makes me want to buy it. There is one (kinda) bad sex art where a woman takes off her robe (we see her back and she isn't wearing a bra) she hops in a bed and tries to get Max in there but he refuses.
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AGE
Max Payne is better than expected.
I heared this movie was really awful so i thought i would give it a try and i actually liked it on some standards and Mark Wahlberg is really as Max Payne.
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AGE
this movi is fan based only
i am a big maxpayne fan, i own the games and everything, this was a great movie, Mark Wahlberg plays his character well, its exactly like the character in the game. sure its not made comepletely like the game, but it manages to capture the key aspects of it. this is a great movie that should have been released years ago, so dont be fooled by overly criticized ratings of it, this movie does not contain any flashbacks of sex or nude breasts, i own this movie so i know what im talking about.
This movie is a little late for its generation but still delivers a nice view, cant wait for the sequel!
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AGE
Hmm So So
I guess you could but don't expect a Constantine.
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AGE
Woo!
This movie was really good! I liked the mixed with the real and the imaginary 'angels of death' so you could see it from the perspective of the person who was affected by the drug and from the people who had not taken it. I haven't ever played the game so I don't know how much the movie was like it. I enjoyed the movie but I think it's only suitable for older kids, maybe older than 15.
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AGE
The game was good but the movie is nothing like the game but good to the people who never played the game
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AGE
awesome movie
I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!! it was good but it wasnt bad at all but it was a little too gunny.
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AGE
badass action movie!!!!
badass so awesome 10 really awesome
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AGE
excessively terrible.
it's junk. absolute junk. This is the worst movie I've ever seen in theaters in the 5 years I've been reviewing movies.
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| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Director: | John Moore |
| Cast: | Beau Bridges, Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Run time: | 99 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | October 17, 2008 |
| DVD release date: | January 20, 2009 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | violence including intense shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language. |
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