Max Payne – Region 2 DVD Review

Max Payne is a movie based on a highly popular, some would say classic videogame. The story follows Detective Max Payne (Mark Wallberg) as he hunts for one of his wife’s killers in a vigilante quest.

First to the videogame elements. Max Payne does follow the spirit of the games with enough plot points to keep fans happy. It is however best to consider the film separate from the games. Much like 2003’s Italian Job remake, if you disassociate it with the original it’s a much more enjoyable film. Max Payne is slow to begin with and without having a knowledge of the basic premise is hard to become involved in but after time it’s shown to be an incredibly well made detective story.

When it first came out in cinemas Max Payne received mainly mixed reviews but this is one film that does better on the small
screen since you pay more attention to the story than the several big effects shots and set pieces. The big reveal near the
end of the film is too obvious early on but apart from that the journey of Max Payne is certainly one anyone would be happy
to take a look at. The visual effects are amazing and the casting is perfect, so Max Payne would fit into anyone’s action DVD
collection nicely between Demolition Man and The Matrix.

Extras include a two part featurette made during the making-of the movie via DV on site footage which is the length of a full
documentary. It’s incredibly candid and an hour long feeling like an unedited home movie with full and frank opinions about
filmmaking, DVD extras and movie pirates. There is also a voice-over animated graphic novel called Michelle Payne which is
more confusing by it’s inclusion than enjoyable, still extras are extras.

Max Payne is released on Region 2 DVD on April 13th. You can check out our prior review of the US version of the DVD but the difference for extras is that to get what the US DVD has with the audio commentary you must buy the blu-ray edition in the UK.