The Batman Is The Perfect Blueprint For A Better Max Payne Movie
Let's face it, "The Batman" is the best Max Payne movie never made.
Consider the parallels: both the 2001 video game and the 2022 film depict moody vigilantes skulking around the darkness, darkly narrating their exploits as they pull back the layers of a grand mystery, and harnessing their personal traumas to deliver vengeance on both a merciless criminal underbelly and callous upper crust alike. The characters themselves are two peas in a pod. Even if their methods don't necessarily line up — Batman's dedication to his "no-kill" policy is a far-cry from Max's body count — both of them are tragic figures that grapple with similar issues, from a narrative perspective.
Speaking of tragedies, the "Max Payne" movie from 2008, which starred Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, was a tearjerker in all the wrong ways. Released in an era before Hollywood learned how to make video game movies, this take on the neo-noir antihero crashed and burned while trying to translate the game's appeal to a more conventional audience.
However, there are few games more ideally suited to film than "Max Payne," and the success of Matt Reeves' "The Batman" offers a prime example of how to tailor the material for big screen success. Specifically, a "Max Payne" movie needs to learn from the visual choreography of "The Batman," but just as importantly, replicate the way Reeves' film used a noirish mystery to bring its lead character to catharsis, while knowing when to step away from the exact story beats of the source material.
Both Max Payne and The Batman focus on a vulnerable, human vigilante facing far-reaching conspiracies
Both "The Batman" and "Max Payne" are about how a personal tragedy comes to define the life of their central character. Furthermore, both stories are connected by the fact that the deaths of the close family members are actually connected to a more wide-ranging conspiracy. A third similarity can be found in how both heroes, despite trying to face their foes (and said conspiracy) like unstoppable terminators, are deeply vulnerable, at the verge of collapsing from unhealthy nightly habits, and very vulnerable to being taken down by one stray bullet — making every battle a nail-bitter.
The way "The Batman" handles its central conspiracy is the first quality that a future "Max Payne" movie should emulate. It's this that makes their mutual quests for vigilante justice feel both personal and professional. Because a huge part of what made the original "Max Payne" game feel so unique, when it first released, was the clever unfolding of the story, as the player works to solve the mystery at the heart of it.
Max Payne would work better as a mystery
At the heart of it, "Max Payne" and "The Batman" are hardboiled, neo-noir mysteries, and that's the commonality that the former needs to draw on in order to succeed on the silver screen. From Max's gravelly narration to endless betrayals and a truth that keeps changing and evolving throughout, this whiskey-stained world works because of its atmosphere.
That's what's also works about Gotham City in "The Batman." You can practically feel the grime coming off the screen, or smell the swirling fumes from the shipping yard. This city needs a hero like Batman, and Max's fictional depiction of New York City needs him in the same way. With this in mind, instead of having a "Max Payne" movie be about weird drug trips and the lack of chemistry between Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, it should aim for a mystery angle. That way, as Max uncovers one layer after another of the story, the audience can still feel surprised about where things go.
While "The Batman" is faithful to the spirit of the comics, the central mystery at its heart is crafted with little touches from numerous other stories, as well as a lot of truly original material. This is the model a "Max Payne" movie should follow, rather than trying to straightforwardly depict the plot of the games. This would allow the creative team of a new "Max Payne" movie to really put their own stamp on the material, while keeping both standard audiences and series fans guessing with regard to what will come next.
Meanwhile, "The Batman" offers a clear guidebook on how a "Max Payne" film should sculpt its action and choreography, as well.
The tense, messy action of The Batman is what Max Payne needs
One thing that makes "The Batman" stand out from other takes on the caped crusader is that Batman doesn't quite feel like a pro yet. He bungles an escape flight, he takes multiple gunshots from the criminals that he's after, and he doesn't use theatrical flourishes to lean into his standing as a creepy mythological figure in the way that older iterations learn to do.
This is what action should look like in a "Max Payne" movie. Put the bullet-time aside — yes, it was a major selling point of the games, but on film, "The Matrix" was now over two decades ago — and instead, lean into the sort of tense, scrappy fights "The Batman" offered, where you're never quite sure if the protagonist will make it. Max should get hurt, almost every time. He should grunt, fight messily, and constantly seem over his head, while still pulling it off. And like in "The Batman," the world he's in needs to feel dark and awful enough to justify his techniques.
Like Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) at the end of "Cop Land" or John McLane (Bruce Willis) in "Die Hard," Max will come out on top at the end of the film, but it will never feel like it was a sure thing. There have to be close calls and moments where he doubts and questions himself. This will keep him relatable to the audience while still allowing for the character to pop and have some highly-stylized shootouts along the way.
This is where a new "Max Payne" movie can easily top the failed 2008 attempt, which combined unexciting action scenes with a boring visual language — flopping at the two things the games were so praised for.
What Max Payne can learn from the visual language of The Batman
One of the elements that makes "The Batman" work so well is its commitment to visual storytelling. When The Caped Crusader emerges from a shadowy Gotham subway, the audience sees it from the criminal's perspective and feels their dread as a result. Meanwhile, the romance between Batman (Robert Pattinson) and Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) is framed against a fading sun, suggesting hope for them — but at the same time, the aching hint that their romance is fleeting. Of course, the ending is the most symbolic scene of all in the movie, where the Dark Knight literally becomes a light in the darkness.
Upon release, the "Max Payne" games were impossible for gamers to look away from, precisely because the visuals — particularly the watercolor graphic novel portions — were so artistically done. Dated graphics aside, every scene of the "Max Payne" games is exciting to look at in a consistent and meaningful way, much like how "The Batman" is. A "Max Payne" movie needs to emulate that.
Will it happen? That remains to be seen. While rumors of a film reboot of "Max Payne" have swirled since 2022, there's been little news on that front ever since. That said, if it happens, a "Max Payne" production that looked toward Matt Reeves' standout work could follow the lead of other successful video game adaptations like "The Last of Us," and finally give fans of the games the movie they've been wanting since 2001.