ViewGuide

Created Oct 20, 2008 11:04AM PST • Edited Oct 20, 2008 11:04AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   There was a lot of things wrong with this movie – a lot. Somehow, though, it still came out pretty decent. As much as I may dissect the film in this review, it was a fun movie and I enjoyed it overall. It seemed like it was trying to find itself and came across very jerky. I don’t know the game, and had no idea the background of the movie, so I went into it fresh. I don’t know John Moore, but it seems like this is one of his – if not the – first movie he’s done. Wahlberg is a veteran for sure, as is Beau Bridges, but everyone else seemed fairly new to the movie making thing. So it felt like a really good first effort all around.

   Except for the story. The story was awful. So many cool things were laid down they did nothing with. So many things were laid down that they couldn’t really do anything with any of them. It really cam out a jumbled mess and at the end you’re still not entirely sure what happened.

4. Acting

   OK 2.5

   Kunis, Nolasco and Kurylenco are names that you may know from TV, but not really from movies. As a first effort into films they fit their parts fairly decently. The older veterans, however, not so much. They seemed a bit more like they were just going through the motions.

5. Male Stars Barely OK 2.0

   Wahlberg is a veteran and knows what he’s doing. I was most disappointed in his performance. He looks good and sounds good, but the guy has no emotional depth. Yeah, this is a guy that’s supposed to be fairly numb to the world because of what has happened, but he’s gotta have that tortured look and you have to believe his pain. If he doesn’t show that he feels pain, you can’t empathize with him.

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

   Mila Kunis has come a long way since That 70’s Show. She’s still not quite there, but she’s on her way. She was fun as hell to watch as a bad ass and I hope she does more roles like this. However, her voice is still very light gets whiny at points – not the most convincing bad ass. But she really put herself out there and tried to do it well and I completely commend her for it.

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

   Olga Kurylenko as Natasha could have been a lot more fun. She was sexy and mysterious and there was something that really could have been discovered. But instead they lay a plot point down and then do nothing with it. Olga was severely limited by the script. In a larger role, she would have been excellent.

8. Male Costars Barely OK 2.0

   Beau Bridges didn’t want to be in this movie. He is not a bad guy and doesn’t pull it off.

   Donal Logue was the same guy he was in Ghost Rider and Blade and Jerry McGuire – the sidekick who really does nothing except push the plot into the correct position. He’s not bad, but he’s gotta stop taking these roles.

   Amaury Nolasco is the most wasted of all. I love this guy on Prison Break and was really excited to see him in this film. But they did absolutely nothing with him. He looked really bad ass and had they used him as they were setting up to it would have been killer. Instead he’s got like 3 lines and then is shot. Complete waste.

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    The film pulled from a lot of different influences. It did look good, but it didn’t look original. I appreciate that so many things were tried because they did all end up pulling together okay. I would have liked something a bit more solid, but it wasn’t bad at all. Not sure why its always snowing or raining though. It looks cool, but that doesn’t mean EVERY scene has to be in one or the other. Even the indoor scenes usually had snow in the window behind.

11. Direction Great 4.0

    I just looked at IMDB.com and this isn’t John Moore’s first film. But it is his first genre film. Everything else he’s done – the Omen, Flight of the Phoenix, etc. – are straight forward visually I think. This film was very noir and Moore did a pretty good job with it. I think he was really feeling out how he wanted the film to finally look and went through a lot of steps to find it. I like the Sin City-esque glory shots with the extreme lighting and green screen effects. I like the Constantine-esque look of the demons/hallucinations. I like the hand held stuff he did and the color palette he used. Its still got some work, but it was a very good effort. I do blame him for Wahlberg’s performance (at least in part) so I gotta knock him down a little bit.

12. Play Good 3.0

    Good stuff. The dialogue worked for me. It still makes me angry, though, that the best lines in the movie they did nothing with. For example – “He’s trying to find something that God wants hidden. That makes Max Payne very dangerous.” (or something close to that). Cool line. Lays down a potential heaven/hell thing that goes absolutely no where.

13. Music OK 2.5

    Some good music, but overall just tones and sounds. Not much actual music. It felt like a video game so I guess that isn’t too good that it didn’t go beyond that.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    Visually very cool stuff. Fun to watch and very pretty.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.8

    Decent amount of violence, but nothing to extreme. Some language, but not much. Some sex, but nothing over the top. Had just enough to make it noir and sexy

17. Sex Erotic 2.6

18. Violence Brutal 3.4

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Supernatural 4.0

    Pretty fake all around – but that comes down to the story. You are told that those demons are just hallucinations. But at several points in the movie you are shown otherwise. If they are just hallucinations then it becomes more realistic. If they are more than that then it becomes much more fantasy. I want to think they were more than hallucination so I’m going with fantasy. The drug Valkyr is not too far from reality I think and wouldn’t be surprised if something like it actually existed. Give the soldiers a drug that makes them feel invincible so they do better on the field. Very cool idea.

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 4.0

23. Biological Supernatural 4.0

24. Physical Supernatural 4.0