First Hit: This film was a mix of comic book and video like video acting with a made up sense of something otherworldly.
Although it was nice to see Beau Bridges in a film again, this pleasure (along with his part) wasn’t enough to make this movie worthwhile.
What is the story here? We slowly figure out that Mark Wahlberg (playing Max Payne) is sitting in cop purgatory because it is the only way he can work on trying to figure out who killed his wife and child. Well maybe that was the reason or plot, who knows.
There is also a mystery drug involved that allows people to feel strong and invincible but it only works for some people. There are also weird flying people/spirits who are more like shadow people that only can be seen by people who take the drug but it doesn’t agree with them.
And there is a lady who is head of a corporation who somehow is in-charge of stuff but isn’t. Bridges plays the head of security for the corporation but seems to have more authority than head of security would normally get. What do these discordant sentences mean? Not much but it is reflective of the film.
This film is a mess. There is very little plot line stringing this story together and overall spending time trying to make it work in my mind made me bored. Wahlberg is sinking fast because the last two films I’ve seen him in he is either overacting or plodding along trying to make something interesting when there is nothing that makes the story compelling.
Overall: Although there were 14 – 17 year old young people in the theater who ooohed and ahhhed, I don’t get how films like this make so much money. It was a waste of film, special effects, and Beau Bridges time. The one redeeming value is that on a hot day the cool theater made the wait for the film to end worthwhile.