One thing that sets The Batman apart from other iterations of the caped crusader is that Batman doesn’t quite feel like a pro yet. He botches his escape, he gets shot multiple times by the criminals he’s pursuing, and he doesn’t use theatrics to establish his status as a creepy mythological figure, as the older versions teach.
This is what the action in Max Payne should look like. Leave bullet time aside—yes, that was the main selling point of the games, but The Matrix was already in the movie over two decades ago—and instead dive into the kind of tense, messy Batman combat. is offered where you never know whether the main character will cope. Max has to get hurt almost every time. He has to grumble, fight randomly, and appear in over his head all the time, but still manage it. And just like in Batman, the world he finds himself in must be dark and terrible enough to justify his methods.
Like Freddie Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) at the end of Cop Land or John McClane (Bruce Willis) in Die Hard, Max will come out on top at the end of the film, but it never feels like it was a thing. There must be times when he doubts and asks himself questions. This will keep him recognizable to audiences while still allowing the character to shine and have some highly stylized shootouts along the way.
This is where the new Max Payne movie can easily surpass 2008’s poor attempt, which paired uninteresting action scenes with boring visual language – and failed at two things the games were praised for.