Top 10 Similarities Between Max Payne 3 And Man On Fire

Anyone remember that Denzel Washington movie with Dakota Fanning, and he’s working under Marc Anthony as private security for a wealthy family in Mexico City? And then Dakota Fanning gets captured and he goes all Punisher on the “bad guys”? Yeah well, remember how he was all drunk and “I don’t want to live…” yadda, yadda, yadda, but he amped up and had to get violent and redeem himself? Well, has anyone noticed the similarities between that movie and the recently released Max Payne 3 story trailer?

I mean, is it me or does Max Payne 3 look like a video game version of Man on Fire, with Max basically filling in the lead role as the down-and-out bodyguard whose past-life has really caught up with him? Well, let’s break down a few similarities between these two properties for those of you who don’t see the similarities. Now this is only based on the trailer and brief snippet of info for the game, so keep that in mind.

First, check out a video trailer for the 2004 flick Man on Fire below.

Seen it? Cool right? Okay, well now check out the video trailer for Max Payne 3 below.

With a slight change in location, here are a few things that both properties seem to have in common:

1.) A down-and-out anti-hero trying to escape the ghosts of his past

2.) Anti-hero becomes an alcoholic and is depressed

3.) Has a friend who gets him a job in private security

4.) Has a grizzly past with killing people, lots of people

5.) Protecting a seedy boss

6.) Boss’s family gets kidnapped

7.) Anti-hero blames himself for a while

8.) Anti-hero amps up after failing to save boss’s family

9.) Anti-hero goes on killing spree to save boss’s family

10.) Things are not what they seem

That’s a very short list of similarities, I know. And let’s be honest, there’s bound to be a lot more shell casings and explosions in Max Payne 3 then there was in Man on Fire, but it’s a little hard to deny how close the two seem when you compare the general plot-lines for the two.

Hopefully Max Payne 3 offers a little more than what meets the eye in the story trailer because I would hate to think that a series that was so rich with character and story development would become a simple Hollywood revenge game. Then again, the original designers, Remedy Entertainment, are no longer attached to the project, so I guess anything is possible.

Max Payne 3 is due out 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.