Max Payne (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2008 film Max Payne directed by John Moore, based on the video game series of the same name and stars Mark Wahlberg as the title character. The film score is composed by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders and released through Fox Music and La-La Land Records on October 21, 2008.
Contents
Background
Marco Beltrami composed the film score in his third collaboration with Moore after Flight of the Phoenix (2004). Buck Sanders, an assistant of Beltrami also co-composed the score. Beltrami used detuned piano and violin to provide electroacoustic sounds.
Release
The album was released through Fox Music and La-La Land Records on October 21, 2008, four days after the film's release.
Reception
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote "Beltrami, a student of Jerry Goldsmith, knows both Hollywood traditions and the demands of the contemporary action genre." Cullen from SciFiPulse thought the score was dark and haunting, hoping the movie would live up to the soundtrack. He rated the album an eight out of ten, saying "The detuned piano really adds that sense of depth to the proceedings and makes every single track on the CD stand out."
Mark Oakley of Den of Geek wrote "for a tenner this is definitely worth fans of sci-fi and fantasy action flicks seeking out. It's a very stylish and slick listen." Bill Gibron of PopMatters wrote "the score for Payne is a series of orchestral farts followed up by unnecessary techno lifts from The Matrix and any other implausible predictable post-modern thriller. Instead of setting a mood and atmosphere, Beltrami gets in, passes a little symphonic gas, and then disappears into the filmmaking firmament. None of the tracks are memorable here [...] It's instantly forgettable – which in many ways reflects the feature film experience flawlessly." A. O. Scott of The New York Times also considered the music to be "forgettable".
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes: