Four Nerds

I recently found out that they are doing a Max Payne movie. It doesn't surprise me, I always thought it would translate well into a film if you do it right. There's the usual questions about who will play Max and who's going to direct it, but what I would like to know is what the deal is with bullet time?

Bullet time was featured prominently in the games, as anyone who has played them knows. There was never an explanation for it, you just hit the button and the whole universe slowed down. It worked well for the game, but I remain skeptical about how it will be used in the movie, if it's used at all.

To me, bullet time has quickly become an effect that is, well, passé. I think the reason is that usually bullet time is a very cool effect with very little purpose to the story. As a result, draws attention to the fact it is a very cool effect. In other words, a good effect shouldn't draw attention to the fact that it's an effect. You accept it as an element of the story, like a space ship in Star Wars or a time-traveling DeLorean.

So, in most cases, bullet time is put in for show, simply because there's no reasonable explanation for it, other than it looks cool. I suppose that's why the only time you see it anymore is when someone is spoofing The Matrix.

For most of us, we first got a glimpse of bullet time in The Matrix. In that movie, the slowing of time and space was explained by the fact that the Matrix wasn't the real world and people like Neo and Morpheus could bend it to their will. It worked.

On the other hand, a film like Romeo Must Die used bullet time, and it never worked because it was just there for show. It was a stylistic choice, and made no sense in the context of the film.

So, my questions to you are these:

1) Do you think they will use bullet time in the flick?
2) Do you think they should use bullet time in it?
3) If so, do you think it needs some sort of explanation for why Max can slow down time?
4) If so, then what explanation would you consider to be acceptable? If not, why not?

That said, I thought that Timothy Olyphant would make a good Max.