Max Payne 2 is about the newly reinstated NYPD detective seeking closure over the loss of his
wife and child. Max reunites with Mona Sax, and he struggles to overcome feelings of grief and guilt
about pursuing her romantically. The pair become embroiled in a conspiracy of death and betrayal,
and they must work together to bring down a secret society.
In this video, you'll learn how Max Payne 2 follows the same storytelling conventions as
blockbuster movies and ancient myths. This hidden structure, called The Hero's Journey, can help you
better understand, appreciate, and even predict stories in the future, and it can help you better
understand your own story, improving how you might adapt and grow to the challenges you're facing.
The Hero's Journey is a story framework theorized by Joseph Campbell. He studied thousands of
ancient myths and discovered that these stories followed a pattern of 12 plot points.
He hypothesized that this pattern emerged because all human beings share the same
formative psychological moments, such as leaving home or building new friendships. Today, the
Hero's Journey has been adopted by screenwriters and authors as an aid to plot their stories with
notable examples from Pixar and Marvel studios. The Ordinary World reveals the hero before the
adventure, illustrating internal and external conflicts. The world is static yet unstable.
Two years after the events of the first Max Payne, he has escaped conviction thanks to Alfred Woden.
He has been reinstated as an NYPD detective. However, he is still struggling with the
same demons: grief for the loss of his family, alcoholism and pills to cope, and an antisocial
personality that prevents any real social ties. Max has little to live for, and he's simply
drifting. That is, until he receives a call to investigate a disturbance at a local warehouse.
The Call to Adventure can sometimes be coincidence
or chance. The hero is forced to temporarily recognize that the Ordinary World is untenable,
and the opportunity for a change is introduced. Sometimes, the call to
adventure can be a figure from the past returning to the life of the hero.
Max responds to suspicious activity at a warehouse owned by Vladimir Lem, and he discovers a squad
of executioners nicknamed the Cleaners. He witnesses them perform an execution.
In a moment of foreshadowing, Max says "Like all bad things in my life, it started with the
death of a woman." Max pursues the Cleaners, and he's surprised by Mona Sax, who was thought to
be dead. She's a figure from Max's previous adventures. She guns down the executioners,
and before they can reconnect, she escapes through the freight elevator.
Mona is a figure from Max's past. They had chemistry in previous adventures, and Mona--as
a professional assassin--is no stranger to brutality. Max feels as though Mona can
understand him, and her reappearance represents an opportunity to pursue a relationship.
The hero will reject the call to adventure because they recognize the road ahead will be difficult.
The hero is afraid of the changes and trials that will result from the adventure, and they
are reluctant to accept the necessary costs. Max is motivated by avoidance; he drinks and
abuses pills to forget his painful past and lost family. Mona's return brings back these memories.
Even worse, Mona has been identified as the main suspect in the murder of Senator Gate, who was
likely a member of the secret society named the Inner Circle. Mona arrives at Max's apartment
while he's asleep, and she tells him they are targets of an assassination plot, together.
However, Max rejects this characterization and uses this as an opportunity to tell her
they are not together. He distances himself from Mona to avoid the call to adventure.
The mentor is a character who provides information, guidance,
and equipment for the adventure ahead. As mentioned in The Myth of Max Payne,
mystery, thriller, and horror genres will often forego a mentor. This keeps the hero
questioning and increases tension. Max cannot rely on another character to provide all the answers;
instead, he has to guess at the motivations and allegiances of each character he meets, always
second-guessing himself. He's never quite sure who is an ally or enemy, and for good reason.
The Crossing of the First Threshold is often forced by a change in external circumstances.
It can be the loss of a safe space, loved one, or item of significance. The hero decides to leave
behind the ordinary world and enter the special world, confronting fears and striving to change.
However, heroes must confront threshold guardians before entering the special world; at this stage,
these guardians need only to be acknowledged. Shortly after the refusal of the call, Max
narrowly avoids a sniper shot. He discovers that the Cleaners have been surveilling his apartment.
This confirms Mona's information; he is the target of an assassination.
Max recognizes that the life he was trying to preserve has disappeared. His apartment has
been burned to the ground, and his life is on the line. In this moment, he chooses to join forces
with Mona, and he calls to arrange a meeting. Detective Winterson is the threshold guardian
here. Before Max leaves the precinct to meet Mona, Winterson tells him not to do anything stupid,
almost as if she knows where he's going. Max acknowledges this warning,
but he knows this visit puts him at odds with Winterson and the precinct.
The middle portion of the adventure is reserved for tests, allies, and enemies.
Tests provide an opportunity for the hero to prove their worth and practice
the skills necessary for the adventure ahead. The special world is rife with new characters,
and the hero must learn who is an ally and who is an enemy. In mysteries, thrillers, and horror
stories, allies can be confused as enemies, and enemies can be confused as allies.
Oftentimes, the greatest tests in these genres involve accurately determining who is an ally.
There are a few tests that Max fails. He and Mona attempt to rescue an Inner
Circle contact that Mona knows, but they don't arrive in time and the Cleaners execute him.
This is a failed lead that prevents Max from confirming Mona's story about the secret society
and their history. He's also captured by Winterson, failing to
continue his investigation with Mona Sax. Vladimir Lem is the head of the Russian mob.
He and Max forged a relationship in the first Max Payne adventure by swearing a
truce to tackle a common enemy. Vlad had become very wealthy as a result of that allegiance;
however, it wasn't enough to sate his greed or thirst for power. While Vlad was an ally
in previous adventures, he had become an enemy. He had hired the Cleaners to eliminate competing
crime families and eliminate Max. However, Max wouldn't learn this until much later.
Winterson is a detective. However, she is romantically involved with Lem,
and she is a double agent. She betrays Max, captures Mona, and serves as Lem's right hand.
Woden is a member of the Inner Circle, a secret society responsible for many atrocities.
Payne discovers that Woden secretly sent evidence of Valkyr to Max's wife, an act that inadvertently
lead to the death of his family. Worried by Max's retribution, Woden may have ordered Mona to kill
Max; however, he later apologizes and saves Max. At times, Woden is an ally and enemy to Max
Vinnie Gognitti had previously worked for the Punchinello crime family. With their downfall, he
became an underboss for a different mafia. Vinnie and Lem are warring over the weapons black market
in the city. Max temporarily allies with Vinnie while on his path to retribution against Lem.
Mona is an assassin-for-hire, who has been working for Woden. She has been eliminating other
members of the Inner Circle, and she's embattled against Lem. She is a surrogate for Max's future,
one where he has closure over his lost family and a future to look forward to.
He believes she will bring him redemption. The most dangerous part of the adventure lies
ahead, so the hero makes an attempt to prepare and set their affairs in order.
This may involve surveillance, organization, fortification, and romantic courtships. This can
also be a time when the hero enters a new special world, one with new rules, tests, and characters.
The hero may encounter threshold guardians that want to prevent their progress ahead.
Max overhears Winterson in the police department,
coaching witness testimony against Mona and leaking information over the phone.
He begins to suspect Winterson may not be the perfect detective she was thought to be.
Max and Mona escape and return to her hideout. They surrender to their romantic
impulses, only to be interrupted by the Cleaners in a brutal attack.
Max has gained perspective on the mystery he has become embroiled in.
He is starting to suspect his former allies may be his enemies. Max dives into an escaping
Cleaners van, knowing it will take him to whoever is responsible for the assassination attempts.
During the Ordeal, death must seem imminent and inescapable. The hero may die, witness a death,
or cause a death. This reflects the death of the hero's ego, a trial they must endure to
be reborn as something stronger. The Ordeal is typically the central event of the second act,
signifying a great change within the hero. Max and Mona battle their way through dozens
of Cleaners at an abandoned construction site, and just as they are about to escape,
Winterson stops them at gunpoint. This moment mirrors Max's refusal of the call;
he was afraid of siding with Mona because she was a murder suspect.
It would have destroyed his reputation at the precinct and his life as a detective. Now,
he pulls a gun on Winterson and shoots her, illustrating that he is a changed man.
However, Winterson shoots Max with her last breath.
He slips into a limbo state as emergency room technicians attempt to keep him
alive, and he dreams about his wife and Mona together. In choosing Mona,
Max grapples with the grief for his murdered family; he feels guilty about trying move on.
Most modern stories will delay the Ordeal and subsequent parts of the hero's journey for the
end of the adventure. This structure is called a delayed crisis. The first adventure of Max
Payne followed this structure; however Max Payne 2 takes a more traditional structure,
placing the Ordeal in the middle of Act 2. The hero began the adventure in search of
something. After overcoming death, the hero seizes the reward. In stories that
are often crafted for broad audiences, the reward is a physical object like a sword.
However, the reward can be a new perspective, a dispelled delusion, or a new self-realization.
Max has a close brush with death that lands him in the hospital. While nurses attempt
to stabilize him, he has a dream where he kills his deceased wife for his lover, Mona.
He recognizes that he has chosen Mona, but that it felt like he had lost her.
Max has been living in a husk of his former life, the same detective in the same city,
trying to pretend his family hadn't been murdered years earlier. His choice to shoot Winterson and
protect Mona was a realization that he's ready to let go of his former life and start something new.
Only, he's been separated from Mona, and he needs to find her.
On the Road Back, the hero rededicates himself to the adventure, choosing to return to the
Ordinary World or stay in the Special World. It often marks the transition from Act 2 to Act 3,
and the hero will cross another threshold. The adventure sometimes changes focus in this moment;
for example, a story about capturing a keystone item may become about escaping imminent danger.
Similar to Alan Wake, Max has chosen to stay in the Special World. He has shed his former self;
he has nothing left to return to. Instead, Max chooses to reunite with Mona, knowing that he
must find a way to extricate them from the Inner Circle and the standing assassination orders.
He must defeat Vladimir Lem.
The Resurrection is the hero's second brush with death. It should be the moment when death
is confronted on the greatest scale yet. It's the climax of the story. In Western, crime,
or action adventures, the Resurrection often involves a showdown or shootout with the villain.
The hero is often forced to make a sacrifice. Max and Mona infiltrate Woden's manor in pursuit
of Lem. However, Max uncovers a hidden alliance. Woden's culpability in the murder of Max's family
likely motivated him to hire Mona as an assassin. She disarms Max, but she cannot execute him
because of their romantic involvement. Her delay allows Lem an open shot, killing Mona instantly.
Max is doomed to tragic character arcs, always losing the women he loves. He has lost Mona,
left only with the self-realization that he can overcome loss, just as he had with his wife and
daughter. He resolves to no longer run from his past, instead, turning to confront it.
He defeats Lem in a final shootout, ending the battle between members of the Inner Circle.
The Return With The Elixir is an even greater reward than the one that follows The Ordeal.
The hero makes full claim of the lessons learned during the adventure. Sometimes, these
lessons are tragic; the hero is sadder but wiser, confronting a world that may be random and unfair.
The emotional resonance of the adventure should be its strongest in these moments.
Mona gave Max the revelation that he can confront and survive his past, no matter how painful it may
be. Even her loss will eventually become a past he can survive. At the end of his adventure,
he thanks Mona because she opened his eyes and allowed him to be "reborn."
Come join me, SuperbowlPants, on Twitch for live playthroughs. The link is in
the description below. If you have questions or requests, please comment them below.
More of The Myth Of series can be found right here.