Video games. They don’t really make for good movies. Super Mario Brothers, Silent Hill, Resident Evil... the list doesn’t really read like a list of cinema greats. And now another addition to that list; Max Payne. Max Payne is a cop on a revenge mission. His wife and baby are murdered and Payne spends his days going through cold case files, searching for clues as to who murdered his young family. While investigating their murder, Payne uncovers a drug ring that causes people to behave incredibly violent, or else causes them to have horrific hallucinations.
Well, Max Payne does the video game movie no favours what so ever. It’s pretty awful. Director John Moore has watched Sin City one time too many and really longs for Max Payne to be a film that could fit right in with Robert Rodriguez’ vision. The film just looks like a Sin City rip-off. The action sequences are surprisingly rare in an action film, and while it strives to be something more than a video game adaptation, it just ends up getting bogged down in it’s own desire to be more than it is.
Mark Wahlberg needs a good director to coax a good performance out of him. And unfortunately John Moore is not the man. Wahlberg mumbles and gurns his way throughout the entire film. Mila Kunis is woefully miscast as the femme fatale, who also only appears rarely throughout the film. And Chris Bridges’ wardrobe just makes him look like a comedy character rather than a gritty internal affairs cop.
Derivative, silly and woefully dull, Max Payne has little going for it. Avoid. Seriously.
3/10
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