Posted: Monday 17th November 2008

Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) wants revenge after his wife and child are murdered. With the murderer on the loose Max gets drawn into a dark underworld where a series of murders seemingly link to the murder of his wife. As he gets more drawn into the murders he meets Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), a woman who will stop at nothing for answers. Will Max avenge his wife's murder before becoming a victim himself?

Max Payne is based on the computer game of the same name. Over the years very few films have been able to do justice to the games they are based on; need we remind you of Super Mario Bros, Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter? For every Silent Hill there are dozens of Dooms. Sadly Max Payne seems to support the theory that games do not make for good source material. The film suffers from a cliched story, bad acting and uneven pacing. Despite opening impressively enough, the movie begins to fall apart quite rapidly.

We're beginning to wonder if Mark Wahlberg has lost the ability to act? With movie dud The Happening released recently we're beginning to wonder how Wahlberg has pulled the wool over our eyes for so long. Equally bad is Mila Kunis (Meg Griffin in Family Guy) who is wildly miscast as a ruthless criminal. She's as convincing as Paris Hilton's tongue-in-cheek bid for President. The supporting cast don't fare any better with underused turns from Ludacris and Chris O'Donnell, and over-the-top performances from Amaury Nolasco and Beau Bridges.

Luckily Max Payne is mercifully short and doesn't over impose on your time. This could have been a great movie had the characters had more development and the film explored its supernatural leaning a bit more. As it is Max Payne ends up as no more than an average action movie and not even one you'd choose to watch on a rainy autumn night.