3/5 Really good, for a video game adaption
  by B Man (NewYork, NY USA)
Max Payne came out in 2008, I didn't go see it in the movies even though I am a fan of the games. Lets face it nine out of ten times videogames do not translate into good movies. I did rent it this past weekend from Netflix though and watched it with my girlfriend who knows nothing about the games but loved the movie.

Here is the story in the movie. The movie starts off a week into the future we see Max played by Mark Wahlberg floating to the bottom of the icy ocean, we hear a brief narrative by the title character and then go back a week earlier. Max works in the Cold Case unit of the police department, where he spends most of his time investigating the murder of his wife Michelle, and baby. An informant Trevor leads Max to three drug addicts in an empty train station. (just like the games the drug Valkyr plays a big part in this movie) After a botched robbery attempt Max interrogates one of them about his family's murder, after getting no results Max heads back to Trevor's apartment where there is a party going on and meets Natasha Sax. Natasha gets into a fight with her sister Mona and heads into the back area of the party where partiers are using Valkyr. Max follows Natasha to the back room where he has a brief run in with one of the main villians of the movie Jack Lupino. Here Max notices a tattoo on Natasha and wants to question her about it, he brings her back to his apartment where she tries to seduce him. Max kicks her out, and while walking the streets calling Lupino for her next fix of the drug Valkyr she starts to hallucinate(the drug Valkyr causes users to hallucinate about angels of death flying around them). The next morning Natash is found dead in the alley with Max's wallet, this causes Max to become a prime suspect in her murder, and also puts him at the top of Mona Sax's hitlist. Mona by the way is a trained assasin and shady buisness women. The rest of the movie Max has to evade the police while trying to find the killers of his family and the link to the drug Valkyr as well as to the company his wife worked for the Aesir Corporation.

It's been a long time since I played the games to I can't remember the story exactly but from what I can remember they are pretty similar. In the game Max was an undercover drug enforcement agent if I remember correctly, but the setup is pretty much the same. I also would like to comment that the art direction in this movie fits the game perfectly, and really sets the dark tone of the movie. The action sequences are also shot very nicely including the signature bullet time slowmotion effect the games made famous. I must say I was surprised with this movie, I expected some crap movie that just took advantage of the name of a successful game franchise, but the movie did great on its own, like I said at the top of the review my girlfriend who knows nothing of videogames was really into it. I am going to give this movie a 3 out of 5 it's definitely worth a rental if not a buy. Also note the dvd had the option for theatrical version or directors cut, I choose directors cut so my review is based on that.


4/5 Pretty Good
  by A. Lewis (New York, NY)
This movie in my opinion wasn't that bad.I saw it with my boyfriend(who of course loved it)I kind of liked it too.Its totally a guy movie.If you liked Sin City,300,and/or Underworld then you would like this movie 100 percent.Its along those same lines with the action and the video game/comic book feel to it.I didn't love the movie but I liked it and it would be something to add to my collection without a doubt.Its interesting and it just basically a movie made for all those hard core video gamers or any typical guy.

2/5 Max Lame?
  by P. Schumacher (atlanta, GA United States)
This is a bad movie, but what did I expect?

The acting is fine. Wahlberg, Bridges, Ludacris, Kunis, and the others do a creditable job.

And of course the EFFECTS are smashing. But, it would seem, the better the special effects of a movie, the lamer the movie usually is. See "The Phantom Menace." Or if you have any sense, don't see it.

But the writing is atrocious.

This is to be expected. After all, it derives from a video game.

But it is disheartening to see such acting and money wasted on such pretentious claptrap. IMDB has a spoiler-alert on their synopsis, but they hardly need it. You can see this ending coming 20 miles out.

The only good thing about the writing is the "circling" from the first scene, in the water, to the (almost) last. But even that is cheesified at the end.

1/5 Bad movie...Even for an Action Fan...
  by badmofo2122 (MA)
This is actually the first review I've ever written. But this movie was so bad, I had to write about it.

I love Max Payne the videogame. It revolutionized the 3rd person shooter. Built on really cool slow motion gun battles. So in my mind, the movie should revolutionize the slow motion shooter action movie. I understand "The Matrix" created the super cool shoot-outs, and Max Payne shouldn't copy them. But maybe create a new unique version of it, and build the movie on those.

Instead? We get a bad script and a bad movie. Listen, I'm no film snob. I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed Doom the movie. I love action movies, and enjoy a lot of what most critics would hate. But the handful of slow motion gun battle scenes we get in Payne are not impressive. Certainly nothing new. And there's BARELY any shoot-outs! I think I was like 40 minutes into the movie, and there was not much action. A Payne movie should have bullets flying by minute 5.

The supernatural/LAME angle was horrible. Not even worth the time for me to type about the plot. Its predictable and uninteresting. I actually caught myself daydreaming during some of it. I don't blame Wahlberg, although I think Clive Owen would be a better Max. I just think the script is horrible. That makes the movie un-watchable.

If you dig Max Payne and action movies, understand this movie is at the bottom of the list. If the Blu-Ray comes down to less than $10, MAYBE get it. But think twice.

1/5 horrbile
  by A. Dorman (CA United States)
Full of plot holes and bad acting. Some nice visuals every now and then though.