If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen what’s really worth seeing… all two minutes of it. The stylistic action relies heavily on gratuitous slow motion and close-ups of Mark Wahlberg’s bewildered facial expressions, as if he’s constantly wondering what he’s gotten himself into. For such a dark and violent story about a troubled detective whose wife and daughter were murdered, the film is in dire need of a bloody upgrade to an R-rating. But since PG-13 equates to bigger bucks, we’re left with a Max Payne that evokes moderate pain. Additionally, the (mis)casting of Mila Kunis and Ludacris is a severe detriment to the barely passable plot. While it’s not as embarrassingly stupid as Hitman, Doom, or anything from Uwe Boll’s line of blasphemy, file Max Payne with other mediocre video game adaptations like the Resident Evil sequels and Tomb Raider series.
