If you do not remember who or what Max Payne the video game was about, it was a classic shooter title that really catapulted the use of slow motion “bullet time” action in a video game, while also revolving around a NYC detective that was on a quest for vengeance and violence. Like many other games before it, someone in Hollywood thought it might be a good idea to take this cult classic and bring it to the silver screen. So how did Max Payne fair? Read on and find out.

Max Payne the video game was a gritty look at an NYPD officer that had lost everything at the hands of drug dealers. His wife and child murdered, he vowed vengeance and nothing more. Max would look for his vengeance in levels that were inundated with bullets and firepower, but unfortunately the movie focused more on demons. The movie took the core character of Max Payne and his family and then molded into something Hollywood, but worst of all they removed the core element that made Max Payne so great, the guns.

The movie took bits and pieces of the game and then smeared them with cameos of actors and tried to hold things together with Mark Wahlberg. Although Mark Wahlberg plays a decent Max Payne, even he is not enough to save the film, it lacked the grit and angst of the game. It lacked the dream sequences that made the game eerie to play and unforgettable. Although the death of his family was portrayed in the film, it just did not carry the same level of power as the video game and the levels where you would hear the baby crying repeatedly.

The film focused heavily on the demons people saw while getting high on Valkyr, an experimental drug created to make super soldiers, and almost abandoned gun play. Max has only two big gun battles and they are just not enough to pull this movie to a level even close to the video game. Although the movie comes up short, it still is fairly decent of an action film with a predictable plot and even more predictable plot twist.

Bottom line is that the movie adaptation of Max Payne, like the rest of those movie adaptations of video games, came up very short. If you go into the movie with low expectations and a lack of knowledge of the video game, then you may have a good time. If you lack either then you may be in for a disappointment.

Review: Max Payne gets a rental status only, don’t buy the DVD and definitely don’t waste your money on the more expensive Blu Ray copy.