Max Payne

2008

Max Payne

Critics Consensus

While it boasts some stylish action, Max Payne suffers severely from an illogical plot and overdirection.

16%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 133

30%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 230,503

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Movie Info

Max Payne is a maverick cop - a mythic anti-hero - determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murders of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.

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Cast

Mark Wahlberg
as Max Payne
Mila Kunis
as Mona Sax
Beau Bridges
as BB Hensley
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
as Jim Bravura
Chris O'Donnell
as Jason Colvin
Donal Logue
as Alex Balder
Amaury Nolasco
as Jack Lupino
Kate Burton
as Nicole Horne
Olga Kurylenko
as Natasha
Marianthi Evans
as Michelle Payne
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Critic Reviews for Max Payne

All Critics (133) | Top Critics (35)

  • John Moore directs the hell out of the action, while Jonathan Sela's glistening photography captures the snow and rain that fall on these bloody New York streets. But you'd have to be on crack not to guess the 'surprise' finale.

    Nov 14, 2008 | Rating: 2/6 | Full Review…

    Nigel Floyd

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • Mark Wahlberg's titular hero hasn't cracked a smile in seven years. The surprise is that he makes the lonely cop seem half human with half a dozen words and a staggering amount of violence.

    Nov 14, 2008 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    James Christopher

    Times (UK)
    Top Critic

  • The film combines ferocious self-importance with lashings of really nasty, unreflective violence.

    Nov 14, 2008 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

    Peter Bradshaw

    Guardian
    Top Critic

  • If you can follow the plotlines of this swingeing approximation of the well-known video game of the same name, you are a better customer for John Moore's spectacular thriller than I was.

    Nov 14, 2008 | Rating: 2/5

    Derek Malcolm

    London Evening Standard
    Top Critic

  • Max Payne is a junkyard dog of a film that is true to its video-game roots even as it transcends them.

    Oct 23, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    David Hiltbrand

    Philadelphia Inquirer
    Top Critic

  • The filmmakers aim their cynicism more at us than at any government or drug company.

    Oct 18, 2008 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

    Wesley Morris

    Boston Globe
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (133)

Audience Reviews for Max Payne

  • Jul 11, 2015
    Based on the popular video game, Max Payne is a bizarre revenge thriller. After discovering a link between the murder of a Russian girl and the unsolved murders of his wife and child, NYPD detective Max Payne goes rogue in order to find those responsible. Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis lead the cast, but neither of them are any good. And the script is garbage; inexplicably mixing in supernatural elements that just don't work. Additionally, there are problems with the tone of film; as the gritty cop drama clashes with the surreal visual aesthetic. Falling victim to the video game curse, Max Payne is a convoluted mess that fails to live up to its source material.
    Dann M Super Reviewer
  • Aug 01, 2013
    A Payne-fully dull and predictable hard-boiled thriller occasionally interrupted by half-way decent John Woo-style action sequences.
    Christopher H Super Reviewer
  • Aug 20, 2012
    When this movie first came out, I wanted to see it so bad because I loved the video game, and the fact that Mark Wahlberg was in it. However, this movie surprised me in a very awful way. It sucked! Like really, whoever thought about making this out of a movie deserves to get punched in the face. Max Payne (The Movie) is just another one of those examples on why video game adaptions tend to fail. I don't know what they were thinking, but it's not hard to tell that these filmmakers were on crack during the making of this film. What's are those flying creatures doing in this film? They absolutely have nothing to do with the game. In fact, the plot is so terrible that it made this looks like something else because this sure wasn't Max Payne to me. The characters were the same, but they act completely different because of the cast. Some of those cast from the film are suppose to be talented, but they were all wasted into this junk. Mark Wahlberg can do better than this, and he's well-knowned for his best hard bitten roles. Seems to me like this was the same year The Happening came out, and he, somehow, lost his magic. He did bad in The Happening and Max Payne, but at least he got his talent back after that. Mila Kunis' performance was also wasted here, and she's usually a good actress. Perhaps this was the time where she was still developing her talents, which I reallt understand. I guess every talented actors/actress must have a bad movie one way or another. Every other cast in this movie did a horrible job providing something good on-screen. The special effects was okay I guess. Nothing special but just okay. You don't see too much of it, anyway, which is also a disappointment. Max Payne, like the other video game movies (especially Uwe Boll films) is a total waste of effort proving to all of us about why video game movies tend to suck so bad. I was expecting something better because of the hype that I had for it, but it was a complete waste of time. If any of you people had never seen this before, be blessed that you didn't. There's nothing good to expect in this pile of trash, and God knows how terrible this film is. So at all cost, skip it.
    Giovanni C Super Reviewer
  • Dec 02, 2011
    The movie wasn't horrible, it was just bad. The plot is so boring and uninteresting now I want to see if they really made a game on this. The acting was okay, nothing award winning. The action and effects were okay, there was nothing new. The camerawork was actually really good if you pay attention. The music was nothing special, I wasn't impressed by anything I heard. The movie had so much potential, but down the line something went wrong.
    Bradley W Super Reviewer
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