Max Payne

A New York police detective (Mark Wahlberg), tortured by the unsolved murder of his wife and child, learns that the killers may be involved with a murky underworld of tattooed addicts to a mysterious and powerful new drug. Beau Thorne’s script can claim the dubious distinction of having even less of a story than the video game on which it is based; it’s muddled and skimpy, and the bad guys are obvious almost before they open their mouths. Director John Moore tarts the proceedings up with Matrix-style slo-mo and graphic-novel images that are striking but static, leading up to a madly over-the-top climax. With over 7 million copies sold, the game probably has enough fans to give the movie a big opening weekend, after which they’ll go back to their Xboxes and PlayStations—where the action is surely a lot more fun.