A heavily stylized shoot-'em-up with visual references to everything from The Matrix to Sin City to Hong Kong crime films, director John Moore's Max Payne doesn't stray very far from its video game source material. An appropriately tight-lipped Mark Wahlberg stars as the eponymous hero, an NYPD detective chasing leads to find baddies illegally marketing a powerful drug that turns its users into superpowered sociopaths. Max has something of a death wish; he's never gotten over the murders of his wife and child, and therefore has no problem taking risks that other cops wisely shrug off. Along the way, Max is aided or thwarted by a sexy assassin from the Russian mob (Mila Kunis), a fellow detective (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) assigned to stay on his trail, and an ex-cop buddy (Beau Bridges) who is security chief for the mammoth pharmaceutical company that developed the drug. Viewers can expect thousands of rounds to be fired—many, of course, in slo-mo—and lots of sheet glass to be broken, but they're likely to be confused right about the time the winged demons appear. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include both the theatrical and unrated versions of the film, audio commentary by director John Moore, production designer Daniel Dorrance, and visual effects supervisor Everett Burrell, the half-hour “Picture: Part 1” production featurette, the animated graphic novel “Michelle Payne” (13 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are two bonus picture-in-picture tracks: a “Walkthroughs & Cheats” making-of track and a behind-the-scenes track featuring Moore. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a muddled thriller.] (E. Hulse)
Max Payne
Fox, 100 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray: $39.99, Jan. 20 Volume 24, Issue 1
Max Payne
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