Max Payne (film)

"Remember when you were a kid and you'd hold your breath when you run past a graveyard?"

"The Devil is building his army. Max Payne is looking for something that God wants to stay hidden. That is what makes him more dangerous."

Max Payne is an action film from the year 2008. Based on the video game series of same name, it was directed by John Moore and it stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges and Ludacris.

Unlike the game, in this adaptation the framed fugitive undercover detective Max Payne is a cold case detective obsessed with finding the killer of his wife and child. His personal investigations gets him involved in the killing of Natasha Sax and his fellow detective Alex Balder (who has been on the case of the preceding) by the ex-marine Jack Lupino. Natasha's sister Mona, convinced that Max is the perpetrator, sets her sights on him. After the things clear up between them, they form an alliance to solve Natasha's murder and it's link to the new drug Valkyr which has been flooding the streets.

Reception of the film was generally negative with its plot and its cast's efforts being most criticized aspects. The false marketing that made the film seem like a supernatural actioner a la Constantine didn't help much either.

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The film provides the examples of:

• Above the Influence: The Bond girl from Quantum of Solace more or less throws herself at Max. Max is...less than interested.
• Action Girl: Mona Sax in the Unrated Version.
• Ax Crazy: Lupino.
  • Max Payne under Valkyr.
• Bald of Evil: Lupino.
• Big Applesauce
• Big Bad: Lupino, natch. Later, B.B. though you should know this by now.
  • Bigger Bad: Nicole Horn, who also counts as a Non-Action Big Bad.
• Big Bad Friend: B.B. Hensley
• Bottled Heroic Resolve: Max uses the Valkyr to this effect after his dip into the waters of New York harbor.
• Bullet Time: Appears only twice in the film, despite it being the main selling point in the games.
• Car Cushion
• Character Title
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: B.B. and Nicole Horn.
• Dirty Cop: Aesir corporation has an access on a squad of them.
• Disc One Final Boss: Lupino is not the Big Bad. But anyone who's played the game should already know that.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Over half of the movie is spent building up a major climax between Max and Lupino, but when Max finally runs into him, Lupino is unceremoniously shot in the back.
• Guns Akimbo
• Karma Houdini: Nicole Horne.
  • Unless you saw the stinger after the credits.
    • Max himself according to the stinger.
• Knife Nut: Lupino.
• Lady in Red: Natasha.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Thank you, B.B., for talking too much and putting Valkyr in Max's jacket pocket. Had it not been for you, Max would've died on the docks from hypothermia.
  • Hell, he would have died in Lupino's lair.
• Pistol-Whipping
• Psycho Serum: Valkyr.
• Race Lift: Caucasian Deputy Chief Jim Bravura from the games is turned into African-American Internal Affairs Lieutenant played by Ludacris.
• Sequel Hook: In The Stinger.
• Signs of Disrepair: How the makers reference the "Ragnarock" club from the game.
• Super Window Jump
• Title Drop
• Villainous Rescue: Just when Lupino is about to kill Max, B.B. shows up out of nowhere and shoots him in the back.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Lupino, who doesn't seem to mind the coldness of the winter around him. Even in the middle of a snowstorm when he's sweating.
• The War on Terror: The reason why the Valkyr was developed in the first place.
• What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: The Nordic symbolism is all over the place.