Movie review: "Max Payne": Wahlberg ready to take it to the 'Max'

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis star in the video game-based film "Max Payne," opening Friday. On Oct. 17, "Max Payne" will become the most recent video game to get a silver screen adaptation, joining the ranks of other prominent titles such as "Resident Evil," "Tomb Raider" and "Hitman."

Directed by John Moore ("Behind Enemy Lines") and written by newcomer Beau Thorne, the film rendition of the award-winning video game will undoubtedly wow avid fans.

Mark Wahlberg ("The Departed") stars as the film's title character, Max Payne, a rebel cop investigating a series of brutal murders and their connections to the tragic deaths of his wife and child. With nothing to lose, the vengeful detective will break all the rules to bring those responsible to justice.

In a conference call interview with Wahlberg, he divulged what attracted him to the film.

"I'd been looking to do something with some action, some energy, some intensity," he said. "After doing 'The Lovely Bones' and doing [M. Night Shyamalan]'s movie 'The Happening,' I definitely wanted to do something where I could really kind of go off."

Moore describes "Max Payne" as "a neo-noir action-thriller that straddles a knife-edge between reality and the unreal." Comparable to "The Matrix," the film will unquestionably deliver the action, energy and intensity that caught Wahlberg's eye.

Chris "Ludacris" Bridges ("Crash") and Mila Kunis ("Family Guy") star alongside Wahlberg as Internal Affairs Agent Jim Bravura and Mona Sax, respectively. Bridges and Kunis also participated in the interview, and said they are both fans of the video game.

Wahlberg, on the other hand, initially had his reservations.

"There was a bit of a red flag raised just because the video games I grew up playing had no story whatsoever," he said. "I mean, I played 'Pac-Man' and like 'Asteroids' ... but I was surprised at how elaborate the story was and how cinematic the game itself was."

Despite the all-star cast, many fans are worried the film will not live up to the action-packed legacy created by its video game predecessor. Hopefully Moore's words will ease growing tensions until fans can find out themselves. "This film is not 'Minimum Payne,' and it's not 'Medium Payne,'" he said. "It's 'Max Payne.'"

Ian Bostick can be reached at bostick.21@osu.edu.