Although he has made a career of playing little more than an on-screen thug, I have always enjoyed watching Mark Wahlberg. From his star-making turn as Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights" to his Oscar-nominated performance as Sergeant Sean Dignam in "The Departed," Wahlberg has always impressed me as a talented actor, even when he has disguised that talent under some horrendously ill-advised casting choices.
In spite of its box office success, "Max Payne" will not be taking up residence on my list of memorable Mark Wahlberg films.
Payne develops an unusual alliance with Russian mobster Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), and together the two embark on a quest to punish the villains responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Valkyr, the highly addictive drug at the centre of the murder of Payne's family.
Had it been properly composed, "Max Payne" had all the ingredients to create a decadent film noir, in the tradition of "L. A. Confidential" or "Sin City." a frenzied script and choppy direction lead to a film .
The same name, "Max Payne" brings to the big screen the story of a homicide detective who descends into a revenge-seeking rampage following the murder of his wife and newborn daughter.
