Max Payne 2008

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Honestly, you find yourself rooting against Payne's survival, even with a good actor in the hollow role. There's nothing inside the film's sour, slovenly spirit of vengeance. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: A movie that cares much more for poetic choreography in explosive gunfights than gaping lapses of logic in a flimsy crime narrative. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: A big reason why videogame-to-movie adaptations are currently batting .000 is that filmmakers work so hard at recreating a game's look that they ignore the obvious problem of assembling a bunch of lame cutscenes into a story. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The story, involving conspiracies, doesn't always make sense. And the surprises are easy to predict; director John Moore doesn't try to hide them. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The filmmakers aim their cynicism more at us than at any government or drug company. Read more

Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times: Miserable, in every sense of the word. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Max Payne may be the worst movie of the year. The "may be" qualifier is only because the year isn't over yet. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie is a series of glum interrogation scenes that lead nowhere special, with a not-quite-sci-fi urban murkiness that makes it look like someone was trying to shoot Blade Runner in Cleveland. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Mark Wahlberg, who has proved himself a very capable actor, seems to have nominated himself for the Russell Crowe Lack of Charisma Award, and is running a pretty convincing campaign. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: No amount of generosity could excuse the levels of ineptitude on display here. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A weak little sister to Sin City. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: As good as a couple of its action beats are, Max still suffers from the heartlessness that makes games emotionally inferior to movies. Nobody ever shed a tear over a video-game character's death. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: Max Payne is a junkyard dog of a film that is true to its video-game roots even as it transcends them. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Maybe fans of the game will be okay with the cinematic adaptation but for those who aren't new to Max and his world, this isn't an impressive introduction. Clunky action, chaotic plotting, and embarrassing dialogue are not ways to impress newcomers. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A critic can stay alert through movies that would put elephants into comas, but I doubt most people will stay awake for Max Payne. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Dark, moody, extremely twisted and hard to enjoy on any level. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Max Payne, game or movie, has precious little to say. Read more

Rob Salem, Toronto Star: Maybe somebody decided the movie was already so convoluted and leaden that throwing in a few swooping, screeching valkyries could only help. They do not. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The moviegoers are passive hostages on a long ride they've taken so many times before. So gameboys are advised to man their PlayStations this weekend; action-movie fans in search of red meat can wait for the inevitably more graphic DVD version. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: John Moore directs the hell out of the action, while Jonathan Sela's glistening photography captures the snow and rain that fall on these bloody New York streets. But you'd have to be on crack not to guess the 'surprise' finale. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: You can't help but wonder where the fine actor in The Departed and even Invincible has gone. It's not been a good year for Wahlberg: First The Happening, and now this. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Moore artfully blends vidgame and film-noir aesthetics while editor Dan Zimmermana(TM)s measured rhythms yield a more coherent, less frenzied work than one might expect from the source material. Read more

Mike Mayo, Washington Post: Sexy girls and lots of automatic weapons are involved in an occasionally coherent plot. Read more