Mark Wahlberg portrays a man who’s lost everything as the title character in Max Payne. His beautiful wife, Michelle, his baby, and a career. All he has left, all he lives for, is to catch those that are responsible. He doesn’t care what he has to do to catch them either. My kind of guy!

Mila Kunis, although her role is relatively short on screen time, is amazing as the gun-toting, tough-talking, deliciously sexy assassin, Mona Sax. When Mona’s sister is killed by the same thugs who killed Michelle, Max and Mona team up to seemingly take on the world.

Big time corporation suits, the cops, and the underworld bad boys are all out to get them. There’s constant action and that’s a plus. What I didn’t care for was shoddy attention to details concerning some of the fight scenes. For instance, a shotgun, when combat loaded holds five shells. There was one scene where I stopped counting how many shots he fired before he reloaded. When those things are so noticeable, it detracts from the suspension of disbelief.

Though, I must say, the actual quantity of violence was just right. It was enough to be plausible in the situation, enough so that we as the audience still identified with Max, he’s still the “good guy”, but there was enough motivation of emotion to counter it evenly. I suppose the term I’m looking for is “well-rounded”.

I did find it interesting that the portrayal of the Valkyries had more masculine than feminine overtones. In Norse mythology, the Valkyries were warrior maidens sent to fetch the righteous fallen to Valhalla, to feast with Odin until the Raganorak; their version of the Apocalypse. That was part of the reward you see, the hot warrior maidens. They seemed more demonic, more in keeping with the fabled Berserker rage of Vikings of old.

The imagery was amazing. The use of color throughout the film was an excellent tool to further the plot and help us identify with the characters and what they were experiencing. In the beginning, it’s dark and gritty. The world is practically colorless. We see splashes of color on the harlot, Natasha. (Mona’s sister.) A bright red, her death seemed to be the catalyst of Max’s path to redemption. At the end of that path, his dead wife, Michelle. It seems as if he only sees in color when he’s dreaming of his life with her, and again, with his redemption.

There were parallels between Max Payne and Sin City with the use of color as a plot device and almost a character within itself. I also found myself thinking of The Crow and the use of darkness as the same.

Overall, I think it was a fantastic piece; not to mention what I think is one of the best transitions from video game to film that I’ve seen in a long time. I will definitely be adding this to my collection when it comes out on DVD.