Max Payne

Max Payne is a 2008 neo-noir action thriller film based on the video game series of the same name developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games. Directed and co-produced by John Moore and written by Beau Thorne, the film stars Mark Wahlberg as the title character, Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, Ludacris as Jim Bravura, and Beau Bridges as B.B. Hensley. The film revolves around revenge, centering on the New York police detective as he journeys through New York City's criminal underworld while trying to learn the truth behind the murder of his wife and child. Filming took place between March and May 2008. Extensive visual effects were used in many scenes throughout the film. Max Payne was released on October 16, 2008, in Australia, one day prior to the United States release date. The film received generally negative reviews, and grossed $85.8 million against a production budget of $35 million. Plot Max Payne is a detective assigned to the NYPD Cold Case Unit. He lost his wife Michelle and infant daughter Rose in a horrific murder; since that day, Max has been consumed by the desire to find his family's killer. He comes under suspicion from the NYPD when Natasha, an acquaintance of one of Max's informants, is brutally murdered and Max's wallet (which she had stolen) is found at the crime scene. Max's former partner, Alex Balder, is slain in his home after informing Max of a possible connection between Natasha's death and his family's murder. Max is framed as a murderer, and Lt. Bravura of Internal Affairs is tasked with bringing him in. Max and Mona Sax, a freelance assassin and Natasha's sister, visit Natasha's tattoo parlor, where the tattoo artist reveals the meaning behind Natasha's tattoo: it represents the wings of a Valkyrie, which, in Norse mythology, are creatures that decide the fate of warriors in battle. Max goes to secretly take some of Michelle's belongings out of storage and finds that documents from when she worked at the Aesir Corporation, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, have gone missing. Max interrogates Michelle's former supervisor, Jason Colvin, in his office at Aesir and learns that Michelle was involved with the development of Valkyr, a drug that the company produced under military contract in an attempt to create super-soldiers. Unfortunately, only a few subjects showed positive results; the rest saw hallucinations and eventually went insane, forcing Aesir to terminate the project and cover up their involvement.