Max Payne

Doomed from the start due to its video-game-heritage (the translation from game to film never works), "Max Payne" presents a breathless barrage of bullets in a pulpy demon-filled knock-off of "Constantine" (2005). Mark Wahlberg shares some Keanu Reeves-like wooden acting traits with a performance that points up the bag-of-hammers-dialogue and sleepy plotting from first-time screenwriter Beau Thorne. Max (Wahlberg) is widowed detective working in the cold-case department of the NYPD when he's accused of murder before going on a revenge mission to vindicate the unsolved assassination of his wife and child. Thorne attempts to inject some cartoon social satire with a subplot about a diabolical pharmaceutical company selling a hallucination-inducing drug that makes soldiers fearless. Chris "Ludacris" Bridges gets the gong for the worst on-screen performance of the year as cop with very, very little personality.

Rated PG-13. 100 mins. (D) (One Star)