Max Payne

Max Payne (Director’s Cut)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg and Ludacris

MPAA: PG-13 (Director’s cut Unrated) Rated PG-13 for violence including intense
shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language.

Sex/Nudity – A man brings a woman to his apartment to question her, she walks to his bed and takes off her top. We see her in panties from behind and he bare back. She lies on his bed and covers herself with a sheet. He kicks her out of the house.

Violence/Gore – There are a lot of gun fights where each gunshot tends to send a shower of blood spraying out of the bodies. There are a few murders where it is implied the bodies are in a bunch of scattered pieces. There is one scene where a woman is dead laying on a bed with a lot of blood on the bed and it is implied the baby in the crib next to the bed has been killed in a similar fashion, though there is visual of this at all. I am sure the PG-13 version takes all the spraying blood out, but there are still a lot of gun fights.

Profanity – The director’s cut has 5 to 10 “F” words and a few other profanities scattered throughout. The PG-13 version has one ‘F” word and a few other swear words.



I watched this movie again the other day because I remember it being a pretty well done action film. The first time I watched it was when it first hit the rental stores in early ’09. I remember liking it or maybe I just remember being pleasantly surprised at the film. This second time around it was not nearly as good. The movie probably tops out at a 6 out of 10 … that is barely succeeding.

What is good about it are the gun fights. There are some sweet stylized gun fights that make the movie fun to watch. Couple that with the gritty filming and high end graphics the film is visually very appealing. Where it goes wrong is all the cookie cutter action movie plot points. Max Payne is a cold case loner detective who is searching for the killer of his dead wife. He is overly depressed like they all are and is willing to bend the law so that justice may be served. There is a damsel in distress, another damsel seeking revenge for her sister’s death, there is the suspicious corporation, the fatherly figure who’s angle you can’t quite figure out…and on and on and on.



The makers kept the colors in the lines on every point of the film, the plot is barely original unfolding step by step following the pattern of action films established in the ‘70s. Also the acting is pretty forced sometimes and some of the computer graphics images have you wondering what the heck is going on, but don’t worry there are enough bad guy monologues to get the story straight, and one even gets away for an obvious lead in to a possible sequel.

If you are a fan of or in the mood for the Transporter films or any other thoroughly mindless action films where you can see the end a mile off but you just want to see some people get blown away, well then Max Payne will do it for you. 6 out of 10, not terrible, just very formulaic!