Mark Wahlberg: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Max Payne - Max Payne

When Wahlberg was announced to be playing the titular character in the film adaptation of Remedy's superb video game, I was totally stoked. Wahlberg had the tough-guy thing down pat, and those early trailers got gamers the world over extremely excited that a movie would finally give the medium its due. Oh how disappointing it was, then, when the film finally surfaced and was, basically, horrible. Getting the most basic things about the games wrong, director John Moore alters the plot structure, throws out and adds in whatever elements he pleases, and most depressingly of all, doesn't even feature much action beyond a few stifled 1-2 minute gunfights. This should have been like a John Woo movie (given they are what inspired the game in the first place), but instead it's an inert, sterile, boring mess. Wahlberg looks the part, but he mostly sleepwalks his way through the film, chewing through the dull, faux-noir dialogue without a care in the world, just keen to cash a pay-cheque and move on. One can only suspect that he realised on set that the script was terrible, and realising it had no prospects of a film franchise, decided to put in the bare minimum effort possible. So bad was Wahlberg's performance that he was nominated for a Razzie for his work on the film, combined with his work on the next film, the actor's worst performance by far...
 
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Contributor

Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.