8 Awful Video Game Movies That Got The Most Important Thing Right

6. Max Payne - Bullet Time

Tomb Raider
20th Century Fox

Being completely honest, the Max Payne video game franchise itself was one that eventually struggled to get past its own gimmick – yet that gimmick was the one part of the 2008 Max Payne movie that the production got right!

Of course, that would be “bullet time”.

When the video game franchise began life back in 2001, gamers were blown away by Max Payne’s bullet time-driven gun fights. That slow-motion technique made Max Payne stand out from the pack of third-person shooters, and the gimmick would become synonymous with the Max Payne franchise. Well, Max Payne and a little movie franchise known as The Matrix, of course.

The 2008 Mark Wahlberg-headlined Max Payne movie may have absolutely sucked on so many levels – Wahlberg himself receiving a Razzie nomination for his performance in the flick - but the one thing that the picture did manage to capture brilliantly was the video game franchise’s use of bullet time battles.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.