8 Miscast Video Game Movie Roles That Ruined Great Characters

8. Mark Wahlberg - Max Payne

Max Payne Mark Walhberg
Rockstar

A classic case of a studio taking one look at a role and designing a movie around the most generic, mass market aspects of its foundation, Max Payne went from "cop who masks the grief of losing his family with black humour and satire", to "constantly gruff-talking faux-badass with revenge on his mind".

Played by the potato-faced Mark Wahlberg despite Max having a visage with more angles than a geometry set, it didn't help that little character details like the hyper-coloured shirts were nowhere to be seen - nor a confident script that allows Payne to monologue about gun barrels and blood spill patterns one minute, before commenting on what's playing on TV the next.

Max Payne's silver screen adaptation was as rote and generic as they come; a formulaic action thriller that criminally underused the signature slow-motion effects the game was built upon.

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Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.