Wahlberg's vengeful cop Max truly 'Payne'-ful

Mark Wahlberg deserves better than "Max Payne," and so do we.

This dour but visually gaudy neo-noir thriller, adapted from the popular video game, stars Wahlberg as vengeful, heart-broken cop Max, who wanders through a very dark New York City, battling a corporate drug-crime conspiracy that might have killed his wife, child and ex-partner cop.

All the while, Max keeps running into mythical creatures, bad cops, an Internal Affairs investigation run by Ludacris (as slick cop Jim Bravura), bad drugs, bad weather, bad living conditions, bad dialogue, a good-bad heroine (Mila Kunis), a good (or maybe bad-good) ex-boss named B.B. (played by Beau Bridges) - and an occasional angel.

The movie is pretty bad itself, though the film noir design (by Daniel T. Dorrance) and the urban nightmare cinematography (by Jonathan Sela) are good. Wahlberg might have been OK, too (he was sensational as another hardcase cop in "The Departed"), if he had half a chance.

The script won't let him. The story is hackneyed and ultra-violent, the dialogue is not worth speaking, the plot is sometimes incoherent, and the actors (except for Bridges) look as if they were in a state of deep depression.

I don't blame them. Once again, "Max Payne" demonstrates the danger of adapting big-budget movies from video games.

"Max Payne"

Rating: 1½ stars

Facts: Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell

Directed by: John Moore

Other: A 20th Century Fox release. Rated PG-13 (drug use, language, sexual situations, violence). 100 minutes.