Max Payne trailer is up: my thoughts

The first full-length trailer for Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg, is up now on Yahoo. The film will be an adaptation of the first game in the Max Payne franchise, in which the titular manic-depressive detective infiltrates a drug ring dealing in the powerful hallucinogen known as Valkyr. Watch it here.

I am very mixed on this film. Max Payne is one of my favorite PC games. It's a heavily stylized game, like a John Woo-directed pulp noir. The game itself is very cinematic, both in its style and story. I figured it would lend itself well to cinema, but this trailer doesn't particularly give me hope. Payne's signature gravely noir-esque voice-over just comes off as ridiculous on screen, and Wahlberg (who I really enjoyed in The Departed) seems wooden in the role. There's also some weird moments that look as though they were pulled right out of the movie Constantine. I'm assuming these are hallucinations caused by the Valkyr drug, but they're still incredibly out-of-place. The director, too, doesn't make me feel any better. John Moore hasn't had much experience outside of big-budget remakes, so I'm hesitant to even trust him with the source material.

The film looks slick though, with grainy tones and some killer cinematography. But at this point, I'm calling a bomb, critically and commercially. I don't think this film will be good, despite the awesome games it hails from.