Max Payne is an NYPD police detective who has been unable to focus on a case or connect with another human being since the brutal murder of his wife and child. When Max's police ID is found next to a beautiful corpse he suddenly finds himself directly involved in the dark underworld that is somehow linked to the murder of his family. His only clues are a winged tattoo and a new and highly addictive street drug which causes terrifying and nightmarish hallucinations. The deeper Max digs, the more dangerous the information he uncovers. 'Max Payne' the movie, much like the BAFTA award winning third person shooter game of the same title from which it is adapted, is a highly stylistic rendering of a violent dystopic New York City leaning heavily on Bullet-Time cinematography (made famous by the Wachowski brothers in The Matrix).