MAX PAYNE movie

If you like your movies hard-boiled and your video games the same way, get ready for some Max excitement.

20th Century Fox is turning the gritty video game "Max Payne" into a feature film, bringing the titular New York cop back to the medium that influenced the noir-ish look and tone of his game franchise.For those unfamiliar with the blockbuster title, "Payne" tells the story of a police officer whose wife and baby are slaughtered by thugs under the influence of a designer drug. Lonely and jaded, Payne joins the Drug Enforcement Agency and wages a one-man battle against the criminal underworld.

Payne made his first appearance when the game named for him was released for PC in July 2001 and later that year on Xbox and PlayStation 2. "Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne" was released by Rockstar Games in fall 2003 and continued to amaze critics and fans alike with its highly stylized narrative and revolutionary "bullet-time"-playing feature.

The "Max Payne" movie is expected to further embrace the roots of the genre, which harkens back to classic noir films like Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" and John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon," while blurring it with a vigilante-tinged storyline reminiscent of the "Dirty Harry" or "Death Wish" franchises. The first film is expected to focus on the origin of Payne and should be aided by a game structure which has always sought to mimic those of filmmaking.No actors or production dates are set for the project.