Mark Wahlberg has been circling a number of different geek-related action properties lately, and it looks like he’s finally settled on one. No, it’s not GI Joe. Variety says he’s set to star in the movie version of the popular videogame Max Payne. John Moore, of Behind Enemy Lines and more recently The Omen remake will direct.

My vague impression of Max Payne has always been that it was some sort of ultra-violent Matrix wannabe (which is perhaps why I foolishly bought the medicore Xbox version of Enter the Matrix instead), but the game was hugely popular and has a fanbase. The game is a shooter, which sometimes there’s not much of a story to turn into a script, but Payne sounds a little deeper.

Wahlberg will play the titular Payne, a cop haunted by the loss of his family and so pulls a Punisher and throws the rules out the window. The game and the film will follow Payne as he investigates a series of murders, and presumably shoots people in the head. What videogame to movie adaptation would be complete with that?

Actually, maybe it’s time Hollywood tried something different with these game adaptations. We’ve tried shooters. We’ve tried fighting games. They all suck. Maybe to get a decent videogame adaptation they need to try something different. Is there any way we can make a movie out of Rampart? Or maybe Myst? It’s worth a shot, because whatever they’re doing isn’t working.