Plot
Max Payne is a detective assigned to the NYPD Cold Case Unit. He lost his wife Michelle and infant daughter Rose in a horrific murder; since that day, Max has been consumed by the desire to find his family's killer. He comes under suspicion from the NYPD when Natasha, an acquaintance of one of Max's informants, is brutally murdered and Max's wallet (which she had stolen) is found at the crime scene. Max's former partner, Alex Balder, is slain in his home after informing Max of a possible connection between Natasha's death and his family's murder. Max is framed as a murderer, and Lt. Bravura of Internal Affairs is tasked with bringing him in.
Max and Mona Sax, a freelance assassin and Natasha's sister, visit Natasha's tattoo parlor, where the tattoo artist reveals the meaning behind a tattoo that Natasha had: it represents the wings of a Valkyrie, which, in Norse mythology, are creatures that decide the fate of warriors in battle. Max goes to secretly take some of Michelle's belongings out of storage and finds that documents from when she worked at the Aesir Corporation, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, have gone missing. Max interrogates Michelle's former supervisor, Jason Colvin, in his office at Aesir and learns that Michelle was involved with the development of Valkyr, a drug that the company produced under military contract in an attempt to create super-soldiers. Unfortunately, only a few subjects showed positive results; the rest saw hallucinations and eventually went insane, forcing Aesir to terminate the project and cover up their involvement. Jason agrees to testify against his employers, as long as Max can protect him. Max agrees, but then SWAT officers (Aesir contractors in disguise) raid the office, killing Jason and attracting Bravura's attention.
After an intense gunfight, Max escapes with the evidence and shows Mona a video explaining the Valkyr project and featuring Jack Lupino, a former Marine who was one of Aesir's successful test subjects. Lupino explains in the video that while taking the drug, he feels invincible, and suffers none of the side effects. Max confronts Lupino, now a powerful gangster involved with the trafficking of Valkyr as a designer drug, at his warehouse hideout, and the two men fight until Lupino gains the upper hand. Max's defeat appears certain until B.B. - Aesir's head of security and a father figure to Max - arrives and shoots Lupino dead. He then has Max knocked out and brought to the city docks.
B.B. explains that he has been secretly selling Valkyr for personal profit and admits to killing Michelle after she found incriminating evidence that could have exposed him. He tries to drown Max in a faked suicide, but Max breaks free and dives into the icy river. He almost drowns, but hears the voice of his wife telling him it is not yet time for him to die. He swims to shore and, to prevent hypothermia, consumes vials of Valkyr stuffed in his pockets by B.B., which causes him to see intense hallucinations but also makes him nigh-invincible. Max follows B.B. back to the Aesir Corporation's headquarters. Assisted by Mona, he shoots his way through the building's security, eventually confronting and killing B.B. on the building's helipad. His vengeance is complete, and he falls to his knees, ready to die. He sees a vision of his wife and child smiling at him, and suddenly comes to, as the sun cuts through the clouds and a SWAT team surrounds him.
A post-credits scene shows Max and Mona in a bar. Mona shows Max a newspaper with Aesir CEO Nicole Horne's picture on the front. Max and Mona then look at one another with understanding and renewed purpose.
