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Payback

Payback (1999)

tomatometer

53

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 73
Fresh: 39 | Rotten: 34

Sadistic violence and rote humor saddle a predictable action premise.

48

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 11

Sadistic violence and rote humor saddle a predictable action premise.

audience

67

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 92,958

My Rating

Movie Info

Porter (Mel Gibson) is pulled into a heist by his old friend, Val (Brian De Palma regular, Gregg Henry). As they're stealing $130,000 in laundered drug money from Chinese Triads, no one is going to call the police. Everything goes smoothly until Porter's wife, Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger), shoots Porter in the back. After Val had shown Lynn a photo of Porter in the arms of another girl (Maria Bello), the two planned the double-cross together to pay off Val's mob debts so he could return to "The

Jul 27, 1999

Paramount Pictures

All Critics (92) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (36) | DVD (26)

Demonstrates why Mel Gibson is a movie star: He can take mediocre material and through sheer willpower -- not to mention oodles of charm -- make it work.

November 6, 2002 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A higher class of thriller.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A solid enough action comedy, albeit one that had a lot of potential to be wittier and darker.

June 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Calgary Movies | Comment
Calgary Movies

A tough, entertaining homage to the kind of gritty '70s crime film that long ago gave way to a slicker yet tamer form of action movie ... Both the studio's cut and Helgeland's cut work about equally well.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | Comment
FulvueDrive-in.com

This is the seediest studio picture I've seen since TO LIVE OR DIE IN LA. Even the theater floor feels stickier while watching this thing unfold.

June 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Ain't It Cool Movie Reviews | Comment
Ain't It Cool Movie Reviews

Payback has its moments and its thrills, but the payoff just isn't there.

April 13, 2004 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | Comment
Jam! Movies
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Payback

OK can I just say firstly...Lucy Liu and her character, LOVE it! :D absolutely my kinda woman in every sense hehe Liu is soooo damn gorgeous. Right that's my little perversion out in the open and out of the way, yep I'm a fetish freak...deal with it.So apart from the delicious scenes with Liu what about the rest of the

April 7, 2012
phubbs1

Super Reviewer

I've first seen Payback way back when kit was first released, and I thought it was a pretty decent film. Looking back at it over ten years on, I still feel the same way. This is still an entertaining film and despite it not being perfect, it still a mindless revenge romp that delivers thrills. Mel Gibson is good here,

March 29, 2012
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Payback (1999) (DE)
  • Payback (1999) (CA)
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