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
Syndicate." They didn't plan well enough, though, because five months later Porter's back, a complete sociopath who wants his $70,000. Brian Helgeland, the screenwriter for L.A. Confidential and Conspiracy Theory, makes his directing debut with this adaptation of the novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake writing under the pseudonym, Richard Stark. The same novel served as the basis for John Boorman's Point Blank starring Lee Marvin. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi
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.
It quickly slides into a Lethal Weapon without Danny Glover, complete with blowups and wisecracks, gratuitous torture scenes and Gibson in familiar form as the twinkling rascal who makes a virtue out of viciousness.
It's undone not so much by the shadow of Lee Marvin falling heavily on it (which it does) as by the twin obstacles of big star image and, more to the point, excessive violence.
Its smirking sense of humor and generic self-consciousness suggest that Payback would like to think of itself as a hip descendant of Pulp Fiction. But the movie is utterly devoid of narrative ingenuity and visual and dramatic flair.
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.
This is in my opinion the only way to experience Payback. While there is a director's cut and it isn't all that bad, this is just a way better movie. Mel Gibson did something that few producers have been able to do; outclass the director and make a better movie as a result. The changes he made were the right thing to
do. This cut is so much more developed, original and just flat out cool in this edition. I think this is actually one of my favorite Mel Gibson performances because it's so reserved, yet he still manages to have the edge that is his trademark. I think one of my favorite additions here is Kris Kristofferson; this movie needed a good villain and he plays one extremely well. The rest of the cast is great here too; William Devane and James Coburn have some amazing cameos. I also like that this movie plays around with the film noir genre instead of trying to make a carbon copy of one. It has stereotypes in there, but changes them around and pokes fun at some of the cliches. This movie is incredibly easy to enjoy and in my opinion is pretty air tight. I love the way they balance the extreme violence and uncompromising nature of Mel Gibson as Porter and somehow make him a likable character. I think part of it is due to the fact that he's just an honest guy trying to get back his 70,000 dollars back. I think anyone just looking for a straight-forward, flawless action movie couldn't find much better than Payback.
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