Directed by:
Brian HelgelandCinematography:
Ericson CoreComposer:
Chris BoardmanCast:
Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer, Bill Duke, Deborah Kara Unger, John Glover, William Devane, Lucy Liu, Jack Conley, Kris Kristofferson (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Porter (Mel Gibson) carries out a $140,000 heist with his partner Val Resnick (Gregg Henry) and wife, Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger), only for them to double-cross him, shooting Porter and leaving him for dead. Vowing revenge, a recovered Porter sets off in pursuit, but in so doing attracts the attention of corrupt cops Hicks (Bill Duke) and Leary (Jack Conley), who want the money for themselves. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (10)
A rakish, hardheaded gangster played by Mel Gibson, the pretty blonde he cares about, a couple of dumb corrupt cops, a pile of violence, some sado-masochism and, mainly, a dozen goons whose “coolness” increases as they gradually get to know each other, from the biggest bungler to the biggest, toughest and most uncompromising boss. And all of this wrapped up in nostalgic, grey-blue camera filters and hellishly black humour. A delicious treat!
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Genre-wise Payback is essentially an unclassifiable film. It doesn't have a classic plot, it doesn't distinguish between good and evil, and it also doesn't map out the actions of the main characters. Mel Gibson is a man of moral principles and that's where it ends, he can't be called either “good” or “bad”, and perhaps that's exactly what makes Payback such a stylish ride. Of course there is also a polished formal side (filters, sets, cinematography) and a few gems (sadomasochism, a parade of bosses, corrupt cops, etc.) that cannot be overlooked and are captivating matter what you think of them. The plot is basically banal, but everything works like a well-oiled machine. Brian Helgeland is damn well aware of the squalor of the material and doesn't give the viewer a chance to realize this fact, bombarding them with one stylized shot after another and with main characters so interesting that it's hard to believe.
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A stylish noir-gangster movie with a persuasive Mel Gibson in the lead role of a hardened thief, Porter. Helgeland managed to reproduce the exact atmosphere of most of Donald E. Westlake's books (Payback was based on "The Hunter" published under the pseudonym Richard Stark) and shows a world full of villains, junkies, hookers, corrupt cops, sadists and just plain idiots with whom the main character encounters. Accompanied by a sarcastic voice-over monologue, Porter slowly works his way to his seventy thousand dollars which was stolen from him by his partner Val and his wife. The way in which he eliminates all obstacles is simply cool, and you have to keep your fingers crossed for him even if you don't want to. After a while you don’t mind the plot’s predictability, and that you’ve seen this somewhere before, as you get carried away by a world that's as hard as scotch-soaked kidneys, but also damn relatable. My personal Top 20.
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A brilliantly built-up thriller with a pace that is simply unreal in the second half. And yet so little is enough... Just steal $140,000 (no, sorry, just $70,000) from Mel Gibson and you'll unleash the kind of carousel of murders, shootouts and badass one-liners that we only remember from the first Die Hard. Gibson shines in his role and enjoys it to the fullest, but the supporting characters are also given a memorable portrayal by the actors, whether I'm thinking of the bad guys Henry, Kristofferson and Coburn or the pretty sharp hooker Lucy Liu. Simple, straightforward, harsh – just the way it should be.
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Helgeland managed a fairly decent mix of the gritty dude, Lethal Weapon, and the Tarantino crude gangster poetics, in which brutality is sort of danced, humorous, casual. Payback is no directorial opus magni - it is a rather routine film, which owes most of its great moments to the script and to the excellent Mel Gibson, who capitalized on his many years of experience in detective Riggs' skin, only to stand on the opposite side of the barricade. Thanks to him the incredibly stubborn thief Porter becomes a character almost humorously dangerous, who, with raw willfulness, walks through the reinforced concrete barricade for the smallest thing. The central character is the central value of Payback. We otherwise do not find anything particularly original or memorable here, everything works for the benefit of the whole and the result is a quality gangster film from the rough school that delights even with its decent ending.
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