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 (2)
Plots(1)
No More Mr. Nice Guy. The payoff is excitement when Mel Gibson portrays hard-boiled Porter in Payback, a fast, frequently funny and ecstatically twisted blend of action and noir atmosphere co-written and directed by Brian Helgeland. Porter makes his living outside the law. So when his partners in a heist rip off his $70,000 share and leave him for dead, there's only one way for Porter to settle things; his way. And that sends him on a vendetta that will have a lot of lowlifes gaping at the talking end of Porter's fat revolver. Crooked cops. Street gangs. Spineless flyspecks. Crime bosses. Anyone and everyone standing between Porter and his 70 grand are going to know he's back... with a vengeance. (Warner Bros. AU)
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Reviews (10)
When it premiered, I gave Payback 4 stars and I must admit with a certain blush that it charmed me in its own way - and I am not a fan of the genre or even Mel Gibson. It is a film made with ease and it is straightforward, simple, genre-pure, and a cool ride where the pace never slackens and the usual clichés are presented tastefully and with a pervasive sense of irony. On the other hand, as the years went by and I read the book, it impressed me much more with its darkness, complexity, and ambiguity. Besides, it is impossible not to notice how the film approaches the character of the violent, murderous, and thieving protagonist, presenting him to the viewer as a likable rascal. This story is hard to believe, and I left behind my teenage years when I would have identified with this portrayal a long time ago. Overall impression: 60%.
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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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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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Mel Gibson did a hell of a job in this one. He’s tough, cool, rough, his mouth is full of great lines and he’s about to finish what he’d started. This is one hell of a payback. It actually doesn’t matter how Mel is going to go about is, what’s important is that he shoots enough bullets and that there are tons of dead bodies around him. It’s as simple as that. It might be a bit of a wannabe cool over-filtered action ride, but other than that it’s a wacky movie in the vein of Tarantino, which will keep you entertained for those almost two hours.
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I've always liked Mel Gibson, and in this tough thriller where he plays an action hero, he just clicked for me. The whole thing is stylized, almost like it was filmed based on a comic book. The source material was a novel, but they managed the visual aspect quite well. It's appropriately tough, and the story isn't completely silly and is actually quite well-developed. This film appealed to me a long time ago, and nothing has changed even after some time has passed.
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