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Payback Customer Reviews (28 - 30 of 32 Reviews)

Masterful action crime thriller
Mel Gibson is superb in this compelling, riveting action crime thriller that is darkly humorous and holds its fair share of shocks. Mel Gibson plays the role of Porter who is mean, ruthless and dangerous. When Porter's wife and partner gun him down in cold blood after a heist, making off with all the money, he is seemingly left for dead. Porter is desperate for revenge and will stop at nothing to see he gets what he wants.
Created by Brian Helgeland, Payback is a superb, hard-hitting and atmospheric movie that boasts some excellent supporting performances which includes Gregg Henry as Val, Maria Bello as Rosie and David Paymer as Stegman. Director, Brian Helgeland carries this ice-cold film off with style, displaying razor-sharp intelligence and lethal doses of sardonic wit. Mel Gibson is also in one of his very finest roles and still proves irresistable and manages to evoke subtle hints of a more two-dimensonal character which carries the film more convincingly than you'd expect. A highly under-rated masterpiece!

Wanna see a GOOD action movie? Watch Payback!
There are not lots of good action movies. Payback is an exception. Payback was not very violent (some people don't say so and I don't understand why) and the film was a huge focus on its extremely cool and various characters most of them played by BIG Hollywood names. The tagline says''Get ready to root for the bad guy''. I don't think it's right. Mel Gibson is playing a professional robber, but not really a bad and cruel guy. I guess they say bad guy because he's a robber...but he has feelings and he is funny. The story is EXTREMELY SIMPLE; a guy steals 14000 dollars and his associate(allied with Porter's wife) and the associate(which is one ofTHE BAD GUYS of the film)shoots Porter and thinks he is dead. And later, Porter steals a guy's wallet, buys a gun and goes back in town to get his money back(and kill his associate by the way). Like I said, Payback's good point is the characters, not the story. The scenario is cool and funny, and the atmosphere is creepy. I think this is a remake of the movie Point Blank, that was great too. Mel Gibson is'nt made to play a bad guy and it's pretty easy to see that. But, he is still a hero like another, but he has problems with police...a good movie, very entertaining.

Payback - A truly enjoyable film!
"Payback" hails back to the seventies type movies where rooting for the bad guy is the whole point of the movie and it works quite successfully in this first-rate film. Mel Gibson does an terrific job of playing the bad guy that you really want to root for. Fair warning to the light of heart and young ones though, for this film is not for them. Sticking with Mel Gibson's type of film making, the realism in this film is astonishing and could be considered rather shocking.

Given that this is an entirely different type of movie for Mel Gibson in which he is the hero of the film but his character isn't quite the "hero" type, I found his performance to be exceptional, but then again, name a film where his performance wasn't exceptional. Maria Bello of "ER" fame stars as Mel Gibson's love interest and she performs quite well in this film. Gregg Henry who plays the "true" bad guy of the film and he does a great job of playing the extraordinarily sadistic mafia "wannabe." Kris Kristofferson plays the "mob" boss of the film. Lucy Alexis Liu performs quite "scarily" as the masochistic/sadistic call girl with some interesting associates.

This is the first film from Director Brian Helgeland that I've seen and he certainly deserves a great amount of praise for bringing the novel "The Hunter" by Richard Stark to the silver screen and DVD format. This film is certainly the last of its type in the twentieth century! The sound track for the film matches perfectly with the entire "feel" and atmosphere of the film, greatly enhancing the experience.

The premise:

Mel Gibson plays Porter who, while being little more than a common criminal is not so much a common criminal as the film unfolds. As the film opens Porter is retelling the recent events of his life after he's been shot and has now recovered enough to make his way back to New York City and he's on a mission. We soon learn that he and Val Resnick had planned and executed the robbery of $130,000 from a Chinese organized crime group and that when it came time to divide the money between himself and his wife and Val, Val had been conspiring with Porter's wife, showing her a picture of Porter and Rosie (Maria Bello). Porter's wife shoots him in the back. He's now recovered and he's coming to town, looking for his $70,000 and to kill Val Resnick.

What follows from there is nothing short of one of the most brilliant films of its type where Mel Gibson brings his style of acting to the forefront where he can throw in some well placed and funny lines in the most serious of situations for his character.

I highly recommend this film to any and all fans of this genre as you will soon find that it bears many viewings quite easily and all the way through you'll be "rooting for the bad guy." {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

There's not much to look for here when it comes to the Special Features for "Payback." In the end though, this DVD is about the movie and that's what you get, in all its glory!

- 2 Theatrical Trailers
- Behind the Scenes Featurette

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