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Payback Customer Reviews (10 - 12 of 32 Reviews)

"If she stopped hooking, I'd stop shooting people."
"Maybe we were aiming high."

Val Resnick and Porter, two amateur bandits, hit a Chinese gang together to get $140,000 each. However, there is only $140,000...total. You know what? There is always only $140,000, and Val Resnick needs $130,000 to buy himself back into his syndication. So, Val, along with Porter's wife, turn on Porter and attempt to kills him with two shots in the back. Miraculously, Porter survives, and six months later he wants his $70,000. In Porter quest for retribution he uncovers Val will never be able to pay him back, and quickly goes further up the corrupt ladder in order to get his money from the guys who Val gave it to. When Porter gets himself banged up, he teams up with his former "associate," Rosie, a very expensive prostitute. Together, they attempt to manipulate the gang into killing each other off in order torecover Porter's dough.

"You know what Val, this one's on me."
"You see me reaching for my "F'n" wallet?"

Brian Helgeland, more known for his writing for Conspiracy Theory, Assassins, The Postman, Mystic River, Man on Fire, and the writing and directing The Order, directs Payback. Helgeland does a marvelous job of depicting Porter as a character. After watching Payback it reminded me a lot of Sin City. I know Payback came out 6 years previous to Sin City, but they had a very similar feel. I also liked the way Helgeland utilized an almost blue light while filming the movie. The colors are not very vibrant and the movie feels like a cross between black and white and color.

"Old habits die hard. If you don't kick them, they kick you. Ain't marriage grand?"

I would break this film into two main parts. The first half of the film, which is dedicated to developing Porter as a character, and the second half of the film, which is Porter abusing the gang to obtain his money. The first half of this film is brilliant. It includes Porter beating up Val, the introduction of Lucy Liu as a character, Porter doing something to the body guard's ear, the chicken scene where Porter crashes into the Asian gangsters, and Porter roughing up the drug dealer. This portion of the film is an A+.

"It's Mistress Pearl you piece of dog sh_t."

The second half of the film, which includes Porter kidnapping the gang leaders son, the scene at the fight/boxing match, the main portion of Rosie as a character, and Liu and her gang after Porter only for him to be saved by the cops. This portion of the film was very disappointing. The film starts off on fire, and had the potential to be better then any of the Lethal Weapon flicks, however, it sputters out, and ends up being a good, but not great film. The second half of the film is a C.

"I have a few minutes."
"So go boil an egg."

Overall I would say Payback is a must have in your DVD collection. It is a Gibson classic, and a definite must have for Liu's role. Nevertheless, I do not believe it deserves 100% of the accolades it receives, 75% maybe. I am not saying anything bad about this film, as I did say it belongs in your DVD collection. I am saying it had all the ingredients for greatness, but ends in a whimper. You can feel safe purchasing this film prior to viewing; it is exactly what you would expect from reading the synopsis.

"Let her work."

Grade: B


The Dead Should Stay That Way
Thanks to his work on films like the Oscar winning LA Confidential and the cool medieval actioner A Knight's Tale, I became a fan of Brian Helgeland. As I have worked my way through the rest of his filmography though, I was suprised to discover that, other than the two standouts I mentioned, most of his other work seems...lacking. Despite having mega-star Mel Gibson as the movie's anti-hero, Payback, ends up being a generic, by the numbers film.

Since the cash was already stolen by other thieves, Porter (Gibson) and Val (Gregg Henry) figure that if they steal it, they're in the clear. When the time comes around to split the take, Val makes three grave mistakes: he takes Porter's cut of the loot; he takes Porter's wife Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger) and then tries to take Porter's life. Trouble is, Porter didn't die, and now wants revenge. He wants his cut and doesn't care what he has to do to get it. Now, everyone in the city's criminal underworld, have Porter's cross-hairs trained on them. Porter turns to former girlfriend Rosie (Maria Bello) for help in tracking down his enemies.

Adapted from author Donald E. Westlake's novel, entitled The Hunter, the Payback script penned by Helgeland and Terry Hayes has little suprise to it. The cynical movie watcher will surely groan at the way things play out. As the director, Helgeland tries to be cool and gives the film a sterile metalic look, bleeding out most of the color--nothing new--it's kind of distracting. Gibson is O.K. but let's face it, he could do this role with one hand tied behind his back, hopping up and down on one foot..eyes closed of course. I have always had a bit of a thing for Bello...but she's wasted here, as are the likes of James Colburn, David Paymer, and Bill Duke.

The DVD extras, like tke film they support, are devoid of much subtance. A hollow behind-the-scenes featurette, with cast and crew using doublespeak to talk up Payback, and two theatrical trailers are all you get.

I give Payback two stars for Gibson, who does the best he can in a role he has done before, in Lethal Weapon.

Good. Not as good as RANSOME...but...
I watched this one five years ago and the truth is I did not like that much. RANSOM is a very suspenseful film. Like I do with all my movie reviews, I'm not gonna tell you the plot or what's it about, but I can tell you this:
If you like those kind of movies in which revenge is involved, than I think this one's for you. I don't like most of those revenge movies like THE PUNISHER. But, overall it was pretty good and suspenseful.

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