Review: Payback Starring: Mel Gibson, Maria Bello, James Coburn, Gregg Henry, William Devane, David Paymer, Kris Kristofferson Directed by Brian Helgeland Approx 110 min
Payback combines an interesting mix of 50's film noir and 90's ultra-cool cinema. It has extreme anlges, strange lighting, slow motion and that gritty true crime feel of the Pulp Fiction generation. But there is also some carefully placed narration by the lead and a near black and white feel achieved through lens filters that makes the entire film look blue. Bright and colorful wouldn't have made sense at all. There are no redeeming characters in the film. The hero is a career thief who kills a number of people without hesitation. The good guy of the group.
Payback is dark, violent and unredeeming, but it was very exciting. Perhaps what was so great about it was the film's premise; a fellow who will stop at nothing to take back the $70,000 that was taken from him. (Stolen money of course.) In today's market, that's nothing. Most crime films deal in millions, or at least hundreds of thousands. It was a joke in Austin Powers that a maniac wanted million dollars in ransom money. Here, Porter (Gibson) wants the money he was cheated out of. (He and a partner pulled a $140,00 theft and his partner turned on him. Tried to kill him too, but that's incidental.)
I felt that I always knew where Porter was going from scene to scene, which was rather interesting. It sounds like that would make it predictable, which, to a certain extent it was, but it also offered something much more unique. There is nothing terribly deep to this character, but he had a drive that I think many people, certainly myself, could relate to. He wanted what was his, and even though his life was ruined as it was taken from him, he wanted to make sure that he got what he worked for, no more, no less. And so as he goes about this journey, I was quite proud that I was "in" on the plan. Although he was very clever, he wasn't dealing with some intricate system with which one must be familiar in order to understand, he was just going after some thugs who had his money. There is a primal urge kind of charm to Payback.
It is also interesting to note that mega-star Gibson took ahold of the film in the editing room. Apparently he was not happy with the direction in which Helgeland was taking it, so he took hold of the reins. I would like to have seen how this film was supposed to unfold. I can only imagine it was rather confusing and convoluted, perhaps read more like a mystery or susupense. In either event, Payback was fulfilling enough for me, and if you like tough guy movies, then you'll like Payback.
* * * out of * * * * stars ©1999 Nick Amado for more of Nick's reviews... www.writerboy.com/nick
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