Product Description

In Brian Helgeland's new director's cut of the film, Mel Gibson portrays Porter, a career criminal bent on revenge after his partners in a street heist pump metal into him and take off with his $70,000 cut. Bad move, thugs. Because if you plan to double-cross Porter, you'd better make sure he's dead. Porter resurfaces, wading into a lurid urban underworld of syndicate kingpins, cops on the take, sniveling informants and deadly gangs. Porter wants his money back. And the way he sets out to get is assures that, from beginning to heart pounding end, Payback pays off big.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13451 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
There were reasons writer-director Brian Helgeland's cut of Payback was dismissed by distributors Paramount and Warner Bros., then heavily re-shot and re-tooled by Mel Gibson's production company, Icon Entertainment. Those reasons are explained in detail by Gibson, Helgeland, and others in the special features of Payback: The Director's Cut (Special Collector's Edition). Among them: Helgeland's version was too dark. America wasn't ready in 1999 to see Gibson play an unapologetic, 1970s-style antihero who might not get exactly what he wants. Audiences didn't have the patience to wait for answers to their story questions. A dog dies. (A big no-no.) All of these comments make sound, practical sense. But here's the bottom line: Helgeland's cut, perhaps even a bit more disciplined and taut (according to Payback’s editor, Kevin Stitt) than it was in 1999, is a serious movie with an organic tone and logic that makes the film look the way it was meant to look: as a neo-noir film for adults. The theatrical release of Payback, by contrast, was and is silly and vulgar, self-sabotaging, pointlessly vicious, and perversely jaunty. It is very much like--deliberately like--the Lethal Weapon series. The Director’s Cut makes clear that’s not at all what Helgeland had in mind.

Kudos to Gibson and Icon for giving Helgeland a chance to restore his film and get it out on this DVD. But a look at both versions (this disc does not include the theatrical cut) back-to-back can certainly make one's head spin. Icon’s revisions in the original release show little faith in a contemporary audience’s ability to discern much about a story or mood or character from spare but telling details. That film relies on crass swatches of voiceover narration, cute inserts, added scenes, and hipster tunes on the soundtrack. All of that was designed to tell an audience how to feel rather than encourage a cinematic experience encountered with an open heart and mind. Worst of all is a specious third act nakedly built around an obligatory Gibson-gets-tortured sequence, leading the film to a lazy, comforting conclusion. The Director’s Cut eschews all of that. Gibson’s character, Porter (based on the central character in the novel "The Hunter," written by Donald E. Westlake under the pseudonym Richard Stark), is a man returning from the brink of death with nothing but his identity and the memory of something (an almost-nominal amount of money) taken from him. His iron determination, his capacity for brutality and inducing fear, and his survival instinct make him anything but warm and cuddly. It's his few ties to the past--especially an interrupted relationship with a call girl (Maria Bello)--that humanize him. One doesn't have to like Porter; one just accepts him and follows his journey in an honest, unmitigated fashion. That’s exactly what Helgeland does, and his cleaner, leaner, smarter cut is instantly rewarding for its uncompromising, undistracted toughness. Special features include a documentary about the film’s history, and a wonderful interview with Westlake. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Not as good as the theatrical release
For anyone who has seen the theatrical release of this movie, I expect this would be a real let-down. There were a lot of disappointing differences in this director's cut. The audio has changed. The gray filter on the visuals is gone. Porter's film noir voice-over is gone. The "third act" is completely different. The dog doesn't live. Those were all things I loved about the theatrical version. The original ending is very weak. I feel sorry that Helgeland's art originally got hijacked so execs could make more money off of it, but at the same time, I'm happy that it was made into a better movie for it. !!SPOILER !! SPOILER !! Helgeland's third act makes no sense at all anyway. Why would you send ten or so people to kill Porter where he asks for the money to be sent if you were going to give him the money? Why would you send the money if you were going to have him killed? Does that make any sense at all?

Disappointed in the Director's Cut
Where was Kris Kristopherson?! Why was he taken completely out of the director's cut? Or was he added for the theatrical version? Whatever the answer I feel like it was less of a movie without him. To me, the lady on the speakerphone seemed to be a bad edit to replace a very good character.

Watch the theatrical release instead
Warning: Spoiler alert. I was not impressed with the rework of this movie. And the fact that it doesn't include the original theatrical release made me even less impressed. They lose the voiceover in this version and simplify the plot. Kris Kristofferson's character is completely eliminated and the kidnapping of his son is gone as a result. The end of the movie is simple: Meet the bad guys and kill them for the money. Any of the cleverness of Mel Gibson's character is gone and all that's left is his brutality. Forget this version and watch the original.