Product Description

Gibson stars as a career criminal out to get even with his partners who tried to kill him and took off with his $70,000 cut of a street heist.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 10-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9712 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

A good movie done went and got great!
Like one review has already stated maybe one reason this movie didnt recieve all the glory it deserved is maybe american movie audience wasnt ready to see Mel Gibson in such a dark roll,thats my take on it to.Now with this unrated directors version its even better,gone is blue filter over the picture replaced with a remasterd version which colors are vibrant,crisp,its really has a great picture quality,its more vilolent and to the point,gone is Mel's voice over(which also makes it better),its got a completely new musical score,basicly the story is the same but its told diffrent with a completly new ending.There's also really great special features that includes a 30min piece on why and how this directors cut was made.I'm glad the director finally got his movie and way to go paramount this is not some hoax special edition like so many others its a diffrent kind of film a special edition worth picking up for sure...way to go Paramount

Mel Gibson's lost kick-butt movie found
The best action movie I've seen this year isn't in theaters. You may think you've seen it, but probably haven't. "Payback" is back, this time the way the director envisioned the film, not the suits. "You don't make pictures for the elite," producer/star Mel Gibson says today, explaining why Paramount and Warner Bros. took the noirish gangland movie away from freshman director Brian Helgeland. After 10 days of reshoots, a new final (third) act was tacked on, voiceover was added a la "Blade Runner" and Kris Kristofferson walked on as a new major character. Audiences still were amazed how brutal the Gibson character was when they had to "Get ready to root for the bad guy," as the marketing had it.

Same old story about artists and Hollywood, but this time came a happier ending. In 2005, Paramount and Gibson gave Helgeland another shot at the film, eight years after its release. The tapes turned up missing, so Helgeland and his editor recut the film using film. And so we have "Payback: Straight Up -- the Director's Cut."

Now, this is one hard-boiled movie. Gibson plays a criminal who comes back to town looking for the partner who stole half his loot, and his wife, following a heist. Along the way he single-handedly takes on both the syndicate and Asian drug dealers, slugs a woman (a scene the studios cut), and stirs up a John Woo-like shootout as the bloody finale. Supporting actors Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry and Maria Bello all do fine work.

There are multiple DVD extras, including a director's commentary, but the one to catch is the half-hour "Same Story -- Different Movie," all about the film's resurrection. Audio and video are sharp on the DVD -- and better on high definition discs, although in places the colors seem a bit too jacked up for a gritty, bleach-bypass film. "Payback" comes from the same book as "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin, an even better film from 1969.

Great director's cut
I really enjoyed the Theatrical release of Payback. However, I heard at the time that it was not the intended version of the film. Upon seeing this version, you can understand how different those versions are. This is a leaner, meaner version of the film, and it gets rid of the silly, rotary car phones, for instance. Definitely pick this up if you're a fan of Payback.