PAYBACK (M).
Director:Brian Helgeland
Stars: Mel
Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello,
Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn
(uncredited), David Paymer, Bill Duke,
William Devane, Lucy Liu, Deborah
Kara Unger
Running Time:104 minutes.
Brian Helgeland, the guy who wrote LA
Confidential and Conspiracy Theory, finally gets the
chance to direct, with this unapologetically tough and
amoral crime thriller.
Mel Gibson is largely playing against type as the
tough, repellent anti-hero Porter, a small time criminal
who specialises in payroll heists. During a payroll
robbery, Porter is double crossed by his wife and her
lover and left for dead. The sleazy Val (Gregg
Henry), who likes his kinky sex with a sadistic edge,
owes money to a shadowy criminal syndicate, known
only as The Outfit.
Porter comes looking for vengeance, hoping to
recover his half of the stolen money from Val, who
has managed to worm his way back in with the
Outfit. Porter's quest eventually leads him into an
escalating war with the Outfit and its ultimate
supremo Bronson (Kris Kristofferson, wonderful in
a small role). But Porter has his own moral code and
is only interested in getting his $70,000, whatever it
takes. "You're doing this for a principle? For
$70,000?" asks an astonished James Coburn. "Hell,
my suits cost more than that!"
Also caught in the cross fire are the usual underworld
low life denizens, some crooked cops, and Stegman
(David Paymer), a slimy taxi despatcher and small
time drug dealer with ambitions to join the Outfit. In
Porter's world there are no innocent bystanders.
Porter's only ally is Rosie (ER's Maria Bello), a high
priced call girl for whom he has a soft spot.
Payback is actually a remake of John Boorman's
tough and visually stylish 1967 crime thriller Point
Blank, which featured Lee Marvin. That film was
also again loosely remade in 1974, as The Outfit, with
Robert Duvall playing the role of the vengeance
seeking criminal. Like its two predecessors, Payback
has been based on The Hunter, a novel written by
Richard Stark (a pseudonym used by Donald E
Westlake, when he wanted to break away from
comic capers like The Hot Rock, etc, and write tough,
violent, genre thrillers).
And Payback is certainly violent! Gone is the
disposable comic book like violence of Gibson's
Lethal Weapon series, replaced with a more
disconcerting, vicious, callous and gratuitous violence.
Helgeland's direction is certainly proficient and pacy,
and he revels in the graphic blood letting. Helgeland
peppers the film with many noir like touches, and
Payback also has a deliberately old fashioned, '70's
look about it. Helgeland also adds a touch of dark
humour to proceedings. He wastes few moments, and
his crisp and stylish direction is the perfect cinematic
equivalent of Stark's terse prose.
Gibson was apparently unhappy with the tyro
director's finished film, and reshot about 30%,
including the final scenes, giving Helgeland's original
vision a darker tone. Gibson also brought in
Kristofferson to play the mob boss.
Gibson brings a hard, unforgiving edge and weary
quality to his performance as a ruthless criminal,
although his unsympathetic choice of role here may
come as something of a surprise to many of his fans.
The performances of the supporting cast are solid,
with Kristofferson, an uncredited Coburn, and
William Devane oozing smarmy sincerity as the
triumvirate who rule the Outfit.
Although a slickly produced crime thriller, Payback is
also very violent, and one of Gibson's nastier and
more disposable efforts.