“I said I was next in the coffee queue!”
Porter hasn’t cracked a smile in years. Porter wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire, unless you happened to be in his way – in which case he’d piss on you even if you didn’t need it.
Happier times…
So when Porter is fucked over by his shonky even for a bad guy Val (Gregg Henry) and his own wife for his proceeds of crime, ending up left for dead on the cold cement floor and riddled with bullets, Porter doesn’t waste time worrying about motivation, planning or emotion.
He just wants his money back.
Porter wants Payback.
Dun-DuNNNNNNNNNN!
Payback is a short movie but when you don’t mess around with the small stuff and move in such a straight line as Porter does things don’t take as long.
Once he’s back on his feet he has but one goal, to get his money back from Val. The fact that Val has since taken the money and used it to buy into a massive crime syndicate is irrelevant, the fact that his wife is a total junkie skank now is merely annoying. Porter doesn’t try to hide or sneak around, he moves with purpose and uses abrupt violence and blunt demands to find what he needs to know. He then confronts Val in his high security apartment and provides his ultimatum, the cash or else… though actually AND else.
Were it only that simple.
Val works for a crime syndicate imaginatively titled The Outfit, he uses an S & M hooker (Lucy Lui) with ties to the triads – the very same triads that Val and Porter ripped off to get the 70K in the first place. There are also corrupt cops who want to dip their hands in the cookie jar too, and to cap that off various other nasty guys who wish ill upon Porter at various times.
The only ally Porter finds is an ex who works for The Outfit named Rosie (Maria Bello), she provides shelter and warmth, until she realises that Porter either can not or will not reciprocate her care.
Whether he was always like this or has simply evolved into this being is never implicitly stated, but Porter is now beyond caring, beyond fearing for his own safety or even worrying about taking on a massive heavily armed group of vicious criminals.
He just wants his cash.
Payback is a grim and emotionless film, driven by a straightline performance by Mel Gibson. There is precious little humour (though this review is for the Director’s cut, there is another that I will briefly discuss later), no real big explosions or eye catching stunts or fighting moves.
Payback is just a story of a man who wants what he feels is his and will do anything to get it back regardless of the odds or risks, and in that it succeeds. I’ll never tire of a quick witted duo stampeding through major cities laying the smack down on thousands of heavily armed foes as a hooky soundtrack blares in the background, but there is always room for a more low key, humourless and dark flick, especially when it maintains the tone of Payback.
You can see from my score that Payback isn’t a classic or especially noteworthy, but it is definitely worth checking out as a change from the increasingly lightweight stuff that passes for “action’ nowadays.
| The Original Cut vs the Director’s CutI watched the Director’s cut the other day, which was apparently the version deemed too dark and *GASP* non-commercial, hence didn’t make it to cinemas over a decade ago. (I did see the original in theatres and was impressed even then with the dark themes and gritty plot.)
Once I realised it was quite different and entire sequences that I remembered were cut out I went back and checked out the original version. There is an argument for both: the original had three or four songs that highlighted certain scenes and lent familiarity. It had more explosions, more jokes – albeit dry as a bone ones – and Porter was more resourceful and able to put together an intricate plan. The entire ending was different and the head of The Outfit was no longer a faceless voice on the end of a phone but a fully realised character. The Director’s cut was shorter and more straightforward. Porter took a more linear and less clever route to get what he wanted, moving up the chain of command with a singlemindedness that was lacking in the original. The jokes were gone altogether, the music changed to a more subtle original soundtrack and the explosions and unrealistic action gone. It’s probably easier to like the original version of the film, but I would think the Director’s version is a truer and better film. |
Final Rating – 7 / 10. As dark as any so-called ‘action’ film I can recall in a long, long time. Not an easy ride but a good film nonetheless.
On, and Mel puts his foot in his mouth in the special features where he defends the cutting of a scene with Porter beating his junkie wife in a fit of rage by saying “Look in the end we didn’t want to show violence against women”. He forgot to say “but in real life…”.
