Payback - Straight Up - The Director's Cut [HD DVD] | ![Payback - Straight Up - The Director's Cut [HD DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dpZ1Iyv%2BL._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Brian Helgeland
Actors: Maria Bello, Hugh Callaly, Stephen Cinabro, James Coburn, Jack Conley
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $6.87
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Seller: imprintmusic
Rating:  91 reviews
Sales Rank: 51376
Format: AC-3, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: HD DVD
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: HD119794
UPC: 097361197944
EAN: 0097361197944
ASIN: B000MTFFUY
Theatrical Release Date: April 10, 2007
Release Date: April 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Paramount Payback - HD-DVD
Mel Gibson portrays Porter, a career criminal bent on revenge after his partnersin 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 heartpounding end, Payback pays off big.
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
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 91
 The original was better March 1, 2010
Jeff Clark
Having owned and lost the DVD version of the original, I replaced it with the "Director's Cut" and was disappointed. Apparently I don't know a good movie when I see one, because I thought the original was head and shoulders better. In fact, I've just ordered the original to replace the "Director's Cut". The original held my attention from beginning to end, while the director's cut allowed a few trips to the kitchen while the plot thickened. The new ending was a disappointment and didn't give the same closure as the original. Viva la Original!
 Payback - The Director's Cut (Special Collector's Edition) February 13, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
Val Resnick and Porter, two small time bandits, hit a Chinese gang together and manage to get $140,000. But Val Resnick needs 130 grand alone to buy himself back into his syndication. So, Val turns on Porter together with Porter's wife Lynn, who kills him with two shots in the back. But Porter survives and half a year later, he is back, seeking his share of $70,000. When he finally finds Val, Porter quickly learns that he has to go much further up the ladder in order to get his money from the guys who have it: The syndication. Working alone can't be realized any more, so Porter teams up with his flame and previous boss Rosie, a very exclusive prostitute. Together, they now start playing the teams against each other. "Payback" is one of those highly entertaining movies that make you forget your sorrows for a moment and entertains you right till the end. Solid entertainment.
The better version February 4, 2010
smoothsoul (New Zealand)
The director's cut of "Payback" is an excellent movie. I liked the original - it had a witty script, and it kept you guessing. But this is the better version. The script is beautifully paced and modulated. It's a small scale movie, very seventies. The original was quite Hollywoodized - it's easier to see that now in comparison.
Yes, this version is dark, but the film is so original and clever that you keep watching it, keep enjoying it. It's a very intelligent piece of work. It's now and then just a little rough around the edges, as you might epect from a first-time director, but it's a high calibre work from a filmmaker with a clear vision.
It's a shame Pauline Kael never got to see this. For me, this is one of the best modern noirs ...
 It's my right, for better or worse! February 2, 2010
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
Payback is another remake of John Borman's famous noir "Point Blank", a crucial film that replanted and brought back the genre in 1967.
The plot is very simple, a man has been sent to prison due a heist. These years in jail made him think and rethink about just one thing: to seek revenge and obtain his participation in this plan . While his partners enjoyed the world (he never compromised them) he is absolutely convinced he is right, and once he obtains his liberty, the adventure will begin.
Despite of the fact the marvelous Lee Marvin's actoral skills were part of this fundamental Noir,Gibson's charisma picks up his previous features (an accurate blend of Mad Max, Lethal weapon and Brave heart) plus the high tension will capture your attention from start to finish, even its predictability.
One of the most explosive films of 1999.
The Cut to Have! January 22, 2010
L. Cabos (planet earth)
When I first saw PAYBACK it felt odd. Seeing the director's cut and what was done by Gibson's company and the studio, it is now apparent why. This cut of the film WORKS and is every bite as tough and gritty as John Boorman's 1967 version with Lee Marvin. The feature on how this came to be is very interesting. If you like neo-noir, a dark anti-hero, cold vengence, this one is for you. The whole sequence with Kris Kristoferson is gone and the film takes a very different feel. There is also an interesting interview with the late Donald Westlake about the film based on his Richard Stark novel.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 91
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