Payback - Straight Up - The Director's Cut [Blu-ray] | ![Payback - Straight Up - The Director's Cut [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zD-rWlO0L._SL500_.jpg)
| Actors: William Devane, Bill Duke, John Glover, Gregg Henry, Sally Kellerman
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $10.71
You Save: $19.28 (64%)
New (44) Used (21) from $8.99
Rating:  169 reviews
Sales Rank: 21122
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: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: BR119784
UPC: 097361197845
EAN: 0097361197845
ASIN: B000MTFFV8
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Bluray Disc
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 164 more reviews...
 Directors cut < Original cut June 18, 2009
Setrack Abdo (NY, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I know the directors cut is different from another edition which is more popular, the non-directors cut is a much better movie with a way better ending. I wish this weren't the directors cut, I'd definitely buy it then. Good movie regardless.
Disappointment May 18, 2009
K. Strippel (Cleveland, OH)
My husband and I were both completely disappointed by this product. To begin with, we did not enjoy the director's cut version. I understand this is what the director had in mind, but I found this version to be a flat story without any climax - it wound around but didn't have the finishing touches of the theatrical version. I know not every movie is meant to entertain, but I just liked the theatrical version better. That being said, I would have preferred if the disc had both versions, so you could watch the one you liked better, or at least compare the two. Many films do this, but it is frustrating that some do not. Now the director's cut is the only one you can find. Whenever a movie is released as a director's cut, I think it should have the original as well. That it didn't was a serious lack, especially because we felt cheated by the new version. My opinion.
This is not the real thing, straight up it sucks. May 8, 2009
David A. Parada (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie sucks, the directors cut lost its edge, I love the original version, the darkness and the style, the gore, the background music and it's dark form is gone. I'm not a big Chris Cristopherson fan but even he's gone from this version, all scenes have been deleted, no smashing of the toes or the kidnapping of his kid. This director's cut is a whole different movie, different ending, and beggining. Its just an average movie, no wonder this cut wasn't release in theaters, once again it sucks, it may be good for a "B" movie but very dissapointing. I would've not waste my money if I'd known, I gave it 2 stars before the movie was over and when I finished watching it I tried to change it to 1 star but I couldn't is that bad!!!.
 All time favorite of mine. February 18, 2009
Steve Black (Garrison, Minnesota USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Payback is an all time favorite of mine. It's packed with action, smart one-liners and a huge all star cast. From the very first few seconds of the movie all the way to the end, it had my full attention. Every actor in the movie is superb. No one movie is for EVERYONE, but this movie should be enjoyable for most viewers. I'll always have this movie in my collection.
 Don't Buy February 9, 2009
Scott M. Wichern
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is not the original movie. I thought it came with the directors cut and the original. The directors cut severely lacks a great story. Up until he frames the cops the movie is the same but after that it is terrible. Kris Kristopherson is not even in it. The main person of the outfit is a woman who they don't even show!!!!!!! I repeat do not buy.
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