Payback
01/11/17 Filed in: Amazon Prime
The other evening I was browsing Amazon's catalogue and came across this 1999 film with Mel Gibson. The summary sounded interesting so I went for it.
It's a classic crime movie from perhaps a earlier age. I subsequently read that the director wanted to shoot it in black and white, but the studio wouldn't agree. Instead the colours were 'bleached' in post-production, giving it a monochromatic feel, particularly during the street scenes. There's lots of violence but also a degree of black comedy, much revolving around an ongoing 'misunderstanding' over a sum of money that Gibson's character 'Porter' is trying to get back.
We start with Porter being treated in a far from clinical environment for the removal of bullets from his back. It's a while before we see the reason for his condition, which basically arose because of a betrayal by his wife Lynn, and a partner in crime Val Resnick. Resnick is in any event a sado-masochist, who not only likes hurting people but also enjoys pain inflicted at the hands of a particularly brutal sex worker. He's also in hoc to the syndicate, this being the reason for his original betrayal of Porter.
Having come back from the dead, Porter is out for revenge, having got himself refinanced with a series of petty crimes. He seeks out his wife who has become addicted to heroin and doesn't need any help on her way to the grave. But his real target is Resnick. What follows is a classic one man against the syndicate type of story. Porter's resourcefulness is pitted against the syndicate's brawn, and while Porter doesn't always get away Scott free, he does effectively run rings around those who are seeking to bury him. His situation is complicated by a Chinese gang, from whence came the money that led to the original betrayal, and two bent detectives, who have sights on the money once Porter recovers it.
Porter looks up a high class prostitute named Rosie, for whom he used to drive for, and who it seems was the reason his wife turned against him. Rosie is in with the syndicate, which is useful, giving Porter inside information but at the same time putting herself at risk. Between the two of them they pull off the impossible, leading to an ending that for me seemed a little too neat. It appears that it was also not what the director wanted, and because of this he was taken off the film. A director's cut version, Payback: Straight Up, with his preferred ending was released in 2006.
This is a very passable crime movie although it seems that the final product was far from what the original director wanted. That same director, Brian Helgeland won an Oscar for LA Confidential.
Porter looks up a high class prostitute named Rosie, for whom he used to drive for, and who it seems was the reason his wife turned against him. Rosie is in with the syndicate, which is useful, giving Porter inside information but at the same time putting herself at risk. Between the two of them they pull off the impossible, leading to an ending that for me seemed a little too neat. It appears that it was also not what the director wanted, and because of this he was taken off the film. A director's cut version, Payback: Straight Up, with his preferred ending was released in 2006.
This is a very passable crime movie although it seems that the final product was far from what the original director wanted. That same director, Brian Helgeland won an Oscar for LA Confidential.