Payback - The Director's Cut (Special Collector's Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Brian Helgeland
Actors: Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer, Bill Duke
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 3708
Format: Color, Ntsc, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Published)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 90
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 041164
UPC: 097360411645
EAN: 0097360411645
ASIN: B000M3439O
Theatrical Release Date: April 10, 2007
Release Date: April 10, 2007
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Condition: Ships first class from New York City. All items are official products. We have a positive feedback rating of 96% - buy with confidence!
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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
Product Description
Mel Gibson portrays Porter a career criminal bent on revenge after his partners in a street heist pump metal into him and take off with his $70000 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.System Requirements:Run Time: 90 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: UNRATED UPC: 097360411645 Manufacturer No: 041164
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 Tom Keogh is an idiot July 9, 2008
Please do not believe a single word of the official review above. There is a good reason that they took the movie away and changed it - this version is awful. I was a huge fan of the original, which was an excellent neo-noir that had edges both in the noir-ish violence and the great dark humor. It was a dark, funny, generally awesome movie. This version takes out the great music, and somehow makes all the characters just feel less lively. The whole thing drags. If there is any justice in the world, they will re release the original theater cut.
 Not the same movie! June 5, 2008
Let me say right off that just because the title of the review says "Not the same movie!" doesn't mean that I didn't like it. Payback is one of my top ten favorite movies. I figured a "director's cut" version could only mean "that movie, plus some stuff that was left out of the theatrical release" - that's what most director's cut versions are.
This movie is drastically different. A good bit of the beginning of the movie is the same with a few added scenes. However, the further into the movie you get, the less it resembles the theatrical release, and it ends much, much differently.
I'm far from disappointed, just very surprised because I didn't know any of the backstory behind the production of this movie. Watching the featurette in the special features helped clear up all my questions about why it was so different.
 Just Who Are the Good Guys? April 18, 2008
Another old Mel Gibson movie that has been remastered and transferred to HD DVD. This movie is about treachery, murder and revenge. Even though you don't see any shots of cell phones or computer screens, it's still a well made movie and doesn't appear dated. Gibson plays a con man and pick pocket who'll even steal from a beggar on the street. Gibson and another one of his hoodlum buddies arrange a heist of an rival Asian gang of thugs' receipts and succeeds without a hitch. But Gibson's partner pulls a double cross along with Gibson's wife and shoots him in the back, leaving him for dead, taking his share of the money. Gibson somehow survives, but wants his money back. He goes out to get it. Along the way, he encounters some dirty cops who are shaking down the criminals, a mafia boss or two, the one that double crossed him, and eventually the head of the syndicate. Gibson is a sort of an anti hero, even though he's a crook himself, he's not as bad as the others and you'll be pulling for him all the way. There's plenty of action in this film and a lot of killing and profanity. After you watched this movie, you'll ask yourself, this man made "The Passion of Christ"?
Different ending April 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of my favourites movies and I wanted it in HD. While the visual quality and the sound were very good, I was disappointed by the total change of the movie. I was aware it was a director's cut, but I was expecting few scenes in/out; no, the ending is totally different and the rest of the movie is slightly changed to fit the end. I just felt it had no twist, just the regular "kill the bad guys till the end" movie. For first time viewers, this version might be enjoyable, but with no lasting impressions.
I gave it a good rating for the presentation, recommending it for fans only if they are curious about other versions of it.
 Stick with the original March 19, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm a huge fan of the theatrical release of Payback. It's one of those movies that is enjoyable every time you watch it. Considering that, I was very interested in the "Straight Up" edition. Yes it's the same story, told slightly different; yes it's more violent; and no, it's not as good. The movie feels very forced at times, in several directions: the violence, the dialog, and the severe lack of humor. What was funny in the theatrical release is dead-pan here.
About the violence, there really isn't THAT much more in the movie. The problem is that the violence is unexpected, unwarranted, and just brings the movie down. It's out of place and made me reminisce about how much I liked the way the original flowed.
Now, if this release included the Theatrical release in addition to all the extras, I would be giving a 5-star rating and writing a raving review. But for me, this "new" version just doesn't cut it.
If you're really curious, rent it or buy it used. Otherwise you'll just be disappointed.
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