Payback Review
by Akiva Gottlieb (akiva AT excite DOT com)February 22nd, 1999
Payback **
rated R
starring Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer, Deborah Unger written by Brian Helgeland and Terry Hayes
based on the novel "The Hunter" by Donald E. Westlake(as Richard Stark) directed by Brian Helgeland
In the past decade, filmmakers have decided that people want to see movies that look "cool". And who could blame them? In today's society, it's all about what's cool and what's not. For a long time, Mel Gibson has been the poster boy of "cool". So those executives down at Paramount probably decided that they should take Mel Gibson and revive a character known to many readers of crime fiction; a character named Parker, from the bestselling series by Donald E. Westlake, and make it into an early '99 movie. And if that wasn't cool enough, they took Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland, writer of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL(and, sadly, CONSPIRACY THEORY) and asked him to direct his first feature film. And then, just for the "cool" shock value, they decided to load it up with gruesome action violence(including a scene where a character's nosering gets ripped out), "cool" faux-Elmore Leonard dialogue, and dark, silvery lighting. But in the midst of all this coolness, there was the actual movie. And it's a shame to say that it is not nearly the sum of its parts.
For one thing Mel Gibson's Porter character is mean, mean, and mean. The film's tagline, "Get Ready to Root For the Bad Guy" isn't even the half of it. The loose storyline is that Porter and his former partner Val(Gregg Henry) worked on a heist in which they got $140,000 to share. Val then double-crosses Porter, and runs off with the cash and his junkie wife(Deborah Unger), who ends up shooting him. After "surgery", Porter is out to seek his 70,000 bucks, and he will waste no time in butchering anyone who doesn't give him what he wants. The people behind this movie probably thought that Porter was so "cool", that they forgot that they're not the ones who're gonna be paying to see the movie. I mean, are we supposed to like this guy? First-time director Brian Helgeland slums once again with this lowly crime thriller. Even comic turns from Kris Kristofferson and James Coburn cannot keep PAYBACK from being nothing more than trash. Every once in a while there is a good line, but if you want to see a much better better version of the same novel, see John Boorman's POINT BLANK. Throughout PAYBACK, I couldn't help but think of OUT OF SIGHT, far better and more richly styled than anything in this Mel Gibson vehicle. I think audiences deserve a movie that earns its coolness.
review by the Teenage Movie Critic
[email protected]
www.angeflire.com/mo/film
_______________________________________________________
Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
