Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Payback’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

When it comes to movies, and I suppose stories in generals, it’s usually quite easy to recognize who our hero and our villains are at any given moment. Because most stories don’t need to blur the lines between those types of characters, they simply need them to fill their roles and that’s not an insult by any means, for great stories have come about by giving us incredibly pure heroes and dastardly villains who will stop at nothing who harm others. And if anything, keeping those roles defined, helps the audience to digest whatever larger concepts the story is sending their way.
 
Plus, having every element character wise cemented in black and white, also helps the audience escape reality, for in the everyday world, I think we can all agree upon the fact that few things are ever black or white. Because people do tend to operate in a grey area, and that includes those we could classify as heroes or villains and well, I think that’s why you have to appreciate motion pictures that take the time to remove the guise of people just being good or bad, since those kinds of stories, tend to challenge the audience and their characters in new and exciting ways. And recently, I took the time to revisit a movie that came out in 1999, that does just that, in Payback.
 
Now in this particular film, we are introduced to a man named Porter and well, he’s seen better days. For Porter has been on the mend for some time now, following an unfortunate double cross after a heist. But now that he’s healed and back in town, Porter only has two things on his mind, revenge and the money he’s owed. And now he will do whatever it takes to find the man that turned his back on him, and he will face off against the powerful Syndicate and crooked cops and every weasel and low life in between to get his hands on that sweet, sweet seventy grand. And yes, that’s right, he’s only in this for seventy-thousand dollars, because hey…it’s the principle of the thing. 

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​If anything, this motion picture is hands down a guilty pleasure of mine, simply due to the fact that it is just an utter delight to watch. There’s no deeper meaning to be found here, or some grand statement on our world or our lives, just a noir-ish story that focuses heavily on folks who operate in the grey area and it is the characters that sell this dark and angry story because every last one of them are as colorful as they come. Obviously, Porter, played brilliantly by Mel Gibson, steals the show, but everyone he meets has an agenda or a quirk and seeing all of these pieces come together makes this movie a blast to sit through as you plunge yourself into the strange underworld present in this unnamed city. 
 
However, while this is indeed one of those films that more or less offers exactly what it advertises in that, Porter is going to kick some gangster butt in order to get his money, what truly fascinates me about this movie, is that two vastly different iterations of it exist. Because due to some conflict behind the scenes, revolving around the final cut/presentation of this film, we received a much more lighthearted version in theaters. But thanks to the wonder of DVD, a much gritter director’s cut arrived on the home video market and my goodness, what a bleak movie this is without its perkier moments. In fact, I have to admit I prefer this alternate version to the theatrical one since it truly presents us with a raw and angry world filled to the brim with fascinating slime balls, and also due to the fact that it so wildly bucks the norm when it comes to crime related cinema.
 
Yet, while it seems as though I’m trying to steer you clear from the Theatrical Cut or speak poorly of it, that’s simply not the case. I always prefer a gritter story when given the choice, but I honestly love both versions of this motion picture. Simply due to the fact that Payback really is something different, thanks to the fact that this story lives up to the tagline featured on its poster, for you really do root for the bad guy, since you want to see Porter right the wrong that befell him and well, if you haven’t seen this film, please do. Because it really is quite the entertaining ride and a wonderful way to get lost in a story for a couple of hours.  

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