Payback (1999)
Directed by Brian Helgeland
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, Porter's partners and the crooked cops on his tail learn how bad payback can be.
14 connections found
View:
14 films that influenced Payback
What critics say influenced Payback
Drawing from the same pulp novel as John Boorman's great 1967 "Point Blank," screenwriter Brian Helgeland's intermittently diverting directorial debut is intentionally spun from the same wiry strands as the work of such unpretentious journeymen as Don Siegel (there's even a sly reference to Siegel's "Charley Varrick" in a hotel's name).
And with characters named Carter (a nod to 1971's original Get Carter) and Bronson (a nod to Charles Bronson, the star of many a '70s crime/revenge thriller), references to the Outfit (a nod to John Flynn's 1973 crime-thriller, The Outfit, which is also based on a Westlake novel) and a bar named Varrick's (a nod to Don Siegel's 1973 crime gem Charley Varrick), Payback is a tough, entertaining homage to the kind of gritty '70s crime film that long ago gave way to a slicker yet tamer form of action movie.
…only vaguely resembles the book on which it was based ("The Hunter" by Richard Stark) or the previous movie version, John Boorman's "Point Blank."
Directed by Brian Helgeland (the screenwriter for L.A. Confidential ) in his feature debut, Payback is a re-make of John Boorman's 1967 edge-of-the-seat movie, Point Blank.
…novel more than 30 years ago in the still enjoyable Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin in the Gibson role), forcing the picture to be moved off of last summer?s…
It's an adaptation of Richard Stark's book The Hunter -- which also was the basis for John Boorman's highly regarded 1967 film Point Blank, with Lee Marvin in the role played now by Gibson.
The story's based on The Hunter, an old book by pulp novelist Donald E. Westlake (writing pseudonymously), the same one that also inspired the 1967 Lee Marvin film Point Blank, directed by John Boorman.
Payback is a new version of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Hunter, which was brilliantly filmed in 1967 as Point Blank.
Paying homage to the likes of Dirty Harry, Charles Bronson and Starsky and Hutch ... "Payback" is a "Death Wish" of the '90s.
William Devane plays an underwritten upper-rung syndicate crook much like the one he played in Marathon Man, where he was in cahoots with Laurence Olivier?s torturous Nazi dentist.
Advertisement
Even if he has to kill every single person in "The Outfit," he is determined to get the money back.
And with characters named Carter (a nod to 1971's original Get Carter) and Bronson (a nod to Charles Bronson, the star of many a '70s crime/revenge thriller), references to the Outfit (a nod to John Flynn's 1973 crime-thriller, The Outfit, which is also based on a Westlake novel) and a bar named Varrick's (a nod to Don Siegel's 1973 crime gem Charley Varrick), Payback is a tough, entertaining homage to the kind of gritty '70s crime film that long ago gave way to a slicker yet tamer form of action movie.
Compared to the hard-as-nails American action pictures of the 1960s and 1970s (I'm thinking of stuff like Bullitt and The French Connection), Payback is kiddy time, with lots of attitude but nothing truly startling showing up on-screen.
Payback is a loose remake of Point Blank, the (overpraised) 1967 John Boorman suspenser, but you could argue that it's really a pulpier Dirty Harry minus the hypocrisy.
To borrow a line from Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "He's not bad, he's just drawn that way." "Payback" is a decidedly adult film featuring: a drug overdose; a sadomasochistic hooker, played perfectly by "Ally McBeal"'s Lucy Liu; another standard hooker with the standard "heart of gold" played by Maria Bello, best known for her role on TV's "ER;" and Henry as the aforementioned Val, the slimeball who crosses our tainted hero.
To borrow a line from Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "He's not bad, he's just drawn that way."
Advertisement
Nor is having a villain as the central protagonist much of a big deal either, as recently proven in the fun and witty crime film, "Get Shorty" where John Travolta's criminal character was a favorite among audiences.
Mostly directed by Brian Helgeland (writer of Gibson's "Conspiracy Theory" and the "L.A. Confidential" screenplay) -- I'll explain the "mostly" in a minute -- "Payback" is photographed in steel blue hues to give it the gritty look of cheap film stock, and everything from the camera movement to the funk-inspired score has a heavy '70s influence, although the film takes place in no set time or place.
Debut director Brian Helgeland, who wrote the screenplay with a late rewrite by Terry Hayes (Dead Calm), has churned out scripts for the Oscar-winning hit L.A. Confidential (with Curtis Hanson) and Gibson?s lackluster Conspiracy Theory, as well as the Kevin Costner clunker The Postman (with Eric Roth).
You may notice that I've concentrated on Gibson in this review, rather than screenwriter/director Brian Helgeland (he's best known for co-writing L.A. Confidential , but his credits also include the so-so Gibson vehicle Conspiracy Theory).
The actual invasion, in the narrative and dialogue, is timed to arrive about 30 minutes into this directorial debut of Brian Helgeland, writer of L.A. Confidential as well as Conspiracy Theory.
Mel Gibson, in yet another disappointing picture ("Conspiracy Theory" and "Lethal Weapon 4," anyone?), stars as the reprehensible villain/hero, Porter, a man who becomes determined to get his 50% share of $140,000, which he stole in a robbery, back when his partner-in-crime (Gregg Henry) and drug-addicted wife (Deborah Kara Unger) double-cross him, shoot him, and leave him for dead.
I'm not usually a fan of movies whose main element is gunfire, but I have to admit that Brian Helgeland's background as a writer ( L.A. Confidential , Conspiracy Theory) helped him immensely in his big-screen directorial debut.