Get ready to root for the bad guy.
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.
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Character
Relentless, bleak, grave and unpretentious.
- contemplativerelentless
- warmbleak
- gravecomic
- unpretentiousprestige
- character-ledplot-driven
Who loves it, who doesn't
45 profiled raters. Loved most by The Provocateurs; disliked most by The Formalists.
Where do you stand?
Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.
“Is this Brian Helgeland's best work?”
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“Does the pace leave no room to feel anything?”
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“Is the revenge satisfying?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Wuchakon TMDB · Jun 20216/10
_**Amusing neo-noir in Chicago with Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry and Maria Bello**_ After a heist with an Asian gang, a no-nonsense man (Mel Gibson) is left for dead by his accomplices (Gregg Henry & Deborah Kara Unger) in the underbelly of the Big City, but he unexpectedly recovers and wants vengeance, not to mention his $70,000. Maria Bello, Lucy Liu, William Devane, Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn and other notables are on hand. "Payback" (1999) is modern film noir with colors so muted it’s almost B&W (although I hear the Director’s Cut heightens them). It’s a remake of Coburn’s “Point Blank” (1967) and is ‘hip’ & entertaining in an amusing Tarantino kind of way, although it’s nowhere close to the greatness of “Pulp Fiction” (1994) or even “Jackie Brown” (1997). However, my wife liked it more than me and gave it 7/10, but then she’s a fan of Gibson. The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and was shot mainly in Chicago, along with Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles with studio stuff done in Burbank. There’s also an establishing shot of Manhattan. GRADE: B-
Read the whole review on TMDB - John Chardon TMDB · Sep 20148.5/10
Indestructible Gibson in grim and gritty telling of The Hunter. This is not an out and out remake of John Boorman's 1967 offering Point Blank, the structure is different from the 67 film, and where Point Blank is a dark psychological thriller that is rightly regarded as being towards the top of the neo-noir tree, this Brian Helgeland directed film really should be seen as a different interpretation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Hunter. Mel Gibson plays tough as nails thief Porter, who is double crossed, shot, and then left for dead by his wife Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger) and his partner in crime Val Resnick (Gregg Henry). We are then taken on a dark journey as Porter sets out to reclaim the $70.000 that he was shot and almost killed for. He wants no more, no less than what he is owed, and he literally will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Including taking on the Chicago mob organisation known as The Outfit. Payback is a mean and violent movie, it is unrelenting in its willingness to keep nastiness at the top of the story. The film is full of flawed and vile people, even Porter himself, the closest we have to a (anti) hero has badness coursing through his veins, he is a dislik
Read the whole review on TMDB - tmdb15435519on TMDB · May 20218/10
An underrated crime noir that somehow snuck it's way into the overcrowded 90s. With phrases like, "expected horizontal refreshment", you know this is going to be good.
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Cast
- Mel GibsonPorter
- Gregg HenryVal Resnick
- Maria BelloRosie
- David PaymerArthur Stegman
- Bill DukeDet. Hicks
- Deborah Kara UngerMrs. Lynn Porter
- John GloverPhil
- William DevaneCarter
- Lucy LiuPearl
- Kris KristoffersonBronson
Crew
- Brian HelgelandDirector
- Brian HelgelandScreenplay
- Terry HayesScreenplay
- Donald E. WestlakeNovel
- Ericson CoreDirector of Photography
- Chris BoardmanOriginal Music Composer
- Kevin StittEditor
- Bruce DaveyProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
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Split Second 199273% alikeBoth unpretentious, plot-driven.
Black Lagoon 200675% alikeTelevision · Both unpretentious, relentless, grave.
Game · Both grave, bleak.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds
