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The 1999 theatrical release of Payback came and went without hardly a notice from this film fan. I know that I saw it in the theater. And I know that I thought it was "okay." But in February of '99, I was 19 years old, and was probably more interested in offbeat horror flicks like Ravenous or the mondo genius of Being John Malkovich. At the time I had no idea who Richard Stark or Donald Westlake was and I had only seen a smattering of films made before the 1980s. Lee Marvin was a god to come; Mel Gibson had just lost his cool cred' with the abismal Lethal Weapon 4 and with Payback I was probably hoping for a return to action badassery.
The Payback theatrical cut is not a bad movie. But...if you've never read The Hunter than the film will probably not stir a single serious emotion in your mind or body. A solid, crime revenge film that doesn't really differentiate itself from a dozen other crime revenge films. Mel Gibson is Porter. Shot, left for dead. On his belly with a back alley doctor clawing bullets out his back; a thin narration lets you know its all about the Seventy grand and maybe a little retribution if can score it.
Mel Gibson is a solid Parker (Porter). As writer/Director Brian Helgeland says during a DVD extra, "You get Mel cuz Humphrey Bogart is dead." He has that charming scumbag quality that Bogart displays in flicks like The Petrified Forest. They say and do terrible things and you love them for that. When Porter puts a pillow over a defeated colleague's face and pops a few rounds through, you crack a smile if not cheer outright.
Payback has a taste of Richard Stark's novel and a taste of John Boorman's Point Blank, but Mel Gibson is never quite as cold as Parker or as angry vicious as Lee Marvin's Walker. There's too much heart in Porter. He's definitely pissed that his wife shot him in the back. And he totally wants to kill Val (not Mal like the book) for the double-cross, but he shows too much heart for Maria Bello's Rosie and he's missing that calculating distance. Plus, you have that awful narration completely betraying the intelligence and the code of Parker, and if you've read the books than you're tearing at your scalp every time the inner monologue starts.
Now, fastfoward seven years and Warner Brothers & producer Mel Gibson throw more cash into Payback and allow Helgeland back into the editing room. See, in 1999 WB didn't understand or want the violent world of Porter; what they wanted was a quirky, post-QT/Lock Stock ironic crime action picture. After a few test screenings, they fired Helgeland and hired Paul Abascal for ten days of reshoots completely altering the tone and rewriting the climax with this goofy, stupid Kris Kristofferson offspring kidnapping bit.
Watching the Payback: Straight Up Edition blu ray is a shocking, revelatory experience. I have seen plenty of Director Cuts in my time (Blade Runner, Aliens, Superman II, Watchmen, etc), but I have never seen a director's cut that radically alters the movie as much as this one. It's a totally different film with a completely different 30 minute climax and a much more vicious Porter.
Gone is the silly, very 90s blue bleached bypass print. Gone is the horribly stupid narration. Most of the quippy humor has been stripped from the script. But most importantly, Parker's cold, mechanical rage has been restored.
The film opens proper. A new quote runs red over black, "principle n 1: one's own rule or code of conduct or devotion to such a code." Porter marches across the George Washington Bridge, bloody betrayal boils underneath. He still steals the bums money, pulls the right cons to get him back on his feet. But the whole vibe is different. Chris Boardman's score has been completely replaced by the quiet cool of Scott Stambler. Porter still door kicks Deborah Kara Unger, but it's not just a sudden burst of anger. It's a seething anger. It's almost Lee Marvin angry. No punchers or knives or irons pulled.
And No Kris Kristofferson and his god awful, horny son!!! Yes! In fact, Bronson doesn't even show up in Helgeland's cut; nope The Outfit's matriarch only appears as a voice seeping through a speaker. Porter has to settle on proper low rent criminals like Greg Henry, William Devane, and James Coburn to beat and torture.
The Straight Up Edition, miraculously (yep, it had to be divine intervention!), reveals a nearly spot-on adaptation of Richard Stark's The Hunter. It's not perfect (again, that would be the Darwyn Cooke graphic novel), but the professional and amoral brilliance of Parker has been re-edited into Mel Gibson's Porter. And, yes, we can now finally Root for the Bad Guy.
--Brad
