All Rise...

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Payback -- Straight Up: The Director's Cut (published April 10th, 2007) and Payback -- Straight Up: The Director's Cut (Blu-ray) (published April 10th, 2007) are also available.

The Charge

Get ready to root for the bad guy.

Opening Statement

Paramount brings the darkly comedic film Payback to DVD with a great transfer, but fair warning to Mel Gibson fans, this isn't your typical Mel-movie.

The Evidence

After a successful run as a screenwriter, whose credits include L.A. Confidential and Conspiracy Theory, Brian Helgeland brings his "film-noir" sense to Payback, based on the Richard Stark novel "The Hunter." This time around Helgeland steps behind the camera to help bring his cinematic vision to life.

Not for the faint of heart, Payback is the darkly comedic story of Porter (Gibson). Double-crossed by his "friend" Val (Gregg Henry) and his wife Lynn (Deborah Unger), Porter recovers from a gunshot wound to his back (placed there by his wife) and returns to the streets to get his share of the money he stole with Val from the Chinese mob. In order to enter a crime syndicate, Val spent all the money gained from his heist with Porter as an entry fee to join the criminal group. Once Porter realizes he won't be able to get his money back from Val, he targets the crime syndicate to get his payback. The film progresses at a violent and funny rate as Porter deals with his girlfriend (Maria Bello), corrupt police officers, and the Chinese mob (looking to get their money back). All this for $70,000, as Porter is a man of principles and only wants what he is entitled to. Payback is packed with character actors who have great supporting performances; including Lucy Alexis Liu, James Coburn, William Devane, and Kris Kristofferson.

Mel Gibson fans should be wary of Payback, as it is not the typical, lighthearted Mel Gibson movie. Though Gibson's character in this film is a criminal, the audience is able to rally behind Porter as he takes on other criminals. Porter only battles unsavory-types which makes it easier to "root for the bad guy." Porter is a bad guy, but he only takes his frustrations out on those as bad as he is. Therefore, the film spares itself from becoming too dark, but was dark enough to turn off most audiences in the theaters.

Helgeland's Payback is surprisingly watchable and remains entertaining through repeat viewings. Thankfully, you can now watch Payback as much as you desire on DVD. Paramount does another good job transferring film-to-disc with this DVD. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen video transfer looks stunning. The film itself is very dark, which is complimented by the heavy gray filters used on the image in Payback, setting a dark mood. Throughout the film, the transfer holds up with no visible artifacting or image problems. The disc's 5.1 Dolby Digital* track is also impressive. Gunfire, explosions, car crashes, and punches all sound realistic and are well placed on the soundstage. One of the better aspects of the audio transfer is the great noir-ish soundtrack to the film that is placed in perfect balance with all other sound on the audio track.

Then there is the extra content…not too much to be had here, but an improvement for Paramount. First of all, the 16x9 anamorphic enhancement on the video transfer should be looked upon as an extra coming from Paramount, as it now seems to be placed on every new release. Along with that, Payback contains two theatrical trailers and a short production featurette (self serving to the film, as usual). Not too much, but I'll take what I can get from Paramount.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I have no problems with the transfer on this disc, only the extra content. Paramount seems to be cleaning up its act, in most aspects, with DVD but still needs to focus in on the extra feature department. There are tons of extras that would make Payback an outstanding disc, but that would require extra time, effort, and money from Paramount. An audio commentary from Brain Helgeland would be nice, as would a few deleted scenes, and possibly a comparison between Payback and the Richard Stark novel, "The Hunter."

The future of Paramount is still unclear, but they seem to be going in the right direction with their recent switchover to anamorphic widescreen. Hopefully, in the coming months, we can see Paramount continue to improve their DVD product and start releasing discs with some major extra content.

Closing Statement

Payback is a dark comedy that will only fit the taste of certain viewers. If you enjoy Payback, as I did, the DVD presents a nice way to watch the film for repeated viewings. Unless you've seen this film, I highly suggest a rental first. Those who have seen and enjoyed the film, this disc is a nice movie-only purchase. I wouldn't hold my breath for a special edition of this film within the next few years.

The Verdict

The film is acquitted but the disc is sentenced to two years hard labor and a $70,000 fine for lack of extra content.

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Did we give Payback a fair trial? yes / no

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