Payback - The Director's Cut (Special Collector's Edition)

Kudos to Gibson and Icon for giving Helgeland a chance to restore his film and get it out on this DVD. But a look at both versions (this disc does not include the theatrical cut) back-to-back can certainly make one's head spin. Icon's revisions in the original release show little faith in a contemporary audience's ability to discern much about a story or mood or character from spare but telling details. That film relies on crass swatches of voiceover narration, cute inserts, added scenes, and hipster tunes on the soundtrack. All of that was designed to tell an audience how to feel rather than encourage a cinematic experience encountered with an open heart and mind. Worst of all is a specious third act nakedly built around an obligatory Gibson-gets-tortured sequence, leading the film to a lazy, comforting conclusion. The Director's Cut eschews all of that. Gibson's character, Porter (based on the central character in the novel "The Hunter," written by Donald E. Westlake under the pseudonym Richard Stark), is a man returning from the brink of death with nothing but his identity and the memory of something (an almost-nominal amount of money) taken from him. His iron determination, his capacity for brutality and inducing fear, and his survival instinct make him anything but warm and cuddly. It's his few ties to the past--especially an interrupted relationship with a call girl (Maria Bello)--that humanize him. One doesn't have to like Porter; one just accepts him and follows his journey in an honest, unmitigated fashion. That's exactly what Helgeland does, and his cleaner, leaner, smarter cut is instantly rewarding for its uncompromising, undistracted toughness. Special features include a documentary about the film's history, and a wonderful interview with Westlake. --Tom Keogh

Product Description
Mel Gibson portrays Porter a career criminal bent on revenge after his partners in a street heist pump metal into him and take off with his $70000 cut. Bad move thugs. Because if you plan to double-cross Porter you'd better make sure he's dead. Porter resurfaces wading into a lurid urban underworld of syndicate kingpins cops on the take sniveling informants and deadly gangs. Porter wants his money back. And the way he sets out to get is assures that from beginning to heartpounding end Payback pays off big.System Requirements:Run Time: 90 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: UNRATED UPC: 097360411645 Manufacturer No: 041164