Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/06/2008

There were reasons writer-director Brian Helgeland's cut of Payback was dismissed by distributors Paramount and Warner Bros., then heavily re-shot and re-tooled by Mel Gibson's production company, Icon Entertainment. Those reasons are explained in detail by Gibson, Helgeland, and others in the special features of Payback: The Director's Cut (Special Collector's Edition). Among them: Helgeland's version was too dark. America wasn't ready in 1999 to see Gibson play an unapologetic, 1970s-style antihero who might not get exactly what he wants. Audiences didn't have the patience to wait for answers to their story questions. A dog dies. (A big no-no.) All of these comments make sound, practical sense. But here's the bottom line: Helgeland's cut, perhaps even a bit more disciplined and taut (according to Payback's editor, Kevin Stitt) than it was in 1999, is a serious movie with an organic tone and logic that makes the film look the way it was meant to look: as a neo-noir film for adults. The theatrical release of Payback, by contrast, was and is silly and vulgar, self-sabotaging, pointlessly vicious, and perversely jaunty. It is very much like--deliberately like--the Lethal Weapon series. The Director's Cut makes clear that's not at all what Helgeland had in mind.

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

I was extremely disappointed with this movie. I did not know or realize that the directors cut was going to be so different from the released version. Hated this ending, it just kind of ends. Get the original movie and you will be happier for it.

Look Payback was never a truly great film when it was released back in 1999. It was like a slightly darker version of Lethal Weapon with the same kind of light humor to make the violence not seem as harsh. I never hated the original, but I new that this film had director problems, so I knew I was not seeing the real version of the film. I had always been a huge fan of those old 70's revenge films like Death wish. When I saw this film back in 1999 it was good, but I wondered how it would have been handled on a more serious level. Seeing the new directors cut is like a breath of fresh air. Gone is the humor and replaced is balls to the wall seek them and kill them kind of film. It is more adult and does not need to explain itself as much as the original. listen I love tongue and cheek action films, come on, I own almost every Schwarzenegger film, but sometimes people want serious. Mel Gibson had is humor in the Lethal Weapon films which works great with those films. Payback was meant to be taken seriously. Remember Mad Max and the Road Warrior? I love Mel Gibson in those films because he was dark. This new version of the film is an ode to a younger Mel Gibson in a time when he was much more The Bad Guy.

For anyone who has seen the theatrical release of this movie, I expect this would be a real let-down. There were a lot of disappointing differences in this director's cut. The audio has changed. The gray filter on the visuals is gone. Porter's film noir voice-over is gone. The "third act" is completely different. The dog doesn't live. Those were all things I loved about the theatrical version. The original ending is very weak. I feel sorry that Helgeland's art originally got hijacked so execs could make more money off of it, but at the same time, I'm happy that it was made into a better movie for it. !!SPOILER !! SPOILER !! Helgeland's third act makes no sense at all anyway. Why would you send ten or so people to kill Porter where he asks for the money to be sent if you were going to give him the money? Why would you send the money if you were going to have him killed? Does that make any sense at all?

Where was Kris Kristopherson?! Why was he taken completely out of the director's cut? Or was he added for the theatrical version? Whatever the answer I feel like it was less of a movie without him. To me, the lady on the speakerphone seemed to be a bad edit to replace a very good character.

Warning: Spoiler alert. I was not impressed with the rework of this movie. And the fact that it doesn't include the original theatrical release made me even less impressed. They lose the voiceover in this version and simplify the plot. Kris Kristofferson's character is completely eliminated and the kidnapping of his son is gone as a result. The end of the movie is simple: Meet the bad guys and kill them for the money. Any of the cleverness of Mel Gibson's character is gone and all that's left is his brutality. Forget this version and watch the original.