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Post by ronnierocketago on May 15, 2008 23:18:26 GMT
PAYBACK: STRAIGHT UP - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT (2007) - ****We learn from the DVD's documentary that apparently Paramount rejected the original version of PAYBACK because they wanted Mel Gibson's character to be more likeable, the movie to have a definitive ending, and the dog NOT to die. So after writer/director Brian Helgeland was evicted from the editing bay, one of the "creative decisions" made by star/producer Gibson to salvage the picture was to include a voice-over narration, which he argues makes his protagonist more "personal and relatable." Give me a fucking break. Porter aint Hamlet. He's a man not defined by thoughts, but through actions...and usually they're violent. He's a stone cold archetype, pure and simple. When the Director's Cut of PAYBACK opens, he is walking (more like stalking) across the Washington Bridge into Manhattan, looking tired and very pissed, hungry to murder somebody, anybody. We don't know who he is or why, but this is a rough-looking, ruthless unforgiving bastard Gibson that we haven't seen since THE ROAD WARRIOR. He's a criminal scumbag asshole that in real life you would want locked up in jail. He swifts some dude's credit card and takes him to the cleaners, without care or conscience. He orchestrates and murders Triad mobsters for $130,000. Hell, when he catches up with his junkie wife, he pretty much beats her like a drum. He's usually the villain in most movies. My point is, all you need to know about Porter is that wouldn't want to fuck with him. And yet, you end up rooting for him, because: (1) His partners literally stab him in the back with bullets and steal his $70,000 cut. Not cool. (2) His pal Gregg Henry, the one that leaves Gibson for dead, hits women for his own sheer pleasure. Not to excuse away Porter's domestic assault, but you might be mad too if your wife shot you earlier. (3) To get Henry, and get his own goddamn money back, Porter must fight the whole city crime syndicate. Natural underdog storytelling. (4) He kills a guy in cold blood after he bad-mouths his hooker girlfriend in Maria Bello. Porter has no moral principles really, but that moment must count for something. Back in 1999, I remembered PAYBACK as a mix between a pretty badass movie and a pretty mediocre-ass movie. Like way too many pictures in that decade of PULP FICTION, the film turned me off when the narration goes too self-aware in applauding itself for being ironically hip inbetween the awesome bits. Nevermind the convulted 3rd Act with Kris Kristofferson and the kidnapping scam nonsense. Now with Helgeland's PAYBACK restored, everything I hated about the theatrical edit has been whacked, and everything good about it has been enhanced with steroids. The action narrative is a decliously skull-bashing great time that doesn't complicate itself with bullshit. No narration, no Kristofferson, no boring blue-tint cinematography, no real concern to make Porter heroic or even likeable, and the mutt actually gets put to sleep. Helgeland's PAYBACK, stuck in a cinematic modern-day where the 1970s never ended, is the closest equivalent in recent times to a true Lee Marvin movie, a brutal balls-to-the-walls extravaganza that contains the best and worst aspects of masculinity, all without trying to be a damn smartass. Its pretty much nearly a perfect remake, considering how this movie is a remake of John Boorman's classic POINT BLANK, and both are based off Donald E. Westlake's novel "The Hunter." Like Westlake's Parker books, PAYBACK is pure bang bang entertainment that is something that the likes of SIN CITY so badly claim to be. I guess to steal a label from The Outlaw Vern, an internet critic I greatly respect, Helgeland's PAYBACK is "badass cinema." What depresses me is that if the Director's Cut of PAYBACK was released today, it would be a hit. Inspired by the crime plot boilers of the 1960s and 70s, Helgeland's PAYBACK likewise would click with our cynical society, where its ambivalent characterization and ending would have been accepted. But because PAYBACK was shot in the boring, apathetic, and wussy 1990s, test audiences prefered the witty and bland theatrical version with the more likeable Jew-hating Gibson. I know it wasn't Mad Mel's direct fault and all that we had to wait 9 long years for a damn good movie to escape Paramount's vaults, but when he criticizes Helgeland's edit in that "you can't make a movie for a selective elite," I thought this was rich coming from the same dude who shot a pretty violent and dark subtitled movie about Mayans some years back.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 15, 2008 23:38:50 GMT
Maybe it's worth a rewatch... (Changed the thread title. CONFORM. )
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Post by Valenti on May 16, 2008 6:00:48 GMT
Best adaptation of any of the Parker novels (of which I'm a huge fan) I've seen, bar Point Blank.
This review makes me really really want to watch the director's cut again.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on May 16, 2008 13:03:10 GMT
I loved "Point Blank", and I've always been interested in seeing this, though the bad reputation kept me away. However, I didn't know how much it was changed before it's release, so this Director's Cut has revived my interest.
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Post by pizzaboy on May 16, 2008 15:55:46 GMT
A lot of the "Director's Cuts" I've seen don't do much to justify their existence. They have a few "cut" scenes dropped in, but most of the time they interrupt the pacing and offer no real change to the film. The term has become synonymous with "Unrated Cut" and comes off as a marketing gimmick to get people to shell out for the same movie again.
I haven't seen the original cut of PAYBACK since probably 2000, but I remember enjoying it. It was a gritty crime film with a good dose of humor and Mel's trademark "I love being tortured" shtick. I rented this director's cut to see how it played, since it was apparently a dramatic difference rather than a few new scenes thrown in here and there.
I'd say the new cut is a much better movie than the old one. It eliminates Mel's narration, which I think greatly improves the way Mel's character is explored. We get to watch it rather than hear it, so he is now Porter rather than Mel Gibson. One of the strengths of this character is that we don't fully understand his motivations (see also POINT BLANK with Lee Marvin); we have the duration of the film to try and understand his code, his principles, and the original narration spoiled the process.
Another change is the filtering. The movie is no longer entirely washed out blue, it's full of warm tones as well as cool. I like this as well. It still fits the mood of the movie, and it's more visually pleasing.
As for new scenes, I couldn't really tell what was added in. I could tell what was removed, which was the kidnapping sub-plot, Kris Kristofferson's character, and the subsequent torture and escape. The new cut features a tidier finale, and the whole movie is actually shorter than the original cut. It clocks in at around 90 minutes, which works for this story. I remember liking Porter's escape scene in the original (clawing his way through the backseat), but I think the new cut keeps the pace consistently and serves the story better.
It's definitely worth checking out.
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Post by ronnierocketago on May 16, 2008 17:46:15 GMT
Maybe it's worth a rewatch... (Changed the thread title. CONFORM. ) Change it back wetdog. Its a completely different movie from that so-called PAYBACK we got 9 years ago, and you know what? I want FCM to know of the Director's Cut, not that sack of mediocre theatrical edit shit we got. That's why I explicitely made a point of saying THE DIRECTOR'S CUT in the thread title!
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Post by ronnierocketago on May 16, 2008 17:49:01 GMT
I loved "Point Blank", and I've always been interested in seeing this, though the bad reputation kept me away. However, I didn't know how much it was changed before it's release, so this Director's Cut has revived my interest. I think its must-see. If you loved POINT BLANK, you'll love the DC edit of PAYBACK. I nearly guarantee it!
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 23, 2008 17:18:54 GMT
Maybe it's worth a rewatch... (Changed the thread title. CONFORM. ) Change it back wetdog. Its a completely different movie from that so-called PAYBACK we got 9 years ago, and you know what? I want FCM to know of the Director's Cut, not that sack of mediocre theatrical edit shit we got. That's why I explicitely made a point of saying THE DIRECTOR'S CUT in the thread title! Yeah, but the film is just called Payback and its year of release was 1999. This is just an alternate cut by the same filmmakers. it shouldn't have its own IMDb page if the likes of Apocalypse Now Redux or the 37 versions of Blade Runner don't. One thread per film, and nothing more than the film's original title and its original year of release in the thread title.
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Post by Michael on May 23, 2008 18:44:44 GMT
Jokingly calling yourself a Nazi is a great way to cope with Obsessive Compulsive tendencies. It's also a great way to prevent anyone else from calling you a Nazi.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 23, 2008 18:58:20 GMT
I prefer anal-retentive, professor.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 23, 2008 19:08:56 GMT
That's what makes me so fascinating, though. Every post is that significant. There's a demon behind every word, every jest, it just takes an analytical mind like yours to scratch the surface and plumb the depths.
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Post by Michael on May 23, 2008 21:56:37 GMT
Indeed.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 23, 2008 23:43:43 GMT
Boz coulda saved maaad coin if he'd known he could get psychoanalysed here for free.
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Post by Michael on May 23, 2008 23:51:42 GMT
That's spelled with a 'z' commie.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on May 24, 2008 0:08:45 GMT
Not in the Old Country, conquistador.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on May 24, 2008 12:26:32 GMT
They didn't charge broke college students.
Just kidding, I paid in sex.
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Post by ronnierocketago on May 24, 2008 15:13:26 GMT
They didn't charge broke college students. Just kidding, I paid in sex. You WHORE!
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Boz
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Post by Boz on May 24, 2008 15:35:59 GMT
Sorry your thread got derailed ronald.
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Post by ronnierocketago on May 24, 2008 17:04:51 GMT
Sorry your thread got derailed ronald. I disagree, I don't think its derailed at all. Its alot like that black dude in PAYBACK after he told Gibson to go fuck himself.....he's got a major black eye, and holding a bag of ice to his head.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Sept 2, 2008 18:27:02 GMT
[Review deleted due to plagiarism.]
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