Review of Payback (1999) by Dave K — 19 May 2009

Fives for both versions, each interesting in its own way. The D-Cup is, well, the D-Cup, so it's almost definitely going to be better. But Mel Gibson is unflinchingly badass in both of em, Mel Gibson kills countless mother fuckers in both of em, and numerous people Mel Gibson's character may or may not actually know end up dead after meeting Mel Gibson for the first time. In both of em.

Mel Gibson steals from the homeless, steals from the working class, and steals from the rich. Mel Gibson don't giva FUCK.

The voice-over of the theatrical version sometimes risks falling into the hole that post-abortive voice-overs can often fall into: much like the theatrical cut of Blade Runner, the voice-over really doesn't tell us anything we couldn't figure out ourselves, add anything particularly necessary, or do anything other than emulate film-noir. Much like BR, Payback wasn't shot with a VO narration intended, so, again like BR, the voice-over isn't actually that overbearing because of its rarity. The voice-over is missing for entire long scenes at a time because it just isn't that needed. The saving grace of Payback's voice-over is that it is a little bit self-aware and a little bit tongue-in-cheek; it knows it's over the top, and strives to embrace that.

Overall, both are fuckin awesome. More unabashed, unashamedly sick lower-budget crime neo-noirish movies like this should exist in these modern times.