Review of Payback (1999) by Donovan D — 07 Mar 2008

After tackling neo-noir with his Academy Award-winning script for LA Confidential, Brian Helgeland jumped into the director's chair for a loving tribute to 70s revenge films. The word that comes to mind when describing this film is 'gleeful'; I don't think the topic of revenge has ever been given a more joyous presentation than in Payback, where even the hardboiled and gruff voiceovers of Porter (played by a somewhat weathered Mel Gibson) can be read as parodically funny in their perfect conjuring up of typical revenge film dialogue.

As far as reasons for revenge goes, Porter's insistence on getting his $70 000 and only $70 000 back seems like such hilarious overreaction but it really gets to the heart of the principle of revenge as he pretty much takes on the entire underworld for his relatively measely sum.

In some ways, Payback was ahead of its time - had it been made in the wake of Kill Bill and the grindhouse revival it probably would have seemed derivative of Tarantino, but in some ways Payback is more in keeping with what 70s revenge films were really like, whereas Kill Bill plays much more like cartoonish simulacra by comparison.

Its a B-Film no doubt and doesn't really compare to LA Confidential, but it plays so strongly for what it is that I couldn't help but find it an admirable motion picture.