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Payback (1999)

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Release Date: February 5, 1999
On DVD: April 10, 2007
Genre: Crime, Action
Running Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong violence, language, and drug and sexual content.
Director: Brian Helgeland
Writer: Donald E. Westlake, Brian Helgeland, Terry Hayes
Cast: Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, Deborah Unger, David Paymer, Bill Duke, Jack Conley, William Devane, Kris Kristofferson, John Glover, Lucy Alexis Liu, Mark Alfa, Kwame Amoaku, Sterling Wolfe

Get ready to root for the bad guy.

The heist goes smoothly enough. The cash is already hot. So when Porter and Val steal it, they're in the clear.

Time comes around to split the take and Val makes three grave mistakes: he takes Porter's cut; he takes Porter's wife and tries to take Porter's life. Problem is, when you kill this guy, you better make sure he's dead.

Porter soon resurfaces, reborn with a Read more

Movie Review

Grade: C When Payback came out in 1999, I wasn't a big fan. While I liked Mel Gibson as a perfectly balanced anti-hero, the movie just wasn't as funny or action packed as I was expecting and hoping it would be. The ending was rather lousy, though I don't quite remember what that ending was. My original review's bottom line was: "If Payback would have had a little more comedy and a little more flowing action, it might have been worth it, but it didn't and therefore it wasn't worth it." Real Shakespeare, I know, but it gets the point across.

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