Payback
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Movie Reviews of Payback
Movie Review: This one pays off!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first caught this right at the beginning as it was coming on one of the cable channels, and was hooked into the story From the opening of Mel having bullets removed from his back by a degenerate drinking the same Whisky he sterilizes with, up until the very end (can't ruin that with a discription in case you've not seen it)...this one kept me riveted. The strangely blue smokey color quality throughout the film, only seems to add to the hard-boiled atmosphere of gritty N.Y.City, heat rising and making a clock ripple in a mirage, letting you know just how hot the action will get. The characters are very well drawn. Porter, our anti-hero, who we find out by flashback how he got to be so determined to get back 70K; is a career criminal who has fine-tuned his craft to an art form. He seems to effortlessly pick pockets, bang out stolen credit cards, and pawn swag for the cash and hardware he needs to obtain his "share" in a heist with Val Resnick (Gregg Henry). Val is a man who loves pain, giving it, and getting it too. He is valued by the "Outfit" for his "sadistic lack of compunction". His domiatrix galpal, portrayed by a hilariously over the top Lucy Liu is similarly inclined. Add 2 crooked DTs and the cab dispatcher/heroin dealer they shake down, plus other assorted amusing "bad" guys, all played by well known actors, and you can't miss. John Glover, (maybe you know him as the man who loved to call Roy Scheider "sport" in John Frankenhimers "52 Pick-Up"), has a minor role as William Devanes right hand man, but my favorite cameo was veteran actor James Coburn. After finding out "Carter" played by Devane, is dead, he says to Porter, "Probably better off anyway, poor buck-toothed ...!!" Hilarious!! I also loved Lucy, Liu that is, when her Pearl dominatrix character beats up her boytoy Val , and says "Love you baby, long time", as she kicks him where no man can take it. to say, a staple I've watched over and over. This is definitely one of my top favorite action movies. It will become one of yours too.Movie Review: fantastic movie that could lead to even better books!
Summary: 5 Stars
excellent film! so cool, porter is unstoppable on a quest to get his money back and kill the guy who took it and convinced his wife to shoot him in the back. the movie is so stylish and cool and pretty funny at parts. it has a classic feel too it which comes from the 1960's book it's based on, the movie is set in the nineties though. watch payback. if you really like it, then read richard stark's (donald e westlake) the hunter. THEN watch payback straight up. payback is fun and exciting and kind of funny. the hunter is the novel payback was based off of. very exciting, not fun, not funny. the chinese hit squad, bronson and his son scenario, the final explosion scene and the love connection with rosie are all absent from the book. bronson and his son and the explosion scene are absent from straight up. the ending is a lot more like the book and the absence of bronson and his son facilitate this alignment with the original literature. they left in the chinese hit squad for fun i'm guessing and rosie because she was in the book and it added a little bit of flavor as well as a way to make the ending a bit more believable (in the book he somehow gets them all!). payback is an amazing film, it introduced me to parker, i am now a parker novel maniac. because of this i wanted to see the somewhat more true to the book directors' cut (straight up) and was very pleased with its somewhat more accurate depiction. i love both films but the point is one will likely only like both if they read the book in between as most who don't think that straight up is to dark and disturbing but this is only because they don't really know parker;) enjoy. oh and parker is porter if you couldn't figure that out:) they changed it because stark didn't want parker's name used unless the movies were going to be a series.Movie Review: Payback: the review
Summary: 5 Stars
Porter is a small time but tough criminal, who's primary gig, is robbery. Now his friend Roger Murtaugh needs $130,000 to pay back a criminal group known as "The Outfit". He tells Porter about some English Royalty who carry $300,000, Porter agrees to it on the condition that they split the take. When they hit them, they discover that they only have $140,000, and Murtaugh says that, that's what they always carry. He pulls out a gun and shoots Porter in the back and leaves him to die. However, Porter manages to make it to a doctor, and get treated, when he recovers(despite having half of his face burned off), he sets out to get Murtaugh and his share $70,000. He begins by approaching an associate of Murtaugh's, a prostitute named Rosie, whom he knew what she was thinking. She tells him where he can find Murtaugh. When he does, he tells Murtaugh that he should go to his employers and ask them to give him back his son, Murtaugh says that's impossible but Porter "convinces" him to do it. Murtaugh then goes to his boss, Edward the Longshanks, who tells him that it's in their best interest to help Murtaugh deal with Porter. Edward the Longshanks orders one of his men to take Porter out but Porter's just too good for them. Murtaugh then asks his girlfriend who knows the people whom he and Porter stole the money from, and tells her to tell them where they can find him. When they do they are interrupted by two policemen(who are part of a government conspiracy that Porter knew about), but they are under the mistaken impression that Porter's going after $200,000-300,000 and are going to get it. Can Porter deal with all these people and still get his money or will he cryogenically freeze himself because he can't stand to be without his money.
Movie Review: Pay back your debts or die
Summary: 5 Stars
Strangely enough it is a gangster film full of faithlessness and hypocrisy, hatred and greed and yet the good guys turn out to be a gangster and a prostitute. A hold up turns too small for one of the two gangsters who wants to get rid of the other and uses this other's girlfriend to do the bad work in his own back. But in this world there is always a comeback and then a payback and the payback is always proportional to the distance to catch up on the comeback journey, and when it is near death that was the starting point of this comeback you can be sure the payback will implicate a lot of money and a lot of metal. And it does and it is not that easy to go to the top of the drug dealing business, and that sure is not easy and there are many hurdles. We wonder why he got down in front of the last one, or is it a way to really trap the boss. But he is also a very creative hit man in his come back and he pays back a lot with the metal, explosive and guns of those he shot down or he wants to bring down. He is flexible, adaptable, opportunistic and his principle is not to hit higher than the top but to hit the top just to get his due and he gets it and he does not have to share in the end. That's what is good in this gangster film. The gangster really gets our hearts in his hands because he is just asking for justice from his fellow gangsters who don't seem to have any sense of justice, nor the few cops he comes across either. New York always looks good under this light with whizzing bullets in the sky.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID
Movie Review: 5 stars all the way -- great action suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
All I can say is WOW! This movie is about a bad guy getting revenge on bad guys. Not a theme I would normally give 5 stars to, but the movie is so well done that you find yourself rooting for the main character Porter (played by Mel Gibson) during all the heart pounding, palm-sweating action. The movie opens with a severely injured Porter getting bullets removed from his back. After he recuperates he goes back to the streets to get his revenge on the people who did this to him. In the form of a very well done flashback about a robbery with his partner in crime and a wife who drives the getaway car, you learn what brought him to this point. Well, his best buddy has managed to turn his wife against him, so when they go to an isolated area to split up the money he is double-crossed by his wife and his friend, shot in the back and left for dead. Hence begins the movie with all its action. Porter decides that it is literally payback time and goes after his friend, then after the Organization (the mob) to get his money. He manages to get every bad guy in town ticked off at him. What follows is a thrill ride of action and minor plot twists that leave you breathless!
I won't say more about this movie since I don't want to give anything away. Buy this movie. You'll enjoy it more than you realize. And guys ... you're girlfriends may need coaxing to watch this with you, but by the time it's over they'll be just as transfixed by it as you are.