Fresh
Demonstrates why Mel Gibson is a movie star: He can take mediocre material and through sheer willpower -- not to mention oodles of charm -- make it work.
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Payback
Get ready to root for the bad guy.
1999 · 1h 40m · R
Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Directed by
Paul Abascal
,
Brian Helgeland
Overview
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, Porter's partners and the crooked cops on his tail learn how bad payback can be.
Director and cast
- Paul Abascal Director
- Brian Helgeland Director
- Mel Gibson as Porter
- Kris Kristofferson as Bronson
- Gregg Henry as Val Resnick
- Maria Bello as Rosie
- David Paymer as Arthur Stegman
- Bill Duke as Det. Hicks
- Deborah Kara Unger as Mrs. Lynn Porter
- John Glover as Phil
- William Devane as Carter
- Lucy Liu as Pearl
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
55%
Tomatometer
Fresh
A higher class of thriller.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten
It quickly slides into a Lethal Weapon without Danny Glover, complete with blowups and wisecracks, gratuitous torture scenes and Gibson in familiar form as the twinkling rascal who makes a virtue out of viciousness.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Rotten
In the popcorn sense, it certainly delivers on mindless escapism. In the artistic sense, let's just say that Payback is a long way from Point Blank.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Rotten
It's undone not so much by the shadow of Lee Marvin falling heavily on it (which it does) as by the twin obstacles of big star image and, more to the point, excessive violence.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
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