Rating: 
Summary: One of Mel's best.
Review: This is one of my favorite movies in any genre, but by far my favorite action movie. Not so much for the action: the stunts are minimal, and there are only two explosions in the entire film! For shame! This movie is a wonderfully gritty, often sadistically violent piece of modern noir, but it is frequently funny, as well. It finds a foreboding and highly believable urban backdrop in New York City, and it the colors rarely get brighter than slate grey. I've seen this film so many times that I can nearly recite it all, even while drinking copious amounts of beer and whiskey.
Rating: 
Summary: Not at all what I've grown to expect from Mel Gibson.
Review: This movie was more of a disappointment than an enjoyment. I truly enjoy almost everything Mel Gibson has ever made, but this movie never really developed enough to draw me in. Besides, I hate to see him playing a "semi-bad-guy". You'll still end up rooting for him, but it doesn't live up to the typical Mel Gibson billing. I definitely paid too much to add this to my movie collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Standard Action overcome by quick pace
Review: Payback is riddled with every cliche in Hollywoods bag of Tricks. The betrayed man seeking revenge agaist all odds, etc. But it overcomes the rather uninventive story line with a very quick pace and logical sequence of events.Gibson, appearing more haggard and balding than ever, is quite appealing. It's good to see Mel with a few lines on his face. It adds to his world weary charachters belivability and makes him more human. Gibson is bent on revenge after being betrayed by his partner in crime and by his wife. The singleminded purpose he goes about exacting his revenge is handled with crackling pacing. A small movie but much more entertaing than Hollywoods current crop of Blockbuster nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: If Hemingway had made a modern film noir ...
Review: That film would be "Payback". This is a taut, well-paced tale of one man's inexorable pursuit of personal justice. In spite of serious personal flaws, Gibson's amoral character is disturbingly human. His endurance and personal capabilities drive the plot directly to that spot between your eyes that makes you sit up and say "What?". The supporting cast spans generations of eclectic acting giants, past and future:Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn and Lucy Liu are the icing that complete this cake, each bringing that single dimension that most defines their arresting screen presence. The violence in this film is intense. It serves to punctuate the story effectively but may not be everyone's cup of tea. That aside, this film is very good.
Rating:
Summary: GIBSON CREATES ATTRACTIVE BAD GUY KILLER
Review: Porter (Mel Gibson ) is a homocidal gangster who is double crossed by his associate after a heist where the victims are Asian gangsters. Almost killed by his doubler crossing henchman, aided by his disloyal wife, Porter survives a bullet to spend the rest of the movie leaving a trail of dead bodies in pursuit of his share in the original heist (and to revenge the attempted murder by his double crossing partner). Porter is very moral about this because he insistes that he only wants what he was originally entitled to from the heist: half of the booty. Maybe it is a historic stretch, but the character Porter reminds me a bit of the highly principled assassin (Garance's protector) in Marcel Carne's 1945 classic Children of Paradise. Here too, a killer transcends his occupation for some "higher principle." Gibson did an excellent job (as usual) portraying Porter, albeit somewhat of a throwback to his Jerry Fletcher in CONSPIRACY THEORY; but without the latter's purposeful nervousness. In Payback, Porter is a very bad guy killer who you find yourself rooting for because he must murder his way out of a terrible situation against impossible odds to recover his money, and to get The Girl. Much of the action is so absurd that it is nearly comic .... and sometimes it is deliberately comic. But I think it works. Viewers who take the film too literally may wind up in an entertainment funk because much of it is clearly a gangster fantasy flick. So lighten up and enjoy the mayhem of PAYBACK ... which in the final analysis like many other of Gibson's cops and robbers movies is a violent romp all in "good" fun. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: If I could give it no stars I would!
Review: This is quite frankly one of the worst movies ever. The plot is almost non-existent, the characters are completely unbelievable, and the setting is so dark and gloomy you have to wonder why no-one turned the lights on! Though I am usually a Mel Gibson fan this has to rank as his worst movie to date! Avoid it at all costs!
Rating:
Summary: This is Rugged Mel for you
Review: I really enjoyed this movie mainly because of the style and the story. One of the things I really enjoyed about it is the 70's feel. the cars are also really good looking. Payback is the best mixture of fast cars smart theives and mean mobsters."It's time to root for the bad guy!"
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE FOR DVD EVEN THOUGH VERY SIMPLE MENUS & NO EXTRA
Review: I LOVED THIS MOVIE AS A DVD COLLECTORS ITEM. THE SOUND AND PICTURE IS FANTASTIC, EVEN THOUGH IT DOESNT BOAST MUCH IN TERMS OF EXTRAS AND MOTION MENUS, ETC. ITS RICH WITH EXCITEMENT AND WILL FILL YOUR ROOM WITH SOUND IF YOU HAVE A HOME THEATRE SETUP. DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: Gratification poorly masked as art.
Review: What are the most common fears and frustrations of today's city dwellers? Your money can be taken from you. A spouse can betray you. The significant other can become addicted to drugs. Someone powerful can insult you and you'll just swallow - or be squashed like a bug. Alien-looking people can attack you on a street. A bartender will decide there is no need to be polite with you. There are some exclusive places you are not allowed to enter. The police is supposed to protect you but there are renegades in their ranks that can abuse and blackmail you. We are all afraid of torture and death. Payback is a kind of encyclopedia - the film addresses a wide range of urban fears. And you are invited to stand in the shoes of someone whom you always wanted to be - the fearless adventurer, expert fistfighter and sharpshooter, a man who can start a 10-minutes walk in a street as a shabby pauper and finish it smartly dressed, with a new credit card and a pack of banknotes. He is irresistible to women and deadly to men. He is not afraid to die - an almost unique quality inherited from Gibson's Lethal Weapon character. So he beats everyone (women and bartenders included), kills quite a few - he is getting even, he pays back, he is fullfilling your dreams, attending to your fears. Nothing can stop him. The film wants to look visually inventive, contemporary. Mostly it comes to the blue filter being kept over the camera lenses. Or were the freshly shot rolls of film soaked in a can of blue ink? Gibson narrates the story in a way that makes him look like Chandler's Marlowe. And the final song sends us back to the the films noir tradition. But all these tricks fail to amount to anything significant. The violence is excessive, Porter's stubbornness ( -"$70 000, not $130 000!") begins to annoy very quikly and the director's invitation to participate in that feat of gratification is too obvious.
Rating:
Summary: mel at his rawest...
Review: mel gibson's character was very raw/hardcore in this film...with payback he almost matched his performance as martin riggs in lethal weapon 1. only in lethal weapon 1 was mel at his very best but payback comes as close as it will get...this movie is great to watch and mel is about at his peak with this one
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