I saw an old, pre-additional shooting version of this film that just about rocked my world. It was a lean and mean film, felt like it was made between BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION. That style and that cool. I heard there were some additional shooting going on in the film that changed up the ending quite a bit, and added action... personally I don't think a damn thing needed to be changed, but who the hell knows, maybe this is one of them weird ass backward cases of a film being made better by studio interference. Yeah I know, but hey this droid loved it in about the same tone that I did. And there are a couple of differences he points out. It's filled with spoilers and some of the best lines, so you may want to stay out of the way of the review. I've warned ya....

PAYBACK (aka PARKER)

What a good night.

I was wondering what happened to this movie? Written and Directed by Brian Helgeland, who’s working on Sineater now. I never read the books it’s based on but from what my rommate says they’re about a guy named Parker who’s basically just a total bad ass, doesn’t care about anything or anyone and, like Jesse James, will kill a guy for snoring too loud. After seeing the episode one trailer six times last week I was ready for something different.

For once I’m surprised. Not that i actually liked the film, because Helgeland’s screenplay for L.A. Confidential kicked butt, but how much I really dug it. It’s like a independent hard boiled flick that happens to star Mel Gibson. The voice-over also gives it a cool film noir feeling. (Again I cite my favorite movie of last year L.A. Confidential) and the soundtrack rocks. It’s a cool gritty 70’s film really. Hope theyre smart enough to release it. After the lights came up, I got out of the theater and asked again "That was a Paramount movie?" Sure didn’t feel like it. I guess thats a good sign. My roommate (who owed me since I got him in to see I Still Know What You Did Last Summer which su-ucked) got us in to the Paramount lot since I guess international rights to the film are at Warner Brothers. He said it wasn’t just like the Parker books but Porter (Mel Gibson) and the feel of the film was pretty close. Another aspect I really liked was the "look" of the movie. The colors were very pale – almost black and white some of the time. A very cool and dirty effect whatever it was.

I haven’t been impressed by any studio films lately. In fact it was a pretty piss poor summer. So let me give you my review and spoiler warning for what I think is one of the best studio non-studio films.

I don’t wanna spoil everything since this movie has a lot of cool plot threads that connect like the Usual Suspects but here’s some of the cool stuff.

The Setup: We open tight on a glass of alcohol, whiskey I’m guessing. A drunk, underground doctor takes a drink and walks over to Porter who’s on a table, beaten and bloody. The docotor puts the glass down and begins to pull bullets out of Porter’s back, dropping them in the whiskey.

From there we see Porter getting back on his feet, swiping someone’s wallet and charging his way back to life. Restaurants, guns and clothes. Porter plans to find Val, get his 70 grand back, and kill him. Porter starts by going back to his wife, who is hooked back on heroin. He tries to get her to quit but bad things occur. . .Now Porter’s payback really begins. And we flashback to:

The backstory of how he got here. Porter’s a thief who, along with his wife and friend Val, plan to pull a heist on some yakuza type organization. Every Tuesday they leave the same store with a suitcase of money, drive down the same alley and DON’T wear seat belts. The next Friday, Porter and Val head down the alley at lightning speed at the yakuza guys and smash into them hed on. They get the suitcase, which is supposed to be like 300 grand, and head off to a warehouse to count it -- after beating the hell out of the surviving yakuza guys. It turns out Val needs 130 grand to buy himself a place back into the syndicate, a big crime ring in Chicago. When they count the money, we find out there’s only 140 grand. Val complains it’s not enough to get him back in and he begins to panic. Porter says he’ll take his 70 grand and him and his wife will be on their way. But Val and Mrs. Porter have other plans -- the Mrs. shoots Porter in the back and her and Val take off, leaving Porter for dead. Porter lies in his own blood, bullets in his back. And we’re back to the present.

That’s the cheery opening.

The INSANE Mission: Porter begins to track down Val through Mrs. Porter’s dealer. Porter also "befriends" two dirty cops who get the bright idea to blackmail Porter. Bad move guys. Porter then visits an old flame, a high class prostitute who works for the syndicate, who tells him where Val is. He learns that Val is back in the syndicate, a powerful guy now. And he’s holed up in the syndicate’s deluxe hotel -- fully guarded and staffed.

So what’s a guy to do when the guy he wants is in a hotel crawling with mafia types -- he busts in. Porter confronts Val and demands he get his 70 grand he owes him. Val’s not too pleased to see him, especially since he’s in the midst of some heavy S&M play. The scene’s great – this hooker named Pearl (Lucy Loo from Alley McBeal in black rubber and latex!!! : ) ) and Val are inflicting pain on each other. When Porter shows up he says to Val, "Let her work." And Porter proceeds to watch Pearl beat the hell out of Val. Afterward, Pearl sizes Porter up and smiles. She says, "I’ve got a few minutes." Porter replies, "So boil an egg." And he walks out the door.

The next day, Val explains the situation to the Syndicate -- who kick Val out until he’s killed Porter. In the ensuing craziness: the body count rises, the yakuza guys show back up, the bad cops put the pressure on Porter and Porter eventually takes on the entire crime syndicate, working his way through Val and to the top. The lengths this guy goes to get back 70 grand are insane -- from hilarious to down right deadly. I mean the violence is so outrageous at times it teeters on being over the top and you can’t help but laugh. And the cool thing is, with such a deadly character, you can’t begin to guess what Porter will do in any situation. He’ll shoot someone cause they don’t have a lighter -- and cause they’re a prick. Everyone he faces keeps asking, "You’re risking your neck, walking in here like this, for 70 grand?" Porter’s got a weird sort of principal. He wants 70 grand, nothing more and nothing less.

There’s one scene I was wincing at -- when Mel gets his toes smashed by some smiling S&M syndicate guy but James Couburn is there so you have some relief. James Couburn is just freakin’ hilarious everytime he’s on the screen! He plays a syndicate crime boss who’s very posh, yelling at his lackies to be careful with his alligator skin luggage. At one point Porter shoots a hole in his alligator bag and Couburn replies “That’s just mean, man. Mean!” And that sums up the movie -- a mean flick!

In the scope of the films I’ve seen in the last couple years its damn cool. Hope some more studio’s make these independent flicks.

Thanks, Harry!

The Red Droid