Well this report certainly made me breathe easier. I still have my fingers crossed on this one coming through the grinder as a leaner and even meaner film. Well, here's Capone...

Hey Harry, Capone here (I submitted the first review of "Beloved" and many reports from the 1998 Chicago Film Festival).

I saw a press screening of "Payback" yesterday in Chicago (yes, the guys with the thumbs were there), and I believe you will be pleasantly surprised when you finally see the final cut. I went back and read your earlier comments on this film, and it doesn't look like much has been changed. I can't imagine this film being any nastier or bloodier or more hardcore than the cut I saw.

This film has more atmosphere than any Gibson movie I've ever seen. Nearly every scene is draped in dingy grey and blue, even the costumes seem to be color- coordinated with the sets. The music sounded like it was ripped right out of a 70's TV cop show; it wasn't even polished enough to call it "Blaxpoitation" music (I mean that in a good way). It added such a bizarre quality to the proceedings.

I actually saw parts of this movie being filmed in Chicago over a year ago it seems. In particular, I saw them shooting the scene right after Gibson is hit by the black car full of Chinese gangsters, so I was really excited to see this film.

Despite the rumored reshoots, no attempt seems to have been made to "nice-ify" Gibson's whole-heartedly bad-ass Porter character. His trigger finger seems to have a permanent twitch, and while the villains (and there are dozens of those) are busy trying to negotiate for their own survival, Gibson is not interested. If you don't serve a purpose in his life at that exact moment: BAM! BAM! BAM! It makes it so hard to like him, but you do. He's not bloodthirsty, per se, but better you be dead than sneak up on him later. He's the least colorful of all the film's characters; his motivations for killing in such tremendous numbers are practically non-existent (it ain't just for the $70,000, I know that); he is a true sociopath, but not in the cartoonish Lethal Weapon way. This mofo is serious.

I noticed that your German reviewer complained about the excessive violence. I won't deny this, but it didn't bother me. Is is gratuitous? A bit, but in the world Porter exists in, it makes sense. It seems like a necessary evil. But there is a scene where Gibson is being tortured with a hammer, that made me almost vomit (again, I mean that in a good way).

The supporting cast is terrific, although very few of them are in the movie from beginning to end. William Devane (wow, there's a guy I never thought I'd see on the big screen again) is particularly slimy, and the actor that plays Gibson's original partner who steal his money is scary like a speed junkie. David Paymer bugged me a bit, but his demise made up for it. Maria Bello just doesn't excite me either. She's pretty and all that, but I ended up feeling the same way about her that I did after "Permanent Midnight" and her stint on "ER": she's not bad but she's not memorable enough to make me look forward to future works.

Harry, you mentioned in your original comments about this film that it had a downer ending; well this one didn't. If you want to know how it ended, let me know. If you rather wait, I'll just say that the ending did not feel "Hollywood" or tacked on, despite it involving one huge explosion. Still, it seemed wholly appropriate and far from lame.

Despite all this talk of "New Noir" , I haven't seen a film that captured the true ruthlessness of the noirs that I liked the best. "Payback" comes damn close. So often the heroes of these films are pussycats underneath. Not Porter. And though Gibson may be a bit too pretty to be convincing to some (the way Bogart or Richard Widmark were), I'm glad as hell this film got made and didn't appear to be severely tampered with to lighten it up any.

Harry, make sure in your review to detail any changes that you notice from the director's cut. I'm very curious.

Capone