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 Payback:
Straight Up (2006)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Paramount / 2007
Directed by Brian Helgeland
Written by Brian Helgeland
Cast: Mel Gibson, James Coburn, Maria Bello, Lucy Liu, Gregg
Henry, David Paymer
Review by Vaughn Drake
Mel Gibson plays Porter, a scumbag who was double crossed,
robbed of $70,000.00 and left for dead by his underworld
cohorts. After getting back on his feet he wants his money
back; nothing more and nothing less. Too bad no one wants to
return it to him, so he goes on a quest to retrieve it and
metes out more than his fair share of revenge!
Along the way we get Lucy Liu as a pleather clad dominatrix
into rough sex and pain, a high class hooker played by Maria
Bello, a fantastic dirtbag performance by Gregg Henry, and
James Coburn playing…well, pretty much James Coburn as he
probably is in real life.
Writer and director Brian (Mystic River, LA Confidential,
Conspiracy Theory) Helgeland was fired part way through
filming and another director came in and filmed whatever the
studio asked. In the process, they released a jumbled mess
that was a moderate hit in the theater. That included a
ridiculous third act that had nothing to do with the main
portion of the movie. Thankfully that third act has now been
excised in Straight Up, and it’s as close to a directors cut
as we’re going to get.
If all you’ve seen is the mediocre 1999 version, do yourself
a favor and check out this cut. This may not be Brian
Helgeland’s true and exact vision of the movie, but it’s
certainly an asskicking, popcorn munching revenge flick that
entertains from start to finish. |
