Movie · 1999 · Action, Drama, Crime, Thriller · 1h 40m · R · English
Curator score: 1.3/10 (154.8K ratings)
Get ready to root for the bad guy.
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.3/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%
Metacritic: 46
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Brian Helgeland
Production
Icon Productions
Cast
Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer, Bill Duke, Deborah Kara Unger, John Glover, William Devane, Lucy Liu, Kris Kristofferson, Jack Conley, Mark Alfa, Kwame Amoaku, Justin Ashforth, Len Bajenski, James Coburn, Trevor St. John, Freddy Rodríguez, Kate Buddeke, Price Carson
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A lean, nasty revenge noir with a hardboiled sense of humor and a strong anti-hero turn from Mel Gibson. It’s especially appealing if you like grimy crime stories, blunt violence, and late-90s genre filmmaking with a retro edge.
Best for
fans of revenge thrillers
viewers who like neo-noir crime stories
people who enjoy cynical, black-comic action movies
audiences interested in 90s hardboiled genre films
Skip if
you want a warm or uplifting story
you dislike morally ugly protagonists
you prefer elegant, highly polished action over rough-edged grit
you’re looking for a film that fully commits to deep emotional complexity
Overview
Payback is a mean little crime movie that knows exactly what it is: a bruising revenge thriller with a sour grin. It takes the bones of a classic hardboiled story and turns them into something blunt, funny, and relentlessly transactional, where every favor is a debt and every debt gets collected with interest.
Worth noting
The appeal is mostly in the attitude. Brian Helgeland keeps the pace tight, the dialogue sharp, and the world full of crooked cops, double-crosses, and low-rent predators. Mel Gibson plays Porter as a man reduced to pure spite, which gives the movie its engine even when the plot gets a little shaggy.
Bottom line
It’s not the most refined version of this material, and it lives in the shadow of earlier noir touchstones, but that roughness is part of the charm. If you want a grimy, old-school revenge picture with a nasty streak and a few good laughs, it delivers.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Matt! (3.5★) · 303 likes
Mel Gibson is not Lee Marvin and Payback is not Point Blank (despite being based off the same novel), but any movie that’s as violent, abrasive, and mean-spirited as this certainly qualifies as one badass revenge thriller in my book.
Snappy noir-ish dialogue, gritty visuals, jet-black humor, and a “protagonist” so petty that he’s willing to literally die on a hill after being cheated out of just $70k. Those are the ingredients of a capital F Film, and I will… more
Bryan Espitia (4.5★) · 212 likes
I don't know what the current stance is on Payback, but it's pretty fucking awesome and one of the more underrated 90s action-thrillers. Mel Gibson is perfect, it's got a cool cast of character actors, a funky 70s-style score, and just the right amount sardonic edge. Plus, "expensive horizontal refreshment" might be the greatest euphemism I've ever heard.
Michael James (3.5★) · 186 likes
One gritty 90s revenge driven neo noir thriller that totally went under the radar. It is dark, violent with well placed twisted humor. The old style soundtrack and the hard boiled nature with its cold n blue tone, keep it tight solid. Mel Gibson shines his way through as the badass, while each n every character get their fair share of memorable enough scenes to score. Than the alternative cut, I prefer the theatrical one as the action loaded blast in the end suits way better.
Grooveman (4★) · 179 likes
"So go boil an egg"
19oldboy91 (4★) · 116 likes
Während den Dreharbeiten zu „Payback“ in einem Lebensmitteladen.
Worauf habe ich eigentlich Hunger?„Beef Jerky“? – Nein, zu salzig und ich kenne meine Blasse. „Knabbernossi“? – Seit wann haben wir hier in Chicago „Knabbernossis“?Dann was Süßes.„Manner Schnitte“! – Arnie isst „Manner Schnitte“ und was Arnie isst, ist gut für den Körper und das Köpfchen. Hab gehört, der gute Arnie hat einen IQ von über einhundertfünfzig. – Wahnsinn der Mann, stemmt problemlos einhundertfünfzig Pfund und löst nebeneinher den Gordischen… more
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A grim tale of greed and escalating betrayal that shares the same nasty, consequences-first sensibility.