How Much is Your Life Worth?

Payback (1999) Directed by Brian Helgeland and John Myhre (uncredited) From the Novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake, writing as Richard Stark.

Payback is the story of Porter (no first name) a low level made man. Porter (Mel Gibson) planned a heist with his friend Val Resnick, (Gregg Henry) and wife Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger). Together they stole the Tong's weekly drug money, $140,000. Pay attention to the figures, they are important.

The problem is Val needed $130,000. To become a made man. So they hit Porter in the head, and left him holding the bag. Now Porter has done his time, and he's out, and he wants his $70,000.

Porter says what he means, and means what he says. He wants $70, 000 and he is willing to shoot people until he gets it. He starts with Val, who wisely hides behind his mob connections. So Porter has to work his way up the mafia food chain to find someone who will pay him the $70,000 he is owed. While holding a gun on Carter, and talking to his boss, Bronson, we get a clear picture of how precise Porter is.

Bronson: "Are you threatening me?"

Porter: "I'm not threatening you, I'm threatening Carter."

Porter says he will shoot Carter if Bronson does not come up with the money. Bronson calls his bluff. Porter was not bluffing. He shoots Carter. So when he is holding a gun of Fairfax (James Coburn, uncredited) Bronson (Kris Kristopherson) pays a little more attention. The only thing they just won't hear is the sum is not $130,000, which is what Val needed to buy in, but $70,000, Porter's cut of the heist.

Add to the fun the Tong, led by Pearl (Lucy Lui) a deliciously twisted dominatrix psychopath, and two dirty cops, Detective Hicks (Bill Duke) and Detective Leary (Jack Conley) who want his money, you get an interested web of hunter and hunted. The two things all these people have in common are, they are all a bit over the top caricatures, and they all enjoy hitting Porter in the head. If you ever wonder how Porter got so stubborn, the answer has to be brain damage. I would wear a helmet if I were him.

The only person Porter can trust is Rosie (Maria Bello) Rosie was a call girl who was under Porter's protection at one time. You can tell she still cares, she named her dog Porter.

Together, they use a profound understanding of human behavior and a broad streak of low cunning to finally get Porter his $70,000. In the process, they dismantle and blow up most of the organized crime in the city, something the combined forces of the police and FBI couldn't do. Porter's parting quote sort of sums it all up:

Porter: "We went for breakfast... in Canada. We made a deal, if she'd stop hooking, I'd stop shooting people. (Long Pause) Maybe we were aiming high."

This movie is based on a few implausibilities. First, very few people can manage the sheer stubbornness that carried Porter through. Secondly, no organization can contain only idiots and continue to work, unless of course it is a presidential cabinet. Porter and Rosie were real people, and to a certain extent, Val. But every one else in the movie was almost a caricature of a stereotype. This is not a flaw in acting, but is the way they were written. It is so consistent, it had to be deliberate.

Out side of that, this movie is an out of control rollercoaster of action and head trauma. Put on a crash helmet, and enjoy the ride.