This meant to be Original Vision of 'Payback' is certainly much better.
I seen the original theatrical version back in 1999 in theaters. I liked the movie, it was entertaining, it was something different from Gibson`s performance but it has some flaws and i thought the ending wrapped the movie a bit too neatly (Like the typical Hollywood movie). I remember arguring with some friends, who seen the movie felt the conclusion was too predictable and they were right.
"Payback" went on to have an cult following over the years on Video, DVD or being played in Television. Even before the movie came out, i remember reading in magazines that the Writer and Director of the movie wasn`t happy with it. Since the studio really wanted him to change the last act and they especially didn`t liked when the dog Porter died!
This new version is certainly much more stronger, the relationship between Gibson and his wife in the movie Deborah Kara Unger made alot of sense. Since she was also double-crossed by sleazy Val Resnick (Played by Gregg Herny). In this version, it shows more that Gibson still cared for his wife. I did liked the added sequence, when Gibson and Kara Unger are fighting brutally in the kitchen. I felt the new climax was terrific, when Gibson trying to get his money when he tried to outsmart Organization by killing every assassins in sight. I guess my only complain in the new cut, i felt it would have been better at the end. When Porter was nearly dying. There`s a quick shot of a bum coming towards him in the background. I thought it would have been funnier in a darkly humourous way, if the bum tooked his money before Rosie picked him up and going away from the city to start an new life without the money. Although i know some people might not argree with me on this one.
DVD features were great including an documentary of the film, half-hour featurette about explaining both cuts of the movie, an featurette with the novelist (Which he talked about his character that he created named Parker and the many novels that he followed that character) and an audio commentary of the movie. This has new interviews with some of the Cast & Crew including filmmaker Richard Donner, who had nothing to do with this film but he supported the director first feature.
I did miss some stuff from the original theatrical release like the opening sequence about Porter getting the bullets removed from his body by a doctor and Gibson`s voice narration was amusing at times. That version had a different look, the third act was different and strangely enough, the Dog survived in that version. Kris Kristofferson character Bronson was added in the filming from a new re-shoot (In the original cut, you never meet the person and only heard in Speaker Phone, which is voiced by an woman). Which is his voiced by Sally Kellerman in this version (It was originally voiced by Angie Dickerson but the director changed it for his original cut). But the 1999 version made the character Porter a bit too heroic than originally intented.
It was certainly one of Gibson`s best roles. He played the anti-hero fairly well. I am glad i bought this new version. It was interesting to hear Gibson defended both versions of the movie. It shows that Gibson is certainly proud of this underrated movie. For Writer/Director Brain Helgeland (Who directed another film that had a life of its own, which is "A Knight`s Tale) shows that he was finally proud to put his original version.
In some strange way, the new cut of "Payback" was like watching Richard Donner`s original intended version of "Superman 2". Which both films has the same story but it was told in different styles. For those who are die-hard fans of "Payback" should take a look at this new cut and judge which version u loved best.