MovieChat Forums > Payback: Straight Up (2007) Discussion > 'I know a guy' MAJOR SPOILER!!!

'I know a guy' MAJOR SPOILER!!!

posted 15 years ago by griffic-2
8 replies | jump to latest

WARNING: DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM!!!

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Okay, so at the end of the DC of this film (which I very much prefer to the original), Porter (Mel Gibson) is all shot up and seemingly about to die as he and Rosie are driving away in a car. Rosie (Maria Bello) tells him they have to go to the hospital.

That's when Porter says no and that he "knows a guy". She asks if he's a doctor and Porter says no and tells her to keep driving. He then closes his eyes and smiles.

Is he talking about God or someone in the afterlife?

[–] chrisplace-1 15 years ago

Thats a nice thought that makes the movie all the more better:D It's something you can interprate yourself;)

[–] dmedinacooper 15 years ago

I assumed he was talking about the guy who got the bullets out of him the first time (or last time)!

[–] Cletus-Vanne-Damme 15 years ago

I was thinking God too.

[–] Bogart91 15 years ago

I was thinking of the guy that got the bullents out the first time too. I assume he lives but i like thats its like taht you can think either way.

I HAVE TO RETURN SOME VIDEOTAPES

[–] TV Boy 15 years ago

Gotta be the doc with the bottle of whiskey who pulled Porter back from the beyond the first time.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] corsi71inc 13 years ago

Jeez, Wolfy, way to bring your own hang-ups into a thread in an obnoxious and insulting way. And that coming from an avowed atheist. I mean, seriously, are you 12 years old? Learn to speak like an adult. Or at least an intelligent child. You come off as neither.

I didn't get the impression Mel was referring to a higher power, but I also didn't get the sense that he was talking about an actual person either. He was dying and he knew it. If he meant an actual person, I think he would have said, "Yeah, go here, this street, this town," etc etc.
He just wanted to quietly sink into oblivion, in my opinion. He by all rights should have died when his wife shot him, but he didn't. Perhaps he felt that he was 'spared' to get revenge. Once had, he could go back to his expected destiny: death. Almost as if death was put on pause so he could get his revenge. Once achieved, Death came back for him, so to speak.

But that is the beauty of the ambiguous ending, the kind that this script called for in the 1st place - it can mean what you want it to mean. It gets you thinking and hypothesizing. You talk about the movie and share your thoughts. So, you know... hooray for Art. (Just kidding, kinda.)

Actually, a very similar ending was used (a European film, which it seems has a better chance of not falling into studio-demanded stereotypes) in the movie that I stole my signature from. Did the narrator die? Didn't he? All depends on your POV and opinion. There is no absolute truth, which I think makes for a much more engaging experience.

1. Being moody.
2. Being bad at maths.
3. Being sad.

[–] palehorse864 12 years ago

I figured it was the veterinarian who helped him the first time.
***of course, spoilers***

I think it would be interesting to have a version that ends as the original novel does. They have the showdown on the platform, which actually played out similarly to the director's cut film. He has multiple obstacles and opponents that the outfit sends before he finally gets his money.

The book ends with Parker (Porter's name in the book) finding a crooked doctor who he pays a chunk of the money he got for plastic surgery. Parker gets a new face that the outfit and the cops won't recognize and the final epilogue is him on a new job, getting back into his old life.

The book also gave him a somewhat different motivation. He still wanted his money, but I don't think he had the "only what's owed me" honor code thing. He did want his money back in the amount that was taken from him, but I don't think he made as much of a point of the amount. Part of his primary motivation was that the betrayal had broken his pattern. He did a job, got a comfortable living, and took time off. When money ran low, he would do another job and live comfortably again for a while. In the novel, his mission to get his money back was a way of getting this pattern going again.

The novel ending, without the new job, would have been interesting because they could film the next novel with a new actor. Porter is back, but with a new face.