Payback
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: February 5, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
11
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Payback has a completely different spirit from "L.A. Confidential'' -- more wild, more silly -- but it has the same attention to the fine points of plot and character. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Helgeland's film positively seethes with bad vibrations; it's kicky, nasty urban sangfroid with pointy little teeth and a serious case of the angries, an existential hand grenade disguised as a heist film. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
While there's quite a bit more graphic bloodshed and brutality here than in any of the late screen icon's vehicles, Payback is a worthy '90s successor to his kind of movie. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is much cleverness and ingenuity in Payback, but Mel Gibson is the key. The movie wouldn't work with an actor who was heavy on his feet, or was too sincere about the material. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
Helgeland makes a solid debut as director here, finding a new angle through which to view the Parker character, and doing so without exhausting the possibilities. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRon Wells
Rips out at least one dimension to reduce everything to archetypal good guys and bad guys, or bad guy and worse guys. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Payback is a thriller so mean and degraded it carries a low-down, vicious charge. Sadism is its only real subject, and its only real life as well. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Marvin leavened his sociopathy with a hint of little boy naivete or innocence -- Gibson is merely a frequently funny thug. {5 February 1999, Life, p. 11E]
60
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Helgeland strips the material back to its pulp origins and overlays it with a patina of glib motifs familiar to devotees of Hollywood’s 1970s renaissance. Read full review
60
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
That script – co-written by Terry Hayes and director Brian Helgeland – is almost too noir for its own good at times, but Gibson somehow manages to pull its implausibility off. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
The only moments of conviction come from an Asian-American dominatrix called Pearl (Lucy Liu), who brings far more glee to the task of beating people up than the picture's star or director. If the audience could have half as much fun as Pearl is having, Payback would be a kick. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
In the last third, Payback turns into a joke. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Payback is a brutally entertaining crime drama that should have been a little more brutal and a little less entertaining. Read full review
50
VarietyEmanuel Levy
Not an embarrassment, but it's not distinguished, either. Read full review
50
NewsweekJeff Giles
Payback may not always be P.C., but it's not interested in making friends, anyway. Just killing enemies. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Has the makings of that rarest of ventures, an adaptation that is true to the spirit of the original as well as its own time and place. But as Payback wends its way toward its conclusion, its promise dissipates and its pleasures wane. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The comic timing and Gibson's mugging are skillful, but the movie fulfills expectations of plot twists and ironic atmosphere only after having made clear that it won't be offering much else. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It careens from coarse comedy to smart-ass stylization to vicious violence without ever becoming convincing on any level. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Consider that in “Point Blank,” Lee Marvin walks through the film with the look of a man who's lost his soul. You can see it in his eyes. Look in Gibson's eyes in this one and you'll see soullessness, but it doesn't seem to come from anywhere within his character. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
The idea may sound like fun, but the movie isn't. It's a travesty of a picture that's a disgrace to the memory of the great film from which it's remade. [5 February 1999, Friday, po.A]
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
An interesting cast is wasted in this misanthropic thriller. Read full review
25
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
So it's hard to know who gets the blame for Payback. I say we cut Mel some slack and put the hex on Helgeland. Read full review
20
Washington PostStephen Hunter
We're supposed to adore Gibson's sang-froid and his toughness, but everything, a few good lines aside, is so witless and monotonous it becomes numbing. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
What one word might best describe Payback? How about "loathsome"? Read full review
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