PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Payback (1999)

Payback (1999)

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Released 6-Sep-1999
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Action	Interviews-Cast-4 Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	97:04
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Brian Helgeland
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Mel Gibson Gregg Henry Maria Bello David Paymer
Case	Snapper	Starring	Mel Gibson Gregg Henry Maria Bello David Paymer
RPI	$36.95	Music	Chris Boardman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Pan & Scan	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Tired of seeing Mel Gibson as a good guy? Well, in Payback, Mel plays Porter, a somewhat single-minded robber who has been dudded out of $70,000 by his partner Val (Gregg Henry) and his wife. Oh, and they shot him and left him for dead. Well, Porter is not dead, he wants his money, and he isn't letting anyone stand in his way.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. The other side of this disc carries a Pan & Scan version of the movie. As is typical with Warner Home Video dual ratio discs, the labelling is completely misleading in regards to the Pan & Scan side, though it is a little better than in the past.

The transfer was very sharp and very clear at all times, but with some film grain apparent in some shots. This is a result of the bleach process used to create the print, and is a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers. Shadow detail was very good and there was no low level noise.

The colours were deliberately presented very unusually. They were very faded, almost black & white, with predominantly strong blues present. Some scenes were predominately green. There were no scenes whatsoever in this movie where colours were presented in the slightest bit naturally. I personally found this quite irritating, even though this was a deliberate choice on the part of the moviemakers. Indeed, according to Mel Gibson, they wanted to make this film in black & white but commercial considerations precluded this.

No MPEG artefacts were seen. There was some minor aliasing, but this artefact was well-controlled. A few minor film artefacts were present in the transfer, but nothing significant.

Audio

There are three audio tracks on this DVD - English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, and Italian Dolby Digital 5.1. The default soundtrack is the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, which is the one that I listened to.

Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand, and always natural-sounding, a high point of this soundtrack.

There were no audio sync problems with this soundtrack.

The score by Chris Boardman was highly stylized and suited the film noir setting of the movie.

The surround channels were moderately used for special effects and music, but generally this was a front soundstage dialogue mix.

The .1 channel was also used only moderately, to support special effects and music.

Extras

This disc has only limited extras.

Menu - 16:9 & 4:3

Theatrical Trailer

The theatrical trailer on the Pan & Scan side of this disc is 4:3, not 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced as it is on the widescreen side of this disc.

Cast Interviews

There are 4 interviews, each running continuously, with fade-outs between silent questions. There is a little useful information presented, but nothing spectacular.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Region 1 version of this disc has;

Teaser Trailer
Featurette

The Region 4 version of this disc has;

Pan & Scan version of the movie
Cast Interviews

There is no compelling reason to prefer one version over the other.

Summary

Payback is an unusual film, both in plot and in look. Overall, I liked it, though I found the visual appearance of the film to be more of a distraction from the story rather than an enhancement to the story.

The video quality is good given the deliberate choice of this colour palette.

The audio quality is good.

The extras are limited and of little value.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output
Display	Loewe Art-95 (95cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL).
Audio Decoder	Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum.
Amplification	2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer
Speakers	Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer

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