Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jan 17, 2019 15:13:09 GMT
I disagree, from a film noir lovers perspective I think the 100 minute cut is the way to go. I like having both versions though, as you say, fascinating.
This is not an out and out remake of John Boorman's 1967 offering Point Blank, the structure is different from the 67 film, and where Point Blank is a dark psychological thriller that is rightly regarded as being towards the top of the neo-noir tree, this Brian Helgeland directed film really should be seen as a different interpretation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Hunter.
The style of the film owes its being to classic film noir and the 1970s hard crime movies led by Dirty Harry and Death Wish. The makers had originally wanted to film it in black and white, but instead went for a de-saturation technique, a bleach by-pass process that really puts a grim grey and blue sheen on the visuals. The thumping score is tonally correct, while a good sound track also helps (always nice to see hear Voodoo Chile), and the use of voice over narration by Porter evokes the classic noir period and works a treat because it's not over done.
Violent, laconic and darkly comic as well, Payback is one of the best remakes around, a neo-noir essential in fact. 8.5/10
Footnote: Director Helgeland released his own Directors Cut in 2006. Unhappy with the original version, he changed some of the structure and visual style and made it shorter by ten minutes. It's inferior to the 100 minute original cut in my opinion, losing much of the noir stylisations, but the last quarter is different and will (does) certainly appeal to others.
On the same DVD is an interview with Helgeland and others explaining how his "own" version came to be made and released. Unless you have a heart of stone this could not fail to convert you to preferring his version to the theatrical release.
I particular enjoyed the dog getting shot but I could not remember if that also occurred in the theatrical release. (Just sorry it was not Asta). Not that I have anything against dogs but it worries me that whereas humans get mown down in their thousands in the movies, dogs lead unrealistically charmed lives. There is a very funny passage in the interview about this scene.
Thanks for the post, turned into a smart readable thread