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Payback (1999) Directed by Brian Helgeland (and Paul Abascal?) Cinematography by Ericson Core

I watched both versions of this 70's-inspired neo-noir film starring Mel Gibson for the first time tonight.

I'm surprised to see that apparently quite a few people prefer the Director's Cut, but I can't see why. The theatrical version had a smarter, more interesting finale and Kris Kristofferson. The Director's Cut removes all of that and replaces it with a short train station shootout and somewhat-abrupt ending. They also removed/changed some lines just to make Gibson's character meaner. It's a bit strange.

I loved the theatrical version, though. Definitely one I'd recommend, but unfortunately you'll have a hard time finding that version officially since they've apparently never released it on Blu-ray or digitally outside of the UK.

Paparazzi (2004)

Early on, I found myself invested in “Paparazzi”. In the end, its shallowness disappoints.

Rising action star Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) being harassed by paparazzi photographers. These slimeballs, Rex (Tom Sizemore), Wendell (Daniel Baldwin), Leonard (Tom Hollander) and Kevin (Kevin Gage) harass the actor and his family until Bo has had enough. After a creepy encounter where Rex is shooting pictures of Bo’s young son Zach (Blake Bryan), Bo punches him in the face and is caught on camera. After an expensive lawsuit, it’s become personal. Bo and the photographers start taking personal jabs at each other until disaster strikes. While being harassed by the paparazzi, Bo and his family get into a severe car crash. Bo’s wife Abby (Robin Tunney) is left seriously injured and their son is now in a coma, while the people responsible for the accident gleefully take pictures to sell to the highest bidder. When Bo accidentally causes one of the photographers to wipe out on his motorcycle and fall to his death, he realizes that he might just get satisfaction for the pain that’s been thrust upon him by killing the people responsible!

Despite this really nutty premise, the film really isn’t what you would expect from one of these revenge fantasies. At first, you think it’s going to deliver in the same way that such classics of the genre like “Commando” or “Taken” do because the antagonists are evil to a cartoonish level. They’re snapping pictures of the couple during intimate moments, they’re blackmailing people, they’re drug users, they are tied into all sorts of illegal business, they’re slimy when it comes to picking up chicks and one of them is a rapist too. Basically, you wouldn’t shed a tear if these guys found themselves dead. So in most of these movies, the hero gets wronged and suffers a great tragedy. He then goes about against the justice system that has failed him and gets satisfaction by either pumping the evildoers full of lead or (even better) giving them ironic deaths, much to the audience’s satisfaction. That’s basically what’s going on here, but the tragedy, it isn’t that tragic. Well, it should be because we’ve got a young boy in a coma and a wife that’s scarred for life, but the movie is so over-the-top when it comes to the photographers that you can never take it seriously. As for the revenge aspect, well you can never quite cheer for Bo. I mean sure he gets his revenge, but it’s never really satisfying. A frame-up here, an accidental death there. There’s one kill that is actually quite disturbing when you think of it too much and you really start losing sympathy for the guy. Sure, the movie paints it as a nice, quick and clean kill but you just know that in real life, beating someone with a blunt object, to death nonetheless is pretty horrific. You start cheering for the cop that’s investigating these suspicious looking deaths because you just want to see everyone involved thrown in jail (but he’s either related to inspector Clouseau or secretly approves of the killings because he’s not very good at it). The actions in the film just don’t feel justified and it isn’t dramatic enough or exploitation-y enough to satisfy.

As I wrote earlier at first the movie was emotionally effective and I did find myself invested in the story but as it went on, I found myself caring less and less. You’ll get more enjoyment out of the cameos by celebrities (hey, check it out, it’s Matthew McConaughey playing himself!) than the story. Particularly entertaining/ironic is Mel Gibson (who produced the film), who can be seen waiting to go to anger management class. “Paparazzi” doesn’t have any real insights into the world of cheap tabloids and as a revenge fantasy, it’s not particularly inspired either. Skip it. (On DVD, December 12, 2013)