This delayed director's cut made drastic changes, warranting its own listing on IMDb, that positively effected the quality of this revenge thriller. 'Payback: Straight Up (2006)' pits a relatively unsympathetic anti-hero protagonist against an arguably even more unsympathetic bad-guy and just lets him off the leash. The film isn't perfect, though its better in this form than in the washed-out and narration-heavy studio-mandated theatrical cut, but some brutal action, a callous disregard for likeability and an engaging plot mean that this is an entertainingly, and refreshingly, downbeat affair. 7/10

I was as curious to see Helgeland's cut of "Payback" as the next guy. It was years before I even knew there were on-set complications, and I've been dying to see what he'd had in mind.

It certainly isn't better, but I can appreciate where he was going with this. The hardened noir angle is heightened, and the original's steely blue filter is gone - but so is the '70s revenge movie vibe, and in its place is something a little more generic. The new score certainly doesn't do the movie any favors. Gibson used to have a wry grin underneath the violence, and now it's just brutality. He's no longer someone to root for.

None of these are negatives towards "Straight Up"; just strong differences. These are two completely different movies, each offering its own flavor. As curiosities go, this is on the entertaining side, but I've always been partial to the sheer style of the original movie.

7/10

Wow. I loved the theater version of 'Payback' even giving it 5/5 stars and ranks as one of the best Mel Gibson movies ever made. 'Payback: Straight Up –The Director's Cut' (P:SU:TDC) however is the biggest director's version disappointment since the 'Richard Donner's Superman II' cut. I have yet to review (and now should go back and watch the original 'Payback' in order to do so) the theater version, but I've seen it so many times to know where scenes were cut and added, tone/lighting altered and of course the deletion of Kris Kristofferson's character along with the theater's ending. If rented, one should absolutely watch the making of features on the 'P:SU:TDC' DVD to learn so much more about how this version surfaced. Such as the director Brian Helgeland being fired when conflicts with his vision and what the studio wanted us to see surfaced. Too funny: when fired, he was concerned of Donner's (who worked with him on 'Conspiracy Theory' also with Gibson) opinion, stating that Donner wouldn't have been (fired or removed.) Uh, well, he was – Warner Bros. threw him out of 'Superman II' that he almost completed. Also, you'll learn that Gibson, himself, didn't like this version as much as the theater one. What 'P:SU:TDC' contains is more violence – see Gibson beat up his wife and kill in cold blood and a relatively non-suspenseful cat/mouse ending. What this version took away, was almost all humor, great voice-overs, the suspenseful closing including Kristofferson's wonderful scenes and pretty much all the fun. Donner's 'Superman II' did almost the same things, even though 'II' wasn't the best one, the magic, humor, fun and action packed closing all vanished. 'P:SU:TDC' isn't even worth a viewing. Skip it – only watch the theater version for great entertainment.