John-Locke wrote:It's been a good few years since I watched the original cut of the film, I must have watched it a half dozen times back in the day and the prospect of seeing a darker/truer version of the film excited me.
Damn

I'm sure I'd notice more new things if I had seen the film recently but all I noticed was the good stuff that was missing, like the bomb (gotta love explosions) and the excellent torture scene with the hammer and the toes on the cold concrete floor. Porter is more of an asshole in this version but the film just seems too short and I was hoping for something wildly better than the theatrical cut.
They should just make an ultimate version where you get the more badass Porter in the earlier scenes and then have the more exciting latter half to the film, next time I watch Payback I'm going to watch the Theatrical cut.
I also missed the blue tint to the whole film

Boy, you said it.
Like the Amadeus DC, I have to say I believe this is another case where the theatrical-cut is a better film. All the Gibson/Hays additions flesh the the story out. More "Hollywood" less "gritty"?...Bullshit I says. In those 70s movies you rooted for the assholes (Porter/Gibson is
so assholian in Straight Up that you actually start to not give a shit what happens to him) and they pretty much got away with shit too. So, the theatrical in some ways is actually more in line with what Helgeland was going for IMO. Plus Kris Kristofferson is great and more screen-time for Coburn and Devane is always a good thing.
Btw I just got "Straight Up" and while it was interesting and had some nice bonus features, right away it made me yearn for the theatrical.
To my amazement I found that Amazon had none in stock...other than "Used from these sellers". And when I went to Circuit-City (they had three copies) the guy tried to ring me up and said something like, "it's not letting me sell it to you". He had to run off and get a manager and they fucked around for another ten minutes on the computer....needless to say, I was getting kinda pissed.
So, head's-up to PAYBACK-fans....if you haven't seen the DC version yet, my guess is you will most likely dig the D-cut less. And if you have yet to purchase the PB-DVD....the version you know and love, then my advice is to get one NOW. I don't know if they're planning to re-release the theatrical at some point (it did come out way back in 99) but at this point it seems it's being pulled in favor of Straight-Up, which would be a shame cuz the TC is much better I think. At the very least a more satisfying, fuller experience methinks.