I am a fan of the film Payback with Mel Gibson, it's darker than most of his other films and has a great noir feel to it. However it does have its faults, and it seems they are all to be corrected in a massive Director's Cut which will totally change the third act of the film.

Payback also stars various other well known names such as Maria Bello, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Bill Duke, David Paymer, Deborah Kara Unger, Kris Kristofferson, Freddy Rodríguez and even the great James Coburn, and if you haven't seen it yet you really should.

It tells the story of Porter, a tough guy who is shot and left to die by his wife and best friend over their recent money steal from the local Chinese gang. However he survives, and because he has nothing left he decides to go on a bloody minded slow paced walk of revenge. It's really good.

However it appears that when Director Brian Helgeland showed his cut to the studio they were worried. It was too dark and edgy for a Gibson film of that time, so they took in John Myhre to reshoot a load of the film, and that was the theatrical release. However that is about to change, finally.

According to Movie List Forums Payback is getting a special edition release where the Helgeland's original film is being returned, rather than the more Hollywood third act of the theatrical release. Not only that but it finally gets a proper widescreen release.

The title is Payback: Straight Up - The Director's Cut, and Amazon seem to be selling it in Blu-Ray format. Finally, from Play.com, I find the specifications of the disc:

Commentary by Writer/Director Brian Helgeland
Paybacks Are A Bitch: On Location in Chicago
Paybacks Are A Bitch: On Set in Los Angeles
Same Story, Different Movie - Creating Payback: The Director's Cut
The Hunter: A Conversation with Author Donald E. Westlake

Widescreen 2.35:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Digital (2.0) Stereo

Sounds good, and a definite addition to my collection. I just rewatched the film the other weekend and I loved it as much as the first viewing, so this darker version should hold a lot more attraction for me. Have you seen Payback? What did you think?