Payback

Perhaps a film to watch when your in isolation or just procrastinating. It's very slow to get going but still its entertaining. I was hoping for a remake of the Mel Gibson classic "payback".

I do think it would have been better as a drama series, allowing the characters to grow and possibly strengthen the storyline.

Thank heavens. Not bad well-acted, etc., but I found it relatively slow, with few action scenes, as budget allowed, at 1 hour 25 minutes it seemed longer, after an hour I started to skip a little. There are much better dramas out there, but it was OK.

This story of a not-so wise guy persevering through his gritty lot in life is engagingly presented, with effective acting all around, especially on the part of the lead, who comes across as vulnerable and conflicted while the school of hard knocks develops his character into a force to be reckoned with in gangster land. The Russian mob atmosphere was captured well even while including romance and family relationships without trivializing those elements. The film grips and holds you throughout even in the absence of any budgetary fluff. It maintains the feel of realism, and doesn't shy away from a sappily ever after ending.

I've said this so many times for all these Covid-era junk releases, you can't be the director, writer, and producer for a film unless you're in the Top 5 and Joseph Mensch doesn't do any of those roles well which makes for a wasted effort. The bones of the plot are ok, but the execution, the screenplay is juvenile and not thought out; in fact, it just gets more stupid and unlikely as it moves along. And it has the most unlikely ending ever, poorest payoff in the past five films you've seen. The only thing worth watching truly were performances by support cast you may recognize: Lev Gorn who played Zotov in "The Americans" and Toby Moore who plays Bryan in "Billions". And our protag/star, Matt Levett, never seen him before. And he plays a character that should've died in so many scenes. Just add this to the Covid-era pile of rubbish out back.

Not a bad thriller, and made well, small budget but still - entertaining.