Lucy Liu in Payback (1999)

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The theatrical release of Payback (1999) was about a bad guy bent on revenge. Payback: The Director's Cut is an act of revenge by director Brian Helgeland on the Hollywood system that feared his stark, neo-noir vision and saw his film recut into something more like star Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon series. Freed from forced levity and out from under the earlier version's voiceovers, Mel is all antihero without explanation, primed for payback after his pard, Gregg Henry, plugs him and takes his cut away. Why does Gregg do that, you say? Because Mrs. Mel, Deborah Kara Unger, is his main lay, and these no-goods know their noir. And if you know your noir as well as they, you'll know that they're just the first two of many miscreants with Mel to pay: He gives hell to a whole nest of ne'er-do-wells, including Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn, William Devane, and John Glover, getting some help from his hooker ex-lover, Maria Bello, along the way. And if mistress Maria's not enough to turn you to Jell-o, hellacious dominatrix Lucy Liu should do!