Brian Helgeland

And then weirdly, the same guy... writes this and writes mystic river.

Brian Helgeland is the screenwriter of both.

And he wrote LA confidential.

And like, I think he won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

There's no way it would make any sense to bring this up.

So I'll just let it go.

It turns out that Brian Helgeland also wrote The Postman.

And The Postman...

Didn't director write that? It's not very likely I'll ever cover anything else he was involved with again, though.

He didn't write Wonder Boys, that was Clovis, but he did share the Oscar for co-writing Ellie Confidential with Brian Helgeland, who directed Tudyk in 42.

Nice connection.

Writing, directing, and producing that classic were Curtis's only three nominations ever.

In summary, Payback is a film that delivers on its promise of gritty action and dark humour.

It is a testament to Mel Gibson's star power and Brian Helgeland's directorial vision.

While it may not reach the artistic heights of its predecessor, Point Blank, it remains a compelling watch for fans of the crime drama genre.

The film's exploration of loyalty, betrayal and the quest for justice resonates, making it a memorable entry in the pantheon of late 1990s action films.

I did just decide to go through a couple of criterion purchases that I just haven't gotten around to in a while.

and uh one of them i'll give you is point blank point blank the john boorman what is it 1967 lee marvin thriller it's based on a donald e westlake book about a character named parker and the movie he's called walker they remade it a bunch of times including with jason statham um maybe more memorably for me at least the Mel Gibson payback, Brian Helgeland's payback with with Mel Gibson, where he's just trying to get his money back.

That's it.

That's the whole thing is.

it.

Um, a sequel TV series fell through to a night's tale fell through in 2012 and director Brian Helgeland pitched a sequel to Netflix in 2024, but they passed.

So no sequels in the future.

And I think that's probably a good call.

Great movie.

Oh, and also, I mean, just to point this out to people, like this was written by Brian Helgeland.

who wrote Mystic River and L.A.

Confidential

Sorry.

Yeah.

You're looking at Brian Helgeland still.

Yeah, the killer, is this the killer remake? This thing came and disappeared.

Yeah.

And, uh, it's directed by Brian Helgeland.

Goddamn it, I can't remember what else he directed, but he directed some good things.

Hold on.