Payback
In a filthy kitchen an unkempt man puts on surgical gloves and quickly downs a full glass of cheap whiskey. Face down on the kitchen table is a barely conscious Porter (Mel Gibson), severely wounded with two large bullet wounds in his back. Medical professionals call it a GSW (Gun Shot Wound) and have to be necessarily reported to the police. This causes the criminals to seek health-care outside of the formal medical sector. The doctor pours whiskey on Porter's back to sterilize the area and digs out the bullets. Porter spends five months recuperating. Porter narrates that he had $70,000 taken from him and that is what he was going to get back. Porter is a career thief and former U.S. Marine. 5 months later, a penniless Porter exits the subway and steals cash from a 'blind' homeless man's hat containing donations. When the homeless man protests, Porter tells him "Shut up, I cured you." Porter then carefully looks at men walking on a busy sidewalk. He spots someone who is similar in physical appearance to him and well-to-do. He bumps into the targeted man and steals his wallet. Porter then spends the afternoon buying fine clothes, withdraws cash from a bank, and buys jewelry that he later pawns for $500 cash and a handgun. His spending spree ends when a restaurant waiter tells "Mr. Johnson" that his credit card was declined. Porter says to try the card again and flees the restaurant without paying. Porter begins tracking down Val Resnick (Gregg Henry), his former partner, and Lynn (Deborah Unger), his estranged wife and a heroin addict, both of whom betrayed Porter following a $140,000 heist from the Chinese triads. Porter noticed that the Chinese gang followed the same route each day while taking the daily collections and did not wear seat belts. The next day, he rams his car head on into the Triad car, knocking them unconscious. Val deceived Porter's wife Lynn into believing Porter was having an affair with Rosie, a call girl he used to protect. After Lynn shot Porter and the two left him for dead, Val rejoined the Outfit, a powerful criminal organization, using $130,000 of the heist money to repay an outstanding debt. Porter is intent on reclaiming his $70,000 cut. Porter confronts Lynn at her apartment, who has been consumed by guilt and become addicted to heroin. He tries to confiscate her drugs, but she finds some in a secondary stash. Porter goes to sleep after a bath. When he awakens, he finds her dead from an overdose the next morning. Believing that Val was funding her habit, Porter interrogates Lynn's drug connection, who points him to Val's middleman, Stegman (David Paymer). Porter finds Stegman in the company of corrupt police detectives Hicks (Bill Duke) and Leary (Jack Conley), and Val learns from Stegman that Porter is alive. Porter enlists the help of a call girl, Rosie (Maria Bello), who is affiliated with the Outfit. Porter once served as her driver, during which time they had a one-night stand. Lynn's jealousy and the fact that Porter had cheated on her with Rosie led to her and Resnick double-crossing Porter. Resnick is seeing a Triad-connected dominatrix Pearl (Lucy Liu) when Porter violently re-enters his life. Resnick goes to Carter (William Devane) at the Outfit to explain why Porter is demanding $70,000. Told to handle it himself. However, after Val leaves Carter directs one of his men to take care of Porter himself. Desperate, Val directs Pearl to tell the Triads that Porter was responsible for the $140,000 heist. Before the Triads can kill Porter, Hicks and Leary arrive, having found Lynn's body and questioned her dealer, and extort Porter for a cut of his money once he recovers it. Following Porter to Rosie's apartment, Val shoots her dog and threatens to sexually assault her, but Porter shoots and wounds him. Giving up the names of Outfit bosses Fairfax and Carter, Val is killed by Porter. Taking Rosie to his secret apartment, Porter finds a bomb rigged to the telephone by Carter's men Philip (John Glover) & 2 of his associates, who call him from a car outside. Cutting their fuel line, Porter incinerates them with a lit cigarette. Outside Carter's office, Porter is waylaid by Hicks, Leary, and Stegman, who also demands a cut. Porter gives them his revolver to hold while he is inside, securing Leary's fingerprints on the gun that killed Val. Meeting with Carter, Porter disarms his guards and threatens to kill him. Deferring to the organization's corporate structure, Carter calls Bronson (Kris Kristofferson), the head of the Outfit. Porter repeatedly corrects them that all he wants is his half-share of the money Val stole, but Bronson refuses to pay, and Porter kills Carter. Framing Hicks and Leary for Val's death, Porter leaves Hicks' badge and the gun with Leary's fingerprints by the body. Porter arranges for Hicks and Leary to be busted by their own colleagues in Internal Affairs. With the aid of Rosie, he kidnaps Bronson's son Johnny (Trevor St. John), keeping him tied up, which he reveals to Bronson on another call while he threatens Fairfax. Stegman captures Porter, but a shootout ensues with Pearl and the Triads, leaving Stegman, his driver, and the Triads dead; holding Porter at gunpoint, Pearl is knocked unconscious when the Outfit arrives to abduct Porter. Bronson and his mob associate Fairfax (James Coburn) join the hunt to take him down. Porter meets face-to-face with Bronson, who has brought a $140,000 ransom but swears Porter will never touch it. Porter reasons that all he wanted was the $70,000 Resnick took, but Bronson orders his men to hammer Porter's toes until he reveals Johnny's location; they smash two toes before he gives them an address. Bronson, Fairfax, and their men drive to the address, Porter's apartment, with Porter locked in the trunk. As they go inside, Porter breaks free and uses the car phone to dial his apartment phone; Bronson answers, triggering the bomb left by Carter's men, and the explosion kills Bronson, Fairfax, and their men. Leaving Johnny cuffed to her radiator, Rosie joins Porter in starting a new life together, beginning by "going for breakfast...in Canada."
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