100 San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle Payback has a completely different spirit from "L.A. Confidential'' -- more wild, more silly -- but it has the same attention to the fine points of plot and character. Read full review
75 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert There is much cleverness and ingenuity in Payback, but Mel Gibson is the key. The movie wouldn't work with an actor who was heavy on his feet, or was too sincere about the material. Read full review
75 ReelViews | James Berardinelli While there's quite a bit more graphic bloodshed and brutality here than in any of the late screen icon's vehicles, Payback is a worthy '90s successor to his kind of movie. Read full review
67 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman Payback is a thriller so mean and degraded it carries a low-down, vicious charge. Sadism is its only real subject, and its only real life as well. Read full review