The best action movie I've seen this year isn't in theaters. You may think you've seen it, but probably haven't. "Payback" is back, this time the way the director envisioned the film, not the suits. "You don't make pictures for the elite," producer/star Mel Gibson says today, explaining why Paramount and Warner Bros. took the noirish gangland movie away from freshman director Brian Helgeland. After 10 days of reshoots, a new final (third) act was tacked on, voiceover was added a la "Blade Runner" and Kris Kristofferson walked on as a new major character. Audiences still were amazed how brutal the Gibson character was when they had to "Get ready to root for the bad guy," as the marketing had it.

Same old story about artists and Hollywood, but this time came a happier ending. In 2005, Paramount and Gibson gave Helgeland another shot at the film, eight years after its release. The tapes turned up missing, so Helgeland and his editor recut the film using film. And so we have "Payback: Straight Up -- the Director's Cut."

Now, this is one hard-boiled movie. Gibson plays a criminal who comes back to town looking for the partner who stole half his loot, and his wife, following a heist. Along the way he single-handedly takes on both the syndicate and Asian drug dealers, slugs a woman (a scene the studios cut), and stirs up a John Woo-like shootout as the bloody finale. Supporting actors Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry and Maria Bello all do fine work.

There are multiple DVD extras, including a director's commentary, but the one to catch is the half-hour "Same Story -- Different Movie," all about the film's resurrection. Audio and video are sharp on the DVD -- and better on high definition discs, although in places the colors seem a bit too jacked up for a gritty, bleach-bypass film. "Payback" comes from the same book as "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin, an even better film from 1969.