10 Director's Cuts That Changed Your Mind About Bad Movies

Despite being hot off an Oscar win for his L.A. Confidential screenplay, Brian Helgeland's original cut of his 1999 directorial debut Payback was vetoed by both Paramount and star Mel Gibson. They felt that the tone was too dark and it made Gibson's protagonist Porter too unlikeable.

Helgeland was fired, despite retaining a directorial credit on the final film, re-writes were rushed through and production designer John Myhre was employed to re-shoot 30% of the movie.

The theatrical release excised a number of "edgier" scenes - namely Porter brutally beating his ex-wife (Deborah Kara Unger) - while endeavouring to make Porter more sympathetic, adding in a needless voiceover and more generic plot elements and characters (including Kris Kristoffersen as Porter's boss).

Unlike the overwhelming majority of director's cuts, Helgeland's 2006 "Straight Up" version is actually about 15 minutes shorter than the theatrical release. In streamlining the revenge movie throwback for maximum punchy efficency, it's effortlessly the better of the two.