Lousy ‘Payback’ Doesn’T Detract From Mel Gibson’S Superstardom

No one in Hollywood, not even Paul Newman, has bluer eyes than Mel Gibson. And while it may be hard to believe in this era of prosthetics and plastic surgery, he surely doesn’t use tinted contact lenses. Not our Mel.

Gibson comes to mind this week because of “Payback,” his debut as a bad guy (never mind “Mad Max”) that is now available on video (see capsule review below). If your introduction to Gibson, the American-born, Australian-raised superstar, is from this film, you’re unfortunate. “Payback” is nothing anyone should have on his/her resume.

Fortunately for Gibson, his resume contains some fairly decent films. And in some of those, he was better than the material. Here’s a selected list of Gibson’s best work:

* “Mad Max” (1980), “The Road Warrior” (1982), “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” (1985): This George Miller-directed trilogy had its high point in 1982. The first film is a little rough, the final film is a little slick, but “Road Warrior” - despite its penchant for violence - is as engaging as a cinematic roller coaster. And Gibson is what makes the franchise work. His Max is equal parts brutality and survival instinct, but Mel manages to milk out a few moments of compassion as well.

* “Gallipoli” (1981): Australian soldiers attack an indomitable stronghold in one of World War I’s stupidest military blunders. Does Mel survive? Watch and see.

* “The Year of Living Dangerously” (1982): Two other future stars emerged from this little journalistic romance-drama: Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt (who would win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance). The movie tends to lose steam after Hunt exits, but the Gibson-Weaver romance is appropriately steamy.

* “The River” (1984): Mel explores his soft side in the film (with Sissy Spacek) that actually made him an American star. Of course, once he showed he could play something other than “Mad Max,” that’s what he went back to playing.

* “Lethal Weapon” (1987): Case in point. Long before this series (now at No. 4 and counting) became a cartoon, Gibson actually brought some intensity to his role of the suicidal, emotionally warped cop Martin Riggs.

* “Braveheart” (1995): Not only did Gibson star in this Oscar-winning period piece, he directed it as well. The film has a number of flaws, but Gibson isn’t among them.

That’s Mel Gibson in a nutshell (pardon the “Lethal Weapon” pun). Even so, my favorite of his films may be one in which he received no credit. Look for him as the long-lost father returning home in “Fairy Tale: A True Story.”

The week’s major openings on video:

Blast From the Past ***

When his parents let him leave the bomb shelter in which he has lived all 35 years of his life, an impressionable young man (Brendan Fraser) goes out in search of a mate - and finds Alicia Silverstone. This Hugh Wilson-directed movie manages to be better than some of his previous work, which includes “Police Academy” and “Guarding Tess.” But direction is not the film’s strong point. And neither is Silverstone, who tries to do a kind of Cameron Diaz thing here but comes off looking more like Rachel from MTV’s “Real World” San Francisco segment. Fraser, though, is terrific (showing once again that while he may not be up to drama, he’s perfect for a certain kind of comedy - “George of the Jungle 2,” anyone?). The downstairs scenes, featuring Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek, are especially good. All in all, “Blast From the Past” is exactly what its title promises. Rated PG-13.

October Sky ***

Based on the true story of NASA engineer Homer Hickam, this film involves a young high school student from West Virginia turning to rocket science in an attempt to escape his coal-mining future. Unlike other bio-pics, shameless manipulations of reality that shall go nameless (think doctors wearing fake red noses), this little melodrama remains true in spirit if not strictly fact (how often does a dying person get to see literal proof of his/her efforts?). Set in the late 1950s, it feels and looks real and boasts a number of performances by a largely no-name cast to go along with the few recognizable faces - Laura Dern as a concerned teacher and Chris Cooper as a determined, complicated father. Newcomer Jake Gwyllenhaal plays Homer with an earnestness that might strike some viewers as one-dimensional. Ultimately, though, he proves impossible to dislike. Kind of like the movie itself. Rated PG.

Payback *

Mel Gibson once was adept at playing the hard guy. Remember “Mad Max”? So it isn’t too much of a stretch to picture him in a film that requires him to be the kind of character who would kill, indiscriminately, just to get back the $70,000 that his ex-partner and two-timing wife stole from him. Yet this sad attempt at neo-noir largely wastes Gibson’s abilities, offering us no characters to like, little dialogue that’s clever and scenes of graphic violence that director Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of “L.A. Confidential”) seems to think are witty and cool. The film, set in a nameless, gray metropolis, is competently shot and lit. But that’s about it - unless you like to see women get beat up, men get shot point-blank in the head and various other characters immolated in a succession of fiery boom-booms, all played out in an undertone suggestive, but only barely so, of dark comedy. Rated R.