Porter (
Mel Gibson) is pulled into a heist by his old friend, Val (
Brian De Palma regular,
Gregg Henry). As they're stealing $130,000 in laundered drug money from Chinese Triads, no one is going to call the police. Everything goes smoothly until Porter's wife, Lynn (
Deborah Kara Unger), shoots Porter in the back. After Val had shown Lynn a photo of Porter in the arms of another girl (
Maria Bello), the two planned the double-cross together to pay off Val's mob debts so he could return to "The Syndicate." They didn't plan well enough, though, because five months later Porter's back, a complete sociopath who wants his $70,000.
Brian Helgeland, the screenwriter for L.A. Confidential and
Conspiracy Theory, makes his directing debut with this adaptation of the novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake writing under the pseudonym,
Richard Stark. The same novel served as the basis for
John Boorman's
Point Blank starring
Lee Marvin. ~ Chris Gore, All Movie Guide