The latest project from Mel Gibson, “Payback,” is a revenge story — a dumb revenge story.

Sure, Gibson is a good actor, and there are some impressive explosions, but the story is pointless.

If a producer is going to spend millions of dollars on a movie, he should do it on a little better story, such as past Gibson thrillers “Ransom” or “Braveheart.”

Gibson is the mysterious and likable Porter (Porter is his last name, but no one knows his first name —that was cheesy).

Porter and his fellow thief/friend Val (Sterling Wolfe) plot a heist to steal a payroll from some Chinese guys.

After the job is done, they find they only stole $140 thousand instead of the $350 thousand they were expecting to get. Val is upset about this because he needs more money.

When Porter tries to explain that he should be happy with what he got, Val and Porter’s wife turn on Porter. They shoot him and leave him to die.

Porter’s new mission is to find Val, get his $70 grand back and kill him.

That’s what is silly about the story: Porter risks his life numerous times and is literally tortured for just $70 thousand — money that didn’t even belong to him in the first place.

When Porter returns from his recovery to seek his revenge, he hooks up with an old girlfriend named Rosie (Maria Bello), who is the real reason his wife turned on him.

Porter discovers that Val is a member of a very powerful syndicate called The Outfit, which is the group who has control over Porter’s money.

So Porter decides to take them on — all of them.

“Payback” creates a gloomy atmosphere by accenting the depressing life that Gibson’s character leads. That, along with corny narration by Gibson throughout, helps give the movie a very dark feel.

All the hype surrounding this movie is that Gibson is playing a bad guy.

Sorry to disappoint you, but in “Payback” Gibson plays his same old “Lethal Weapon” character, only when he kills people in this movie, it’s against the law. And he kills a lot of people.

Gibson, Bello, Wolfe and a host of other bad guys do a great job with believability and wickedness, but the story behind Porter and Rosie is a little cloudy.

The unpretentious story that “Payback” brings to the table may be a little too simple, especially with what movies are costing these days. Unnecessary gore and cheese-filled scenes make this movie a last alternative to boredom.

Unless you’re the world’s greatest Mel Gibson fan, you should probably wait until this one hits the rental stores or the cheap theaters. Because if you don’t like what you paid for, you won’t get a payback.

2 stars out of five

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Kyle Moss is a freshman in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.