- After a successful heist, Porter is left for dead. Once he recovers, he seeks vengeance and wants his share of the money.
- Porter is bad, but his neighbours are worse. Street-wise and tough, an ex-marine, he is betrayed by a one-time partner, and shot in the back by his junkie wife. He survives and returns, looking to recover his share from the robbery of an Asian crime gang. The money has passed into the hands of "the Outfit", a slick gangster organisation that runs the city. He has to make his way through a world populated by heroin dealers, prostitutes, sado-masochists, gunmen and crooked cops, a place where torture is a way of life. His only friend is a former employer, a prostitute, and her loyalty is in question, given she now works for the Outfit. He makes good early progress, but then falls into the hands of Bronson, the crime boss.—Kwah-LeBaire
- Val Resnick and Porter, two small time bandits, hit a Chinese gang together and manage to get $140,000. But Val Resnick needs 130 grand alone to buy himself back into his syndication. So, Val turns on Porter together with Porter's wife Lynn, who kills him with two shots in the back. But Porter survives and half a year later, he is back, seeking his share of $70,000. When he finally finds Val, Porter quickly learns that he has to go much further up the ladder in order to get his money from the guys who have it: The syndication. Working alone can't be realized any more, so Porter teams up with his flame and previous boss Rosie, a very exclusive prostitute. Together, they now start playing the teams against each other.—Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>
- Porter is a super-bad guy who is so despicable that he would steal a pan-handler's money and take a waitress' tip. He is quickly shown to keep even worst company though as his friend and junkie wife join together to kill him after a robbery from an Oriental gang. Nonetheless, he recovers after being gunned in the back by his wife. He then sets out for revenge against his "friend", who used the money to buy his way into the "Syndicate". This means he also has to to take on the Syndicate bosses which include, in line, Carter, Justin Fairfax, and Bronson. Meanwhile, crooked cops also come after him trying to get their share of what they believe is a big load of money related to drugs, the Oriental gang seeks revenge against the robbers, and a crooked little middle man tries to get his own piece.—John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>
- Porter is a small time but tough criminal, who's primary gig, is robbery. Now his friend Val Resnick needs $130,000 to pay back a criminal group known as "The Outfit". He tells Porter about some Asian couriers who carry $300,000, Porter agrees to it on the condition that they split the take. When they hit them, they discover that they only have $140,000, and Resnick says that, that's what they always carry. He pulls out a gun and shoots Porter in the back and leaves him to die. However, Porter manages to make it to a doctor, and get treated, when he recovers, he sets out to get Resnick and his share $70,000. He begins by approaching an associate of Resnick's. Porter then seeks out a prostitute named Rosie, whom he knew, she tells him where he can find Resnick, when he does he tells Resnick that he should go to his employers and ask them to give him back $70,000 of the money he gave them, Resnick says that's impossible but Porter "convinces" him to do it. Resnick then goes to his boss, Mr. Carter, who tells him that it's in their best interest to help Resnick deal with Porter. Carter orders one of his men to take Porter out but Porter's just too good for them. Resnick then asks his girlfriend who knows the people whom he and Porter stole the money from, and tells her to tell them where they can find him. When they do they are interrupted by two policemen, but they are crooked who are under the impression that Porter's going after $200,000-300,000 and are going to get it. Can Porter deal with all these people and still get his money.—rcs0411@yahoo.com
- In a filthy kitchen an unkempt man puts on surgical gloves and quickly downs a full glass of cheap whiskey. Face down on the kitchen table is a barely conscious Porter (Mel Gibson), severely wounded with two large bullet wounds in his back. The doctor pours whiskey on Porter's back to sterilize the area and digs out the bullets. Porter spends five months recuperating. Porter narrates that he had $70,000 taken from him and that is what he was going to get back.
Penniless, Porter exits the subway and steals cash from a 'blind' homeless man's hat containing donations. When the homeless man protests, Porter tells him "Shut up, I cured you." Porter then carefully looks at men walking on a busy sidewalk. He spots someone who is similar in physical appearance to him and well-to-do. He bumps into the targeted man and steals his wallet. Porter then spends the afternoon buying fine clothes, withdraws cash from a bank, and buys jewelry that he later pawns for $500 cash and a handgun. His spending spree ends when a restaurant waiter tells "Mr. Johnson" that his credit card was declined. Porter says to try the card again and flees the restaurant without paying.
Porter begins tracking down Val Resnick (Gregg Henry), his former partner, and Lynn (Deborah Unger), his estranged wife and a heroin addict, both of whom betrayed Porter following a $140,000 heist from the Chinese triads. After Lynn shot Porter and the two left him for dead, Val rejoined the Outfit, a powerful criminal organization, using $130,000 of the heist money to repay an outstanding debt. Porter is intent on reclaiming his $70,000 cut.
Porter enlists the help of a call girl, Rosie (Maria Bello), who is affiliated with the Outfit. Porter once served as her driver, during which time they had a one-night stand. Lynn's jealousy and the fact that Porter had cheated on her with Rosie led to her and Resnick double-crossing Porter. To get to Resnick, Porter must deal with a lowlife named Arthur Stegman (David Paymer), crime bosses from the Outfit, the Chinese triads, and corrupt police detectives Hicks and Leary (Bill Duke and Jack Conley).
Resnick is seeing a dominatrix (Lucy Liu) when Porter violently re-enters his life. Resnick goes to the Outfit to explain why Porter is demanding $70,000. Told to handle it himself, Resnick tries to, but is shot by Porter in Rosie's apartment as Porter catches him abusing Rosie when Porter returns to collect his forgotten cigarettes.
Porter then kills three of the Outfit's hit squad henchmen, including their leader, Philip (John Glover), who have been sent by Carter (William Devane), their immediate superior with the Outfit, to "Stitch this mutt up." Threatening to kill Carter next if somebody higher in the organization won't pay his $70,000, Porter hears the refusal of mob boss Bronson (Kris Kristofferson) on the phone, so he carries out his threat.
With the aid of Rosie, he kidnaps Bronson's son Johnny, keeping him tied up. He arranges for Hicks and Leary to be busted by their own colleagues in Internal Affairs by planting Leary's fingerprints on the gun Porter used to kill Resnick. He pick-pockets Hicks's badge, then leaves it with the gun in the vicinity of Resnick's dead body.
Bronson and his mob associate Fairfax (James Coburn) join the hunt to take him down. Porter is captured by the Outfit after a wild chain of events involving the triads. He is tortured by having his toes smashed with a hammer.
Porter is locked inside a car trunk and taken by Bronson and his men to an apartment that had previously been rigged by the Outfit's men to a phone connected to plastic explosive. After his captors meet an explosive demise, Porter is picked up by Rosie (with her dog, also named Porter). When she sees his injuries and asks what happened, Porter replies, "I got hammered." They drive off to Canada to begin a new life.
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