The Payback

A notorious gang leader returns from prison to claim the money he left with his gang after a heist they performed and set up his new life, only to discover that the money is not there and the only way to repay him, his old friends have to join him in pulling off one more heist.

What if Premise

What if a gangster goes down alone for a crime committed with his crew, and for the 10 years in jail his crew never visits him, and when he comes out, he learns they have improved their lives with his share of their stolen money?

Controlling Idea

When you dance with the devil, you wait for him to tell you when to stop.

Film Plot

The year is 2010, at the height of the soccer world cup, but while everyone is celebrating the wins, meeting in parks to watch matches and going to stadiums, four friends, Ntsimbi, Mary, Bazooka and Vincent, who live in the township are planning the biggest heist that they have ever done. They have hired extra help from three guys and Mary is to serve as the decoy girl. They manage to pull off the job successfully, and they make it to their base, feeling victorious. That night they throw a huge party to celebrate their windfall, but as they revel in their win and snatching the jackpot, the police pounce on them. In a shootout, Mary, Vincent and the rest make off with the bag full of money and Ntsimbi is apprehended. But he never gives out his associate’s names and he is the one that goes to prison alone, being sentenced to ten years.

Ten Year Later

After serving ten years in prison for a heist, Ntsimbi a dirt bag gang leader is freed.  He returns to his family in the township and he moves in with them. He wants to start his life on a new slate and for that he will need some money. Word gets around that Ntsimbi is back and some criminals start to lure him into their jobs, but he turns them down. He starts to look for his old friends, the owe him. It is not long before he learns that Mary has started one of the biggest churches in the neighbourhood that is attended by many, Vincent married the love of his life, Portia and changed his image, he is now the local ward councillor, with ambitions to making it to mayor in the upcoming elections, and Bozooka works closely with Vincent, he was paralysed from the shooting in their last job ten years ago, but what is even more hurtful and shocking for Ntsimbi is that Bazooka is engaged to Ntsimbi’s old time sweetheart Naomi. When Ntsimbi tries to rekindle with Naomi, reminding her of their once passionate love. She is not there anymore.

Ntsimbi then starts coming for his old friends. He wants his money. They are all on tenterhooks when Ntsimbi calls them for a meeting. In that meeting he compliments them for the changes that they have made to their lives, picking up the pieces and becoming these powerful people, but there is one issue, where is his money? The job gave them R10 million, so therefore he wants his share of the money, where is his R2,5 million?

Ntsimbi learns that they have used his share to better their lives. It’s an awkward reunion between ex-gangsters. All he wants is his money since they made the deal. Big confrontation as they point fingers at each other. Ntsimbi is livid and tells them to put the money together. He sacrificed his freedom for them. He gives them 24 hours. The gang meet to see how they can repay him. They all can’t afford to get on the wrong side of Ntsimbi who has nothing to lose but they struggle to put the money together. They break the news to Ntsimbi who refuses to accept this.  They start running and avoiding him, and a fed up Ntsimbi unleashes his wrath on them. They are attacked, beaten and tortured, and they soon realise that Ntsimbi means business.

Vincent, fearing that should the community find out that he used to be a criminal, he will lose out on his chances to become the mayor, he ropes Mary and Bazooka in to the plan of killing Ntsimbi, this is the only way they will have their “normal” lives back again. They are not happy about this plan, but it is what makes sense now, so they agree. Vincent organises some men who are given Ntsimbi’s address and picture. They ambush him in his sleep, but Ntsimbi is able to kill them all, but one of them escapes, but with a bullet to his leg. He makes it to Vincent and comes clean to him that Ntsimbi is undefeatable.

Ntsimbi is no fool, he knows who came for him and he confronts them. When they think that he is going to kill them, He comes with the indecent proposal for the guys. He wants them to pull one more heist so that they can repay him. The guys flatly refuse. Mary is a woman of the cloth, she’s turned to God, Vincent is now a political leader and so is Bozooka, they cannot take such a risk with their lives. Ntsimbi, now frustrated and enraged, he starts terrorizing the guys and their families again. They are all now sleeping with one eye opened. They end agreeing to pull a heist to get Ntsimbi off their backs since he’s a time bomb.  Ntsimbi comes up with a fool proof plan of how the heist is going to go. He makes Bazooka the decoy guy since he’s in a wheelchair.

The day of the heist arrives, and the guys prepare for the unknown. Mary prays about this and asks God for forgiveness. Vincent kisses his wife goodbye; he’s a bag of emotions but doesn’t reveal what’s going on. The guys pull off the heist. They are shocked when Ntsimbi reveals that he is taking 80% of the R20 million they got from the job, they can spilt the rest. . They all agree that they need to lay low until the police heat/hunt for the robbers wears off. Ntsimbi them come strong hard for Naomi, this time he is not giving up on her, and she seems to start to entertain his plan, but Bazooka is not happy about this so he schemes with the leading detective on the heist case to get Ntsimbi arrested.

He invites Ntsimbi to the house under the guise of peace talks. Ntsimbi goes into Bazooka’s house, but the moment he is in there, he notices that something is wrong. Bazooka is too friendly but also, he is acting cagey. Ntsimbi notes Bazooka’s beady eyes and in the bedroom, he sees someone hiding behind a curtain, it’s a cop, then suddenly a few cops come out of the other rooms. Ntsimbi tries to make a run for it but there is a pandemonium in the room, a few fists fly around and, in the end, Ntsimbi shoots and wounds some of the police, while killing the others. He knows that he will never taste freedom again, so that night, he packs his money in his car, and he contacts Naomi asking her to run away with him. The last image of the film we see is Ntsimbi and Naomi driving off into the sunset together.