Rating: 7/10
Review date: January 8, 2004
Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a �reverse engineer� whose job is to dismantle other companies� technologies and study the way they work. The catch is that his memory will be erased afterwards.
One day he took a job from James Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) which took him three years to finish. At the end of it, he was shocked to find out that he gave up his paycheck and send himself twenty seemingly random items. With the authority hot on his trails, Michael is helped by a biologist (Uma Thurman as Rachel Porter) to reconstruct his past using those objects before it is too late.
I tried not to raise my expectation too much after seeing the movie�s trailer regardless of the fact that it is directed by John Woo and being based on a Philip K. Dick�s short story. After watching the movie, I am glad I did.
Paycheck is certainly not Total Recall (1990) or Minority Report (2002) although Woo did put a solid effort on integrating the various themes of fate and memory. However I still feel that not enough emphasis was placed on them; this is a major drawback since you would expect the central issues to play a more prominent role.
The action is well done although Woo�s style is easily recognized with his Mexican standoff situations and some scenes involving a motorbike and a lab actually reminds me of Mission: Impossible II.
I personally quite like Ben Affleck and can�t understand why so many people dislike him as if they have personal grudge or something. His acting in Paycheck is adequate, along with Aaron Eckhart who doesn�t make a very convincing antagonist either.
Uma Thurman looks great as always and her chemistry with Affleck is mediocre at best, probably due to her limited role although I find the characters in this movie not developed enough to make me really care about them.
What do you expect after all? John Woo is famous for his action scenes thus it is unfair to criticize him with other lacking aspects. Paycheck is not one of his best Hollywood movies but it keeps me entertained enough with a great story which could have been expanded further.
I was expecting more major action scenes (there are only two) but the existing ones serve my appetite well enough to satisfy my expectation.
Overall, Paycheck is a solid movie from John Woo that lacks his usual explosive action scenes and a little of character development could have carry this movie further as well. Surprisingly he did manage to find a scene to insert his trademark �dove in slow motion� shot. It does look slightly out of place but it still serves the purpose nevertheless. Fans of John Woo should enjoy this movie as long as they don�t expect too much and remember to suspend their disbelief when needed.
Memorable quote: �I saw my future and I saw what I need to change it.�
-Ben Affleck as Michael Jennings-
(c) Martin Taidy