Preamble Ooops! Wrong movie...but hey, I couldn't resist. The title made me do it.
Poor Ben. He's still having a difficult time shaking 2003. Cancelled nuptials. Gigli. A homeless Project Greenlight. It's almost like the guy should have rolled over and hit the snooze button on his alarm clock so that 2003 would just go away.
Unfortunately, Paycheck isn't going to be the movie to lift him out of the bad jokes about everything that he's been ridiculed for in 2003. Here's hoping that 2004 and Jersey Girl (which has an impressive trailer) reminds the public why we adore him to begin with.
With that said, please do not think that I didn't like Paycheck. On the contrary, I found it to offer exactly what I was looking for. All I was looking for yesterday afternoon was a movie that promised to entertain me for an hour and then some. And I got it.
The Story
Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a super-duper engineer who has a knack for being able to create leading edge technologies for companies who are looking for that major market share. Sometimes, it's copying an idea of a competitor and making it better. Sometimes, it's taking an idea someone has and making it real.
When Michael works, he usually goes into seclusion for eight weeks, creating his magic. Once it's completed, part of the contract always involves having his memory for that time period erased. This guarantees that the intellectual property stays with the company (I guess).
Collecting a six figure paycheck is nice however, it only pays the bills for so long. One day, Michael's college friend, Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) offers him the deal of a lifetime. He desperately needs Michael's assistance completing a project involving laser technology. How long? Three years. Three years is forever for Michael however Rethrick tells him that at the end of the three year period, Michael will have a guaranteed 8 figure paycheck and he'd never have to work again.
This, of course, excites Michael and he decides to take on the job.
Before starting his new assignment, Michael meets Rachel (Uma Thurman) at Rethrick's party. Instantly drawn to this biologist (who works for Rethrick), she is less impressed with him when he insinuates that they should skip the niceties and hit the sack. So subtle he is. Luckily, he is able to redeem himself when he later bumps into her at the company they will now both work for.
Before you know it, three years is up and Michael's assignment is completed. He goes home to check out his paycheck (stock options which are valued at almost 100 million dollars). There's just one more thing to do. He has to go to and sign some paperwork.
And he does and that's when Michael finds out that he has signed away his paycheck in exchange for the envelope of personal affects that he mailed to himself just a few weeks ago. Of course he is livid - 100 million dollars - he would never give that up! And looking at the envelope of personal stuff, he doesn't recognize any of it as his own.
After stomping out, it becomes apparent to him that something isn't right. People are trying to chase him down and kill him. People are accusing him of things that he knows nothing about.
The 20 odd things that he sent to himself are all there for a reason. What reason? And why do people want to kill him?
And?
Remember, I liked this movie however I did not love it and I'm a bit disappointed because there was a lot to work with here - an interesting story, a decent cast, and a proven action-sequence director.
I actually have no quibble with the story line of the film. The concept for this movie is based upon a short story by Phillip K. Dick. Remember him? He's also the guy whose idea was used for Minority Report. It was a great idea for a movie and I felt like the screenwriter who was pulled in to flesh it out (Dean Georgaris - Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) did a decent job of making it an interesting film story.
The performances by Ben, Aaron, and Uma were fine. It was nice to see Uma kickin' some butt. It was nice to see Aaron be his typical villain self. Ben felt a little awkward at times but nothing that I couldn't overlook.
My chief complaint with the movie is that director John Woo basically phoned in his responsibilities. Aside from the signature look and feel of Woo's blow 'em up ways, there wasn't a lot of originality to the action sequences. I knew exactly what was going to happen and when. Who would get killed and when. Who would live. Who would die. You know...
That was disappointing for me. Still, the film was entertaining because even though there was nothing new-Woo, the pace was steady enough to keep me interested the entire time.
The End Paycheck is rated PG-13 for intense action violence and brief language. It's not the best John Woo film I've ever seen. It's not the best Uma or Ben film that I've seen. It is though, what it is - 110 minutes of things getting blown up, people getting chased, and an occasional smooch and grope.
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