You like Minority Report? Great, then you'll like Paycheck too. Thank you very much for doing business with us. NEEEEXT!
Hey, wait a second. Why are you still here? Oh, I see, you want me to tell you why. A nice thought, for sure. But even if I told you, I'd just snap my fingers at the end of this review and you'd have no memory of ever reading it. Okay, you know what? This is stupid.
I figured Paycheck was going to be another one of those Hulky blockbusters that my fellow workers would never dare see from the safety of their Pollyanna PG-13 existences and usually end up being the smart ones. Every now and then, though, there is a diamond in the rough. Or at the very least, a crystal ball.
Here's the story. Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck), the electrician, works on these super top secret projects. Much like Minority Report, we start with an example of a day (or in this case, a few) in his life, just so we can see how it works. Then, we see it happen again on a much grander scale, with a few minor discrepancies that drive him into hiding away. Where Tom Cruise only knew that he was about to do something terrible in the future, Ben Affleck only knows that he did something terrible in the past, which will lead to something terrible happening in the future. Still with me?
It's okay. In Jennings' job, he basically takes an idea and makes a better version of it. Then, it is customary for him to have his memory erased back to the point at which he started the project. I guess so that he doesn't build the same thing again on the side and sell it on his own. Why he doesn't do that instead, who knows. But you would think that just because he doesn't remember making the product that sold like crazy, doesn't mean he wouldn't remember how he did it. I suppose it's one of those things you could debate till the cows come home.
Anyway, well, one day Jennings is made a super offer. In exchange for three years of his life, which he will never remember of course, he is offered a sum in the higher realm of eight digits. Should he do it, or is it more important to live? Would it really matter that he lost three years of memories if all he did was sit around in a lab all that time?
That's why we have Rachel (Uma Thurman). She's the biologist who goes around talking about second chances. It's not too hard to figure out where she fits into the puzzle.
Ah, but then the twist. The three years is over, Jennings' memory has been zapped. But when he goes to collect his... ahem, paycheck, it's not there. It seems that shortly before the three years was up, he said screw the money and he sent himself these 19 items instead, including a paper clip, a silver dollar, a slip from a fortune cookie, a bottle of hairspray, and so on and so forth. Of course, Jennings has no memory of making this seemingly absurd decision, so the hunt is on to find out why why why! But wait, isn't it obvious? Don't worry, it's a good reason. It's not some "love is more important than money" schlock.
Ben Affleck is a whole lot better here than he was in Gigli or Daredevil. Not to say that he's spectacular, but he gets the job done. I think that what happens with notoriously "wooden" actors like him and Keanu Reeves is that they have a certain facial expression which is beautiful (and it is). Out of all the takes, since there are always like a dozen, they try to pick the one in which the actor diverges the least from that expression, so that all the J-loathing chicks in the audience don't jerk back at one too many shots in which the actor was briefly "ugly" and possibly stop paying to see his movies. Watching these actors in interviews is nothing like watching them in the movies, I would think. But this is all just a theory.
Uma Thurman has a kind of awkward transition, just having come out of a film in which she mutilated people like potato salad. Even here, she seems slightly distant, but together, the two of them have some genuine moments.
Aaron Eckhart is the show-stealer. Having debuted in Double Jeopardy (1992) and also off the list of Erin Brokovich, Eckhart's intimidating screen presence is exactly what this movie needs. (I thought it was Crispin Glover at first!)
The action here is almost non-stop. Many times, I actually found it hilarious. I almost spit soda all over the floor when Uma threw her helmet from a motorcycle back to a pursuing cop car, knocking the driver right out. Some of the car crashes were funny too, because what kind of idiot actually thinks an orange would fit through a straw? Ben had a few good moves with that stick, but it was mostly well-timed cuts.
I guess the biggest flaw that Paycheck has is the same "fundamental paradox" that plagued Minority Report, just from a different angle. Could Michael have not gotten the message to himself in so many more practical ways? If he were capable of hiding entire newspaper articles inside a postage stamp, why not write a letter to himself in there, that he would know he had written instead of giving himself a mystery to solve? I guess 'cause he would probably have never seen it that way. Besides, the precogs are never wrong.
I would've liked more philosophical rambling, but that's just me. There was one quote I really liked -- "If you can see your future, you have no future." Otherwise, I'm happy with what I got and will more than likely be watching the DVD shelves next summer.
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