Adapted from a mind-bending sci-fi thriller by Philip K. Dick, the slick and riveting PAYCHECK is directed by John Woo (THE KILLER, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II)--the king of artful gunfighting flicks--who shows off his agility here with flat-out, white-knuckle cinematic entertainment. Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a high-paid engineer who works on hush-hush computer inventions and technology for shady companies. Later, his memory is wiped clean, so he has no recollection of his work. His so-called friend Rethrick (Aaron Eckhardt, the master of smarmy mean-spiritedness, as in IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) offers him enough money to retire by working on a project at Rethrick's company, Allcom. When Jennings emerges three years later, sans memory, he tries to collect his paycheck. At the bank, he's handed a manila envelope filled with cryptic items he doesn't recognize, and told he voluntarily forfeited his entire paycheck. He also has a stunning girlfriend named Dr. Rachel Porter (Uma Thurman) who is likewise ensnared in the conspiracy. Jennings must somehow piece together the clues he left for himself, and find out why everyone is out to kill him.
As usual, Dick's story is the basis for a killer script that travels from point A to Z with gripping immediacy. The clues left for Jennings are amusing writerly devices, intricately pieced together. Woo clearly enjoyed choreographing the wild gunfighting and chase sequences (slo-mo bullets aplenty), sending Affleck and Thurman on the run with a BMW motorcycle.
(39 votes)
3.
The brainy, paranoid science fiction of writer Philip K Dick has inspired one visionary classic (Blade Runner) and two above-average action movies (Total Recall and Minority Report). Paycheck aspires to follow in their footsteps: an engineer (Ben Affleck) routinely agrees to have his memory erased after every job so that he doesn't know what he's done. But after the biggest job of his life, he discovers that not only has he refused a 90 million-dollar paycheck, he's sent himself an envelope full of things he doesn't recognise--and he doesn't remember doing any of this. As he unravels the plot, he discovers he's also fallen in love (with Uma Thurman) and invented a dangerous device for his former boss (Aaron Eckhart). Affleck is bland, the script ruins a cunning idea and the direction--from the normally dynamic John Woo--plods along, aimless and bored. --Bret Fetzer
(39 votes)
4.
Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is being hunted, but he doesn't know why. A world-famous genius hired by high-tech corporations for specialized top-secret projects, Jennings routinely has his memory erased once a job is completed so as not to divulge any company secrets. Highly paid for his work, he expect to earn eight figures for his latest three-year project, but upon finishing the work, instead of a big paycheck, he is given an envelop full of random objects and told that he has agreed to forfeit all payment. With his memory erased per his contract, Jennings has no defense, until he discovers that the objects are clues to his past. Now, with the help of Rachel (Uma Thurman), the woman he has worked with and loved for the last three years, Jennings is in a race against time to put the pieces of his past together...before his previous employees have him killed.
(38 votes)
5.
Jennings (Ben Afleck) is the best reverse-engineer in the business. He is hired by clients to take apart other companies technologies and find out how they work. He is hired to do a special job, against the advice of some of his associates. When the job is completed, all memory of what he has been working on is ereased from his mind. That's when his problem really start to begin. He is hunted for something he has no recollection of doing and has only a little time to work it out. He has sent himself 19 seemingly unconnected objects, before his memory was wiped, to allow him to put the puzzle together and discover just what has gone on and what he has done. But the authorities are after him and time is very quickly running out.
(39 votes)
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