Michael Jennings is a genius who's hired – and paid handsomely – by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he's incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he's told he isn't getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn't paid – and why he's now in hot water.
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Reviews
Sorry, this movie sucks
Admirable film.
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Set in the near future "Paycheck" is a story about Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) a reverse engineer who is approached by his old college roommate "James Rethrick" (Aaron Eckhart) the CEO of the successful Seattle technology company Allcom. Cutting to the chase "Jennings" (Affleck) agrees to have his memory wiped to help the company with their project, we find out that this company are not what they seem."Paycheck" is interesting and it has a rare plot, this is a Science Fiction hi-tech thriller that has one action scene (a high speed car and motorbike chase, which is very entertaining). We see "Jennings" (Affleck) try to find out what is going on even though his memory has been wiped.It's a cat and mouse situation with the added "fight this company and take them down" scenario."Paycheck" is a pretty good flick, the only thing that is not right is the way the pet birds are portrayed, they're always in a tiny cage, i'm sorry but at least show a scene where they fly around the apartment so that they're not stuck in a cage, they have wings for a reason.
Paycheck (2003): Dir: John Woo / Cast: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore: Science fiction blunder about receiving information or having it erased. Unfortunately after our attention spans and brains receive this film it is an unruly task to erase it from memory. Ben Affleck plays a genius who specializes in expensive projects for big corporations. In order to keep secrets safe he has his memory erased. Fine setup that boils down to Affleck on the run with bad guys in pursuit and only an envelope of items to piece things together. It is total contrivance how some of these everyday items just happen to be of service at just the right moment such as the paperclip. Then comes the action violence climax. Director John Woo is backed by special effects but not the clever suspense he sustained in Face Off. Affleck should have had different items in that envelope such as the screenplay of a better film and perhaps car keys so that he can drive off the set and never look back. Aaron Eckhart is obvious to his motives in a key role. Uma Thurman is a prop for romance. Paul Giamatti is a contact of Affleck's. Colm Feore is wasted as another villain. It seems to substitute a screenplay for special effects and anything that dazzles and fries the mind. The film exists for its action, production and complete nonsense, but for those seeking deep themes there is little payoff. Score: 4 / 10
Paycheck (2003) is very underrated John Woo's solid action futuristic thriller, that combines spectacular action sequences with a spellbinding mystery that keeps you guessing from beginning to breathtaking end. It is my John Woo's fourth personal favorite action film of his, that I absolutely love to death. I know a lot of people don't like this movie because it is John Woo's movie and it is rated PG-13, I love it. I love Ben Affleck his made some of his movies that are favorite mine like are: Reindeer Games, The Sum of All Fears, Daredevil and of course this one Paycheck. Watching this movie I must say Ben Affleck can act and he gave one of his convincing acting performances I have seen. I have been from the beginning against his role Bruce Wayne / Batman which I thought they should have left Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy alone, but now after I have seen him in this movie I must say, if you gave Ben Affleck a good script, he will acted terrifically.This flick is outstanding and Ben Affleck's character is well written and decent. Paycheck is a film that I feel is underrated (I enjoyed the story/ideas, the 'writing your own future, and then living the future you wrote after your memory has been wiped' aspect, the cast (I am a fan of Ben Affleck), the 'Sci-Fi' MacGyver aspect, the action bits which were there. I love the story I love Ben Affleck's character that he is a computer engineer who is working for company's and after he is done, they erasing his memories, he later accepts the job by friends company signs a three year contract and starts working on something big. Three years later, he thinks he won $92.000.000, but he is later double-crossed and chased by FBI and ruthless mercenaries. He finds an envelope with 20 subjects who helps him out of the trouble. The film is filled with mystery around, with what is all about. On the end of the film we found out, it is about a time machine, who can write a future and tells what will happened in your own future, which Michael Jennings build. Now Michael has to race against time, to go back where he started working on machine and destroy it, before Jimmy Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) re writes his future by destroying the world. About the cast a lot of actors in this film practically everyone in the main cast is connected to Batman in some weird way. Ben Affleck is the star of this movie and will be the next actor to portray The Dark Knight himself in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice this month. Aaron Eckhart plays the villainous Rethrick but in The Dark Knight he played Harvey Dent s Two-Face and if I may say he was incredibly underrated. Aaron played outstanding villain in this flick. Uma Thurman plays Rachel in Paycheck but we all of course remember her as Poison Ivy in the 1997 clunker Batman & Robin. Also Batman's love interest in The TDK trilogy is called Rachel. Uma Thurman was very likely in here and I liked her very much. I more remember her as the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, Mad Dog and Glory and of course I mentioned a failure Batman & Robin. Colm Feore played my favorite character Henry Taylor in 24 Season 7, he was outstanding as Rethrick's henchman Wolfe. I had no clue Michael C Hall - Dexter Morgan him self was in here as an FBI agent, he was just awesome. The last one is Paul Giamatti who was Jennings friend he wasn't also annoying I love him! He only had three scenes and he acted perfectly. Honestly I dare to say Paul Giamatti is far way better actor than Rob Schneider is.Paycheck is written by short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick., I have enjoyed the action scenes, the acting performances, the chase on motorcycle was my favorite scene in the film. I love this movie and it is John Woo's fifth favorite action film of mine. This movie get's a solid perfect 10 score by me.
One of the weaker adaptations of a Philip K Dick novel/short story. The central premise (predicting the future) lacked substance. Plus, in trying to draw this short story out into a full-length movie, the fill-in plot was fairly light, mainly involving chases, fight scenes, guns and explosions.Not entirely bad though. The mind-wipe idea was interesting, and if that was used more effectively, and the predicting the future stuff better thought-out, or replaced with another idea, and the action sequences kept to a minimum, this could have been a good movie.Not sure Ben Affleck was the best choice to play the lead character. The action sequences suited him, but it is hard to convince me that he is a technology genius (or any sort of genius, for that matter!). Uma Thurman is more there for eye-candy, and even that gets screwed up: she often looks disheveled, especially towards the end. Aaron Eckhart's performance is probably the best of the bunch: villainous roles suit him.