(Broken Arrow, Face Off, Mission:Impossible 2, Windtalkers)
Cast:
Michael Jennings: Ben Affleck
James Rethrick: Aaron Eckhart
Rachel Porter: Uma Thurman
Shorty: Paul Giamatti
Wolfe: Colm Feore
Agent Dodge: Joe Morton
Agent Klein: Michael C. Hall
John Woo has been making films in Hollywood for 10 years now,
and what has he got to show for it? Two Travolta films - one good, one average.
An insufferably smug Tom Cruise sequel. A pointless Nicolas Cage war film. Oh,
and a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.
It’s not a great return for a man who, in his Hong Kong days, made some of
the finest action thrillers of all time. What went wrong? Is it the stories and/or scripts? Is it that he lacks a leading man of the calibre of Chow Yun
Fat? Is his style just not compatible with western filmmaking? Or has he, like
John McTiernan or Paul Verhoeven, simply lost his touch? These questions are
unlikely to be answered until he starts making great films again, and
Paycheck is no indicator of that. Not that it’s bad, and it’s
certainly a damn sight better than
Windtalkers
and
M:I-2
but then, so are most films.
At first glance, the mind bending plot has the potential to derail it, but
it actually works quite well. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick, it’s a
combination of elements from earlier film versions of his work - the mind-fuck
antics of
Total Recall
meets the free will versus fate future predicting of
Minority Report.
Michael Jennings is an engineer, paid huge amounts of money by big companies to
take apart the technology of rival companies and put it back together as a
better product. The downside of this is that after he’s finished, his memory is
wiped of all knowledge of the product and all the weeks he’s spent working on it.
His old friend Jimmy recruits him for a top secret job that will last three
years but he’ll come out with an eight figure paycheck (or is it paycheque?)
when he’s finished. So, job done, memory wiped, he goes to collect his payment
only to be told he’s given up the money and all he has instead is an envelope
full of everyday items like sunglasses and a bus ticket. Obviously he has no
recollection of this, but when he’s arrested by the FBI and then an attempt is
made on his life, he has to work out who is out to get him and what the envelope
is for.
Playing more like a detective mystery than a sci-fi thriller, there’s quite
a bit to enjoy here. The viewer has no more idea than Jennings what’s going on
and watching him piece together the puzzle is rewarding. Ben Affleck even
gives a better performance than usual and is well suited to the role, although
Uma Thurman is wasted and Paul Giamatti all but disappears after
half an hour.
One thing you should be guaranteed in a John Woo film is sizzlingly choreographed
action, but surprisingly this aspect is the biggest letdown. Most of the
sequences are clumsy and run of the mill with little of Woo’s trademark balletic
slo-mo. One scene is downright incompetent - Jennings is being chased down by a
train and, as it gets closer, all the audience can see is the train, with no
idea of Ben’s position relative to it.
Of the major Dick adaptations that have so far been made, this is clearly
the weakest, but it’s in such illustrious company that this shouldn’t be seen
as too harsh a criticism. Taken on its own merits and ignoring the Woo factor,
Paycheck is passable filler that makes for an undemanding evening’s
entertainment.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
John Woo has been making films in Hollywood for 10 years now,
and what has he got to show for it? Two Travolta films - one good, one average.
An insufferably smug Tom Cruise sequel. A pointless Nicolas Cage war film. Oh,
and a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.
Playing more like a detective mystery than a sci-fi thriller, there’s quite
a bit to enjoy here. The viewer has no more idea than Jennings what’s going on
and watching him piece together the puzzle is rewarding. Ben Affleck even
gives a better performance than usual and is well suited to the role, although
Uma Thurman is wasted and Paul Giamatti all but disappears after
half an hour.
