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Paul Greenwood reviews
- Cert:
- Running time: 119 minutes
- Year: 2003
- Released: 16th January 2004
- Widescreen Ratio: 2.35:1
- Rating: 6/10
Director:
- John Woo
(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.
Its not a great return for a man who, in his Hong Kong days, made some ofthe 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 YunFat? Is his style just not compatible with western filmmaking? Or has he, likeJohn McTiernan or Paul Verhoeven, simply lost his touch? These questions areunlikely to be answered until he starts making great films again, andPaycheck is no indicator of that. Not that its bad, and itscertainly a damn sight better thanWindtalkersandM:I-2but then, so are most films.
At first glance, the mind bending plot has the potential to derail it, butit actually works quite well. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick, its acombination of elements from earlier film versions of his work – the mind-fuckantics ofTotal Recallmeets the free will versus fate future predicting ofMinority Report.Michael Jennings is an engineer, paid huge amounts of money by big companies totake apart the technology of rival companies and put it back together as abetter product. The downside of this is that after hes finished, his memory iswiped of all knowledge of the product and all the weeks hes spent working on it.
His old friend Jimmy recruits him for a top secret job that will last threeyears but hell come out with an eight figure paycheck (or is it paycheque?)when hes finished. So, job done, memory wiped, he goes to collect his paymentonly to be told hes given up the money and all he has instead is an envelopefull of everyday items like sunglasses and a bus ticket. Obviously he has norecollection of this, but when hes arrested by the FBI and then an attempt ismade on his life, he has to work out who is out to get him and what the envelopeis for.
Playing more like a detective mystery than a sci-fi thriller, theres quitea bit to enjoy here. The viewer has no more idea than Jennings whats going onand watching him piece together the puzzle is rewarding. Ben Affleck evengives a better performance than usual and is well suited to the role, althoughUma Thurman is wasted and Paul Giamatti all but disappears afterhalf an hour.
One thing you should be guaranteed in a John Woo film is sizzlingly choreographedaction, but surprisingly this aspect is the biggest letdown. Most of thesequences are clumsy and run of the mill with little of Woos trademark balleticslo-mo. One scene is downright incompetent – Jennings is being chased down by atrain and, as it gets closer, all the audience can see is the train, with noidea of Bens position relative to it.
Of the major Dick adaptations that have so far been made, this is clearlythe weakest, but its in such illustrious company that this shouldnt be seenas too harsh a criticism. Taken on its own merits and ignoring the Woo factor,Paycheck is passable filler that makes for an undemanding eveningsentertainment.
Review copyright © Paul Greenwood, 2004.E-mail Paul Greenwood
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.