So much average

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Paycheck is a forgettable movie with a complicated plot. You have to pay close attention to this film to know what is going on, if you lose track even for a few minutes the film will have you confused. The story line is not that interesting, the performances are okay, the best part of the film is the first half, there is some good camerawork and there are a few decent action scenes, there is a very good high-speed bike/car chase scene, but after that this flick goes downhill fast! (no pun intended).The rest of the movie is just a bunch of nothing, it becomes completely uninteresting and you can't wait for it to end. Plus, i don't like the caged bird situation, birds shouldn't be caged pets, they should be in a sanctuary with an open-cage where they can fly around as they please. I know the birds are a part of the story, but the writers could have changed it.Paycheck - The film tries too hard as time goes on and it just ends up becoming really boring. Not a very good film.

Ben Affleck and John Woo basically do a sci-fi version of The Bourne Identify. Loosely based on a Phillip K. Dick story, Affleck plays a computer engineer who willingly has his memory erased to prevent him from sharing trade secrets, but after he's done working on the secret project he finds that he left himself a mysterious envelope with 20 seemingly random objects that are actually clues about his memory-wiped past. It's a decent set-up worthy of a Phillip K. Dick story, but the film quickly devolves into a series of entertaining if forgettable gunfights and chase sequences. Affleck makes a subpar action hero and his attempts at martial arts pale when compared to his buddy Matt Damon's work as Jason Bourne. Woo provides plenty of his usual slow motion gunfights, dramatic zooms, doves, and Mexican standoffs, although he also still has his penchant for overly dramatic of performances, which seem out of place in English language films. Production values and special effects are solid and outside of the wooden Affleck, the film boasts a strong cast the includes Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, and Joe Morton. Overall, "Paycheck" is never boring and had a story with real potential ("Memento" meets "Total Recall"), but is squandered by a poor lead performance by Affleck and what is ultimately one long forgettable chase.

A John Woo Movie Rated PG-13 is like a Disney Movie Rated NC-17.This Piece of Fluff has a Good Cast, the Story is from the Now Hot Property and Prestigious Philip K. Dick, No Budget Restraints and so, What went Wrong? There are so many Bullets Flying and Missing their Mark followed by a Slow-Motion Poof of Debris that after about the first 50 times this happens Audiences and Woo Fans throughout the Land are Nodding Off.The Memory-Loss Story is Handled OK, but it is certainly Nothing New and is somewhat Engaging. But the whole Film has a Wispy Wondering Tone where nothing seems at all Threatening or Suspenseful.It's just Scenes Tacked Together to make a Whole and it's almost like a Walk in the Park or an Amusement Ride for our two Protagonists (Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman). Paul Giamatti as a Friend in Need Barely Registers.In Fact the Film Barely Registers on Any Level other than the most Mainstream, Multiplexed Mediocrity. It's a Misfire, a Missed Opportunity, a Manufactured Movie that Takes No Chances, No Style, and No Winner by Woo Standards and Disappoints to the Extreme.Overall, Recommended for those that like Their Action Films with a Tongue In Cheek Tone, No Danger, and is Nothing More than Pretty People Collecting a Paycheck (this includes the entire production) with as Little Effort or Artistic Input as Possible.This is Product Pure and Simple and Nothing More than a Fast Food Fast Buck for Everyone.

Paycheck is a modest futuristic action thriller by hard boiled Hong Kong director, John Woo.Based on a story from Philip K Dick you just get a feeling that Total Recall (1990) did this a lot better even though Woo tips a hat to Hitchcock's North by Northwest here.Ben Affleck plays Michael Jennings, a reverse engineer in the near future. He gets a big pay cheque for figuring out how rival's products work for the corporations who hire him. The only catch is that after the job his memory is wiped so no one else can extract the information from his head.When an old friend of his (Aaron Eckhart) promises him a vast deal which means instant retirement for Jennings after the project he is tempted even though it will be three years of his life.After three years have passed, Jennings thinking he has over ninety million dollars in a safe deposit box is shocked to discover an envelope containing twenty items some mundane. Suddenly he is on the run from the FBI who want him for corporate theft and the goons from the company that hired him.Jennings needs to discover what he built during those three years, why would he trade so many millions for these items which all of a sudden become useful over a period of time. As if they were clues in unlocking a bigger puzzle.The film hints at the invention of a doomsday device which Jennings recognises the danger of and feels the need to stop it. Despite the hi tech near future setting this suddenly becomes a man with lost memories on the run with some ability to have glimpsed into the future.It lacks the bone crunching hard violence and humour of Total Recall or immersive story and dystopian style of Spielberg's Minority Report which also adapted from a Philip K Dick story.What we get is a routine action thriller as if Woo is really in it for the paycheck himself.