Paycheck (2003)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Sophie B

  
  Not a fan of Ben Affleck or Uma Thurman at all but what I saw was ok. I like the twists and turns as I tried to figure out what had happened to him. At times it felt rather slow and lethargic which ruined the atmosphere. Not something I'd watch again but a good watch for anyone… More
  Not a fan of Ben Affleck or Uma Thurman at all but what I saw was ok. I like the twists and turns as I tried to figure out what had happened to him. At times it felt rather slow and lethargic which ruined the atmosphere. Not something I'd watch again but a good watch for anyone interested in Philip K. Dick and time travel stories.

• Matt G

  
  'Paycheck' is a film that simply does not know what it is and simply doesn't care. I say that because despite a promising premise, the audience has no idea what is going on through this cluttered mess of a film, and we just don't care at all for the protagonist,… More
  'Paycheck' is a film that simply does not know what it is and simply doesn't care. I say that because despite a promising premise, the audience has no idea what is going on through this cluttered mess of a film, and we just don't care at all for the protagonist, played well but unmotivated by an aging Affleck. I guess if you are into these weird, retroactive and hip films, then go ahead. If you are apart of a mainstream audience, rent Dogma, Affleck's better film.

• Tim S

  
  I had a hard time giving this the rating that I felt it deserved. There ARE some things going for this film. A nice diverse cast of people I generally like and admire, the screenplay was based off of a short story by Phillip K. Dick, there are parts of the score that I really… More
  I had a hard time giving this the rating that I felt it deserved. There ARE some things going for this film. A nice diverse cast of people I generally like and admire, the screenplay was based off of a short story by Phillip K. Dick, there are parts of the score that I really enjoyed, and finally, there were some decent action set pieces and moments. The latter being nothing on the scale of Woo's previous action masterpieces, but pulled off pretty well making for some somewhat exciting moments. However, it all seems to go wrong. The plot itself is just barely coherent (if at all) and the acting from the two main headliners is, well, pretty bad. Affleck is notorious for being a bad actor, but I don't think that's entirely fair. He's not an altogether terrible actor because if he's given the right part with proper direction, he can turn in good performances. This is not the case with this film, however. I really wanted to like this. I found it really cheap at a dirt mall and was looking forward to seeing it once I got it home, but unfortunately it turns out to be a letdown. So what I think I'll do is be thankful that I didn't pay much for it and immediately have a back-to-back double feature of Blade Runner and Hard Boiled (just to remember that Dick's stories CAN be made possible and John Woo CAN make great action films).

• Richard C

  
  C

• Conner R

  
  Another mindless action thriller from John Woo. There is very little energy put into a coherent plot or even one that appears to have a meaning aside from crazy effects shots. The performances are almost laughable and its not even entertaining.

• Anthony L

  
  Some guys in suits, who don't read books, make a lot of money and Mr Dick keeps on rolling!

• Thomas B

  
  this movie is a little silly. the performances look fake, the story is tied together extremely loosely and affleck is once again boring

• Jani H

  
  "One big paycheck. You're done." "Blade Runner", "Total Recall", "Minority Report". All of the before mentioned are based on Philip K. Dick's stories just as this movie. Those three are great movies. "Paycheck" is not. John… More
  "One big paycheck. You're done." "Blade Runner", "Total Recall", "Minority Report". All of the before mentioned are based on Philip K. Dick's stories just as this movie. Those three are great movies. "Paycheck" is not. John Woo, the director, may have had a great past in action movies but since he started making movies in Hollywood, his career has gone on the wrong tracks. Now, he's back in Hong Kong, hopefully making better movies. I guess why I wrote this segment is that I'm trying to say that he was the wrong man for the job. He's too inconsistent. "Black Jack" - "Face/Off" should prove my point. The story itself is interesting but pretty much everything with Dick's name on is worth taking a look. The story develops nicely and there ain't any bigger problems with the pacing. All it needs, for a 'what may look good' movie to turn bad, is a single scene. And that scene in this movie is the chase scene where Ben Affleck's character, who has a motorcycle, is trying to get away from the bad guys, who are driving cars. I just can't figure it out, why can't they get away with a motorcycle during rush hour? Why is he driving 50 mph when he could do it in style and drive 150? Rest of the action scenes are a bit beneath average. Like the final scene where Affleck takes the final steps to save his future. Somehow a computer engineer suddenly turns into a skilled super agent guy thingy... Pretty much everything with "Paycheck" was a disappointment in the end. Even Uma Thurman! And yes, there are the John Woo trademarks in the movie; slow mo flying birds, exploding barrels, calm music during the action scenes... "Wait, I remember these birds... "

• Lady D

  
  A futuristic Sci-fi/Action film which has it?s interesting plot moments, I?m usually not much of a fan of Ben Affleck, but he seems to do ok here. The envelope idea, of course holds the interest of the audience and although this is a futuristic tale, the storyline tells more like a… More
  A futuristic Sci-fi/Action film which has it?s interesting plot moments, I?m usually not much of a fan of Ben Affleck, but he seems to do ok here. The envelope idea, of course holds the interest of the audience and although this is a futuristic tale, the storyline tells more like a time travel story. A very watchable film, with limited brain work required.

• Al S

  
  A smart, stylish, thrilling, brulliant an exhilerating edge of your seat thriller thats loaded with mind-blowing suspense and spectacular action. A very intelligent and enjoyable piece of action movie fun. Director, John Woo crafts a dazzeling mystery that unfolds nicely with lots of… More
  A smart, stylish, thrilling, brulliant an exhilerating edge of your seat thriller thats loaded with mind-blowing suspense and spectacular action. A very intelligent and enjoyable piece of action movie fun. Director, John Woo crafts a dazzeling mystery that unfolds nicely with lots of excitment.

• _kelly .

  
  In terms of pacing, it feels like the PKD story it derives from, but on every other level it disappoints, creating too clean a world with too much stilted acting to work out.

• Jennifer X

  
  It's not...very interesting.

• Dean M

  
  Fantastic futuristic thriller that combines spectacular action with a spellbinding mystery of what director John Woo made. Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman are very coooool team-up in their actions including car/motorcycle chases and fight scenes!

• Candy R

  
  Loses momentum half way through movie.

• Dean !

  
  A good action film by John Woo. Has some cool effects and the way the story unravels as Ben Affleck uses his random objects to good use after having his memory erased is good fun. Will have to watch again sometime!

• xGary X

  
  Let's see. You take a portion of Total Recall, and a touch of Terminator 2, and a soupcon of Memento, simmer for 90 minutes, and you get...a really lame rip off of Minority Report. At end of the day, it's impossible to care about two characters you know absolutely nothing… More
  Let's see. You take a portion of Total Recall, and a touch of Terminator 2, and a soupcon of Memento, simmer for 90 minutes, and you get...a really lame rip off of Minority Report. At end of the day, it's impossible to care about two characters you know absolutely nothing about, apart from they're supposed to be "the good guys". ESPECIALLY if one of them's Ben Affleck.

• Jason S

  
  Fun Action.

• Aaron N

  
  I still have doubts that John Woo actually directed this movie and what a rarity that a Phil K. Dick story doesn't work well. An interesting story that isn't taken anywhere special, too bad.

• Stuart B

  
  A big let down, took 2 attempts to sit all the way through it.

• Nate Z

  
  [center][font=Arial][color=darkred][img]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4291/photo010qw.jpg[/img][/color][/font][/center] [font=Arial][color=darkred][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Mike Jennings (Ben Affleck, not the newsman) is a programmer who accepts assignments to… More
  [center][font=Arial][color=darkred][img]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4291/photo010qw.jpg[/img][/color][/font][/center] [font=Arial][color=darkred][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Mike Jennings (Ben Affleck, not the newsman) is a programmer who accepts assignments to copy competitor?s technology. After every job he has his memory of it erased. But after an extended job for an e-e-evil Bill Gates type (Aaron Eckhart), Mike is on the run with no memory of his job or why people are after him. Guiding his path is a series of clues pre-brain erased Mike left for himself.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]After [i]Blade Runner[/i], [i]Total Recall[/i], and [i]Minority Report[/i], the name Philip K. Dick could get sci-fi geeks salivating if attached to a project. But [i]Paycheck[/i], the latest film inspired by a Dick short story, is far fetched, incredibly stupid, and inept in its staging. Director John Woo has become a parody of himself, and his action sequences are flat line-inducing dull. Characters do so many stupid actions that the only way they stay ahead of the bad guys are because the bad guys do more. The acting is cranked all the way to hammy, a subplot involving a romance with Uma Thurman is laughably ill-handed, and the unsatisfying climax of dueling cleft chins between Affleck and Eckhart could put people to sleep. Let me just give you one example of the film?s stupidity: an FBI agent, while interrogating Mike, knowingly takes a cigarette, marked as evidence, and smokes it in a room with a smoke alarm that, of course, goes off. Yeah, now you got it. The only reason these people even made this stinker (Paul Giamatti, I thought we knew you better than this) is for the titular paycheck. [i]Paycheck[/i] is the 2003 capper for Affleck?s crappy year.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate?s Grade: D+[/color][/font]

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