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Paycheck
Directed by John Woo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Colm Fiore
Script: Philip K. Dick Dean Georgaris
Running Time: 1:59
Country: USA
Year: 2003
Official Site: Paycheck
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In a movie that 13 years ago might have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall springs to mind), Ben Affleck takes the role of Sci-Fi action hero as an advanced engineer (as in "physicist") who is capable of building new machines the like of which defines the future. With Uma Thurman as the action-able love interest, how bad can it be?
A "paycheck" is what Michael Jennings (Affleck) works for—why he's willing to have his memory erased by the corporation that hires him to design new products with far-reaching consequences so that he won't be able to re-design them at the end of his contract. As his employers are screwing around with the circuits of his brain, the compensation money tends to be large enough to induce him to ignore the downside of such bio-intrusions and look the other way about any ethical issues that may be involved.
In addition to the rather astounding intellectual capability of his lead character, director John Woo is careful to point up Affleck's physical potential by showing him training (with sidekick Shorty — Paul Giamatti) with a baton (easier than learning more difficult martial arts routines) and with a scene that displays Affleck's muscle development. No comparison to Arnold, but establishing some physical speed and strength is vital for credibility in the combats to come.
When Jennings is approached by old college buddy and current ruthless boss of a development company, Jim Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), with an offer of a new job on the heels of a just-completed 1-year assignment, he turns it down. Until, that is, Rethrick sweetens the deal with a payday of 8 figures for a 3-year project which Jennings will not, of course, remember at its conclusion. The promise of retiring with a small fortune sways Jennings to go for it despite the demands. As he's welcomed into the team, he finds himself in contact with the super alluring weather scientist Rachel (Uma Thurman), an important employee of Rethrick's—as though $90 mil wasn't enough to convince him he'd made the right decision.
All of which is preliminary. The dramatic engine starts after Jennings emerges from the memory erasing machine at the conclusion of his 3-year tenure and is discharged. He's given an envelope containing odd, seemingly innocuous items presumed to be personal belongings. He also discovers a numbered account that contained his multimillion dollar paycheck, but which he, himself, had unexplainably zeroed out. Realizing he's been betrayed, Jenning embarks on a memory-blind path to reclaim his recent life—a path that the items lead him on. As he discovers the purpose of each one, the pattern tells him that he has seen his own future in the machine he succeeded in building for Rethrick and has sent himself means to right the wrongs. When Rethrick realizes that Jennings is a threat to his evil intentions, he sets his primary henchman Wolfe (very composed Colm Feore) to capture or destroy the annoying engineer. And, with the FBI after Jennings for the secrets they think he possesses, the big crash-burn chase is on.
In an action context, Affleck is never going to contest the commanding presence of Schwarzenegger but director Woo works with what he's got and shows a considerable amount of cinematic know-how in his metering out of the complex story points and the well-tuned buildup of tension and characters. Working from a dramatically astute screenplay adaptation by Dean Georgaris (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life), he has turned in a far more satisfying product than his nonsensical Face/Off. The basis of the movie—the clever clues that lead to past and future simultaneously—is from the ingeniously conceived short story by Philip K. Dick whose Minority Report was similarly adapted from a short story.
While the role for Thurman is limited, she provides the sex appeal and emotional ingredient that are winning components of a man-on-the-run thriller. The need for Jennings to rediscover the deep love he had for her before his memory loss plays a resonant personal chord in the justice-seeking machine-busting context. Thurman singes the screen with body heat and a suggestive look that can melt kryptonite. She's also capably physical when the need arises, well conditioned as she was by her romp in Kill Bill, Vol 2.
This is movie night material for futuristic action fans who are launched into entertainment orbit by a thriller with unique plotting of time lines. Who it doesn't work for are people with no affinity for the charisma-challenged Affleck, and those who can't accept the occasional leap of logic in favor of a well paced flow of action provided by an original concept about past-future memory and self identification. It may feel contrived to some, but I'm among the few (apparently) who found it clever and human enough to have a good time. You might, too, if you're not simply put off by a Ben Affleck starrer.
Jules Brenner
 Windtalkers
M:i-2
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Paycheck review
