Paycheck
Originally written for The Milpitas Post
Directed by: John Woo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti
Rated: PG-13 for intense action violence and brief language
Parental Notes: This is a solid sci-fi thriller, and may be too intense for youngsters. There are plenty of action sequences, and while not bloody they are certainly intense.
The stories of Philip K. Dick have been providing excellent fodder for movie adaptations since the ground-breaking “Blade Runner.” The latest of Dick’s stories to hit the big screen, “Paycheck,” is a solid science fiction thriller, blending action, suspense, and speculative science into a thrilling mix.
Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a highly paid reverse engineer who does top-secret work for immense corporations. When his work for them is finished, his mind is wiped by his assistant Shorty (Paul Giamatti) so that he doesn’t remember any of the work he did. As he puts it, it’s a good life; he only remembers the highlights – vacations, good times, games played by his beloved Red Sox. It’s the twenty hour days and the grueling work that he’s losing to memory wipes, and he’s fine with that.
Then he is persuaded by his old college pal Jimmy (Aaron Eckhart) to do a huge job: three years for over $90 million in stock options. That’s a phenomenal amount of time to lose, but he’s willing. But when he wakes up from the brain wipe, he finds that he forfeited his paycheck and is left with only an envelope of random personal items. Even more confusing, none of the personal effects belong to him. He can’t remember the job, so of course he can’t remember why he would have sent himself these things.
When the FBI arrests him on charges of treason, he escapes using some of the items in the envelope to escape – first from the FBI and then from some corporate types who are obviously working for Jimmy. To stay alive, he has to figure out what was going on. For that he has only the contents of the envelope, until he is contacted by Rachel (Uma Thurman), whom he used to work with. He also was in love with her, but of course all that was lost to the mind wipe. With her help, he has to figure out what he was working on for Jimmy and why his old friend is trying to kill him.
“Paycheck” is a solid thriller, with plenty of action and excitement mixed in with the mystery and suspense. Like “Minority Report,” another Dick story brought to the big screen, this movie is about entertainment, with a hint of cautionary moralizing thrown in as well. Thankfully, it doesn’t bludgeon the audience with its moral point (that given too much power, humanity will use it unwisely), and we care enough about the characters that the suspense works.
The film is full of director John Woo’s signature slow motion and other camera tricks, with quite a bit of action. There are thrilling chases, hand-to-hand combat sequences, and quite a bit of gunplay as well. This isn’t an over-the-top “Commando” style action flick, but there are plenty of opportunities for Ben Affleck to show off his speed and agility and for Uma Thurman to make use of the skills she showed so well in “Kill Bill.”
One pleasant aspect of “Paycheck” is that Rachel is a strong female character. She won’t let Michael push her away for what he sees as her own good, and she can fight just as well as he can. Although she spends most of the film with improbably bad hair (even biologists know how to pick the right shampoo, don’t they?) she is a pleasingly realistic female character for an action film. She can fight, she can love, and she’s very intelligent to boot.
Affleck gives Jennings a real humanity – he may be phenomenally good at what he does and highly intelligent, but there’s a feel of the blue-collar worker about Jennings. He’s found a job he’s good at which pays well, and he’s genuinely shocked when it all goes sour. He may have the trappings of the action hero – fighting skills honed in a hi-tech gym, plenty of money, a fancy apartment, and so on – but he clearly sees himself as just a guy and isn’t mentally prepared for what happens to him. It gives him a real appeal.
“Paycheck” is a good movie for those in search of a thriller. It’s got just enough action to be exciting without being particularly gross, the characters are fairly well developed, and the plot shows Dick’s workmanlike sci-fi construction. It’s a fun film to catch during the holiday break, although not exactly one for the ages.