Paycheck (2003) (Movie Review)

Whenever I know that a movie is based on some PKD's (Philip Kindred Dick) work, I nurture high expectations. That is, or was, the case with Paycheck (2003), directed by John Woo.

But after literally thousands of action movies, I've become saturated. I demand motion pictures with no obvious way outs. This means that I can't stand the million year old sequence where the hero manages to escape a rain of bullets; or pursuit scenes, where regular vehicles reach F1 speeds and sustain military grade damage… and such flavors are precisely what Paycheck delivers.

Paycheck spends the first half of its time, trying to convince the viewer that it isn't banal, and then abruptly spoils it, with a second half that subscribes all the vulgar action formulas.

Ben Affleck plays Michael Jennings – someone highly skilled, who can reverse engineer technologies and “adapt” industrial solutions. Jennings sells his services for good money, but then exposes himself to brain damage, since his memory must be reset, after each work. The reset is an electrical and/or chemical process, which has its risks…

One day, business goes wrong. That is when we meet Rachel, played by Uma Thurman, who now tends to have a sniff for poor movies, with rich budgets – read Kill Bill.

In a single paragraph, it all starts promisingly, and all is on track, until Affleck gets in trouble. That is when the movie collapses and metamorphoses into Knight Rider meets MacGyver, plot.

For technical info check http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/

You can buy this and/or related products here.

for european costumers:

title: Paycheck [just click to buy]
price: £11.99
url: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00021Y986/arturmarques
ASIN: B00021Y986
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for american costumers:

title: Paycheck (Widescreen Edition) (2003) [just click to buy]
price: $22.49
url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001NBNDY/arturmarquesc-20
ASIN: B0001NBNDY
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for real time monetary conversions, please use the XE service.