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The first thing that comes to mind when reflecting on John Woo's Paycheck is that it puts Spielberg's recent sci-fi adventures, A.I. and Minority Report, into perspective. Both films, in this reviewer's mind, made mistakes with their endings which were hard to forgive, but did a praiseworthy job of exploring the big questions that their stories asked us. Both asked difficult questions which painted a bleak picture of the future, and tried to cheer us up in the last act in a less-than-elegant manner. Paycheck doesn't stimulate intellectually the way either of those did, but sports an ending a bit more satisfying than either.
The film begins by introducing us to Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck), a reverse-engineer whose work is shady, ambiguously immoral, technically legal, and terribly impressive. Given the nature of his work, he agrees to have his memory "wiped" upon the completion of his task. His philosophy, we learn, is that he's not really missing out on anything by not remembering work. When he's done, he's got his paycheck, and he's only left with memories of the good times in-between his projects.
This all changes when he takes a job exponentially longer (3 years) than any he's ever taken before (2 months). It's hard for Michael to stand by his own philosophy in regards to his work and memory in the face of such a long period of time, but the payday involved is enough to set him up for life.
The first shock comes when, upon having completed his task, Michael finds that, before his memory was wiped this time, he willingly gave up what turned out to be over $90 million, opting instead to send himself a simple manilla folder containing a number of assorted, seemingly everyday items. Naturally, he doesn't remember doing this, but he knows himself well enough to realize that he gave up the money so that he would focus on the items. And so he is left to discern their meaning, in hopes of re-learning whatever it is he's forgotten.
Obviously, this is a straight-up concept film, and like most concept films, it inevitably falls short of the mysterious promise it exhibits early on, when everything is still up in the air. Still, it has its moments, and even though it doesn't ask the tough questions, it invites us to ask them, and it does come to a few definite moral conclusions, seemingly rejecting the "let the audience decide for themselves" sentiment which is sometimes fitting, but often an annoying cop-out to cinematic conflicts.
In terms of raw action, it has a few impressive moments, and a few surprisingly dull ones. I found myself far more interested in the plot developments and dialogue than I did in the motorcycle chase, though a martial-arts fight in a high-tech greenhouse of sorts deserves some accolades.
All in all, Paycheck is decently acted, sports strong production values, and touches on some interesting concepts. The futuristic dangers it warns of, however, are not nearly as plausible or immediate as the ones that films like A.I. are centered around, and as a result the film stays breezy and fun, rather than heavy and philosophical. The result is a flick which aims to stimulate the eyes before the brain, but doesn't completely neglect either.
The Bottom Line: Memento meets Minority Report.
The film begins by introducing us to Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck), a reverse-engineer whose work is shady, ambiguously immoral, technically legal, and terribly impressive. Given the nature of his work, he agrees to have his memory "wiped" upon the completion of his task. His philosophy, we learn, is that he's not really missing out on anything by not remembering work. When he's done, he's got his paycheck, and he's only left with memories of the good times in-between his projects.
This all changes when he takes a job exponentially longer (3 years) than any he's ever taken before (2 months). It's hard for Michael to stand by his own philosophy in regards to his work and memory in the face of such a long period of time, but the payday involved is enough to set him up for life.
The first shock comes when, upon having completed his task, Michael finds that, before his memory was wiped this time, he willingly gave up what turned out to be over $90 million, opting instead to send himself a simple manilla folder containing a number of assorted, seemingly everyday items. Naturally, he doesn't remember doing this, but he knows himself well enough to realize that he gave up the money so that he would focus on the items. And so he is left to discern their meaning, in hopes of re-learning whatever it is he's forgotten.
Obviously, this is a straight-up concept film, and like most concept films, it inevitably falls short of the mysterious promise it exhibits early on, when everything is still up in the air. Still, it has its moments, and even though it doesn't ask the tough questions, it invites us to ask them, and it does come to a few definite moral conclusions, seemingly rejecting the "let the audience decide for themselves" sentiment which is sometimes fitting, but often an annoying cop-out to cinematic conflicts.
In terms of raw action, it has a few impressive moments, and a few surprisingly dull ones. I found myself far more interested in the plot developments and dialogue than I did in the motorcycle chase, though a martial-arts fight in a high-tech greenhouse of sorts deserves some accolades.
All in all, Paycheck is decently acted, sports strong production values, and touches on some interesting concepts. The futuristic dangers it warns of, however, are not nearly as plausible or immediate as the ones that films like A.I. are centered around, and as a result the film stays breezy and fun, rather than heavy and philosophical. The result is a flick which aims to stimulate the eyes before the brain, but doesn't completely neglect either.
The Bottom Line: Memento meets Minority Report.