“Paycheck” (Paramount Pictures)
John Woo is one of the best directors of action films in Hollywood today. He brought us “Face/Off,” “Mission Impossible: 2,” “Broken Arrow” and “Windtalkers.” All of these movies were special in one way or another and they were all exiting. So what went wrong with his new movie “Paycheck”
In this film Ben Affleck plays Michael Jennings, a genius who has been hired to work for a huge corporation. Once his work is finished his memory is erased so he can’t recall what he did. After one job which is three years in duration, Jennings comes to and finds he is being hunted. Somebody wants him dead.
His one ally seems to be his girlfriend Rachel (Uma Thurman). Together they have to find who is hunting him or they both won’t have a chance of survival. The hunters (Aaron Eckhart and Colm Feore) know they have to eliminate him or there future is bleak. So the chase is on!
There is a lot of action but it is all “ho hum I’ve seen it before.” And the plot, well forget it. It makes no sense and is even annoying. Plus Affleck is no genius and is not a good enough actor to pretend to be a genius. Lastly he and Thurman have zero chemistry together. Did I remember to say the action sequences are dull
When you watch a movie like this you wonder what happened. Surely someone had to know it just wasn’t working. Woo is too smart a director to be satisfied with this type of fiasco.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence. Maybe they should have gone for an R and spiced it up some.
Ben Affleck needs a hit in order to prove “Gigli” was a fluke, but this movie is not it. I am sure he thought with Woo in control the movie would be a winner. Instead he gets a film that shows that Woo has gone from “whew! to “whoops!”
I scored “Paycheck” an overtime 4 out of 10.
