Paycheck
Directed by John Woo
Review by Jim Eadon
2003 PG 13/12A
What inspired me to see Paycheck
was that it's based on a Philip K Dick short
story. Alas, whatever genius may lurk within
that story has been well and truly purged from
this cynical cash-in swamp of turgid drivel.
Plot - corporate conspiracy, CEO uses contractor
and then wants him dead, as do the Feds. Actually,
the only interesting idea in the whole movie
was that memory erasure would be used in the
future as the ultimate Non Disclosure Agreement.
The rest is unsuspenseful chase action.
The scenes between Affleck and the love interest,
a no-longer-a-sex-goddess Thurman, were laughable.
In an opening scene, where he chats her up,
the acting is quite simply of teen soap standard.
Excruciating. Everything about the action was
unexciting. The chases were ho hum, the puzzle
solving putting of two-and-two together was
daft. When you see the weather machine, you
just know it will be used against a baddie or
two later on, and when indeed it happens, the
event is laughably executed. The acting was
appalling, the good guys had not an ounce of
charm, the bad guys neither menace nor presence.
True to form, the ending was abysmal. All the
stuff in Paycheck, and more, was done with unaccountably
greater style, expertise, charisma, excitement,
effects, class, novelty and balls in Total
Recall, which is also based on
a Dick tale.
Paycheck bounced.
Erk!
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely gives away
important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen this movie and intend
seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the
movie, see if you agree with my review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks :-)
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Affleck left himself a set of widgets,
each of which, he realises, will get him
out of a sticky situation: what the film
makers should have done was to have one
of these fail, because when they all work
flawlessly we know that they will all
continue to work flawlessly by the proof
of induction. No doubt whatsoever. So
watching Paycheck
is a dreary, mechanical process of watching
someone fill in a jigsaw, knowing all
the pieces are there.
In a movie as riddled as swiss cheese, one point: how do they expect to collect those
lottery millions in a day of Big Brother checking
everything and anything?
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There are no more spoilers below this
point, except maybe in any user talkback
comments.
End of spoilers corner
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The protagonists (oh, hell and the director) are caught by some REAL badass bad guys,
and get the living shite kicked out of them. That would have been much
more satisfying entertainment.
in return for its theft of a slice of my pay cheque.
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 | | | | | | From: |
fabian jack | Subject: | 2004-04-30 18:01:23 |
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sean patrick | Subject: | 2004-11-24 01:59:38 |
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Martin Rollen | Subject: | 2005-10-18 21:11:09 |
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tommy | Subject: | 2007-03-12 05:36:23 |
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