Paycheck (film)

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Paycheck
Directed by John Woo
Written by Philip K. Dick
(story)
Dean Georgaris
(screenplay)
Starring Ben Affleck
Uma Thurman
Distributed by - USA -
Paramount Pictures
- non-USA -
DreamWorks SKG
Release date(s) December 25, 2003
Running time 119 min
Language English
Budget 60$ million
IMDb profile

Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story Paycheck by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The movie was directed by John Woo and features Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart as the principal actors. Paul Giamatti and Colm Feore also appear.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Michael Jennings (Affleck) is a reverse engineer who routinely has his recent memories erased after working on high-tech projects. He is often helped by his friend Shorty (Giamatti). He agrees to take on a project for James Rethrick (Eckhart), his old college roommate and close personal friend; Rethrick is CEO of Allcom. All Jennings is told is that he is to design something for three years in exchange for $92 million at Allcom's high-security facility. He meets and falls in love with Dr. Rachel Porter (Thurman), an Allcom biologist. However, after working for three years on the secret project, he wakes up with his memory erased and learns that he signed away his huge paycheck, and is left only with an envelope of personal effects - most of which aren't even his. Slowly he realizes he traded away his fortune to focus his attention on the envelope full of the following, seemingly unrelated items:

Soon he discovers that Allcom security personnel (led by Fiore) are after him for some unknown reason, as is the FBI, agents of which tell him he committed treason against the United States. However, using the items now in his possession, Jennings is able to devise ways out of various predicaments and crises.

He soon discovers that he spent the last three years of his life designing and building a laser-enhanced lens which allows the user to see around the curvature of the universe, and thus, into the future. After building the machine, he used it to catch a glimpse of the future, foreseeing his own death by gunshot wound. He also learns that the machine, and the knowledge it brings, leads to a plague, World War III and the downfall of humanity. Using the machine one last time, Jennings plans his escape and the destruction of his creation. However, since he was completely isolated on the Allcom grounds, he was limited to leaving himself an envelope of innocent, everyday items.

Jennings and Porter make their escape after Rethrick is killed by an undercover FBI sniper (with the bullet that, in an alternate future, would have slain Jennings). The future-viewing device is destroyed. Jennings throws his watch into the flames of the destroyed machine, implying that he will no more be governed by time, but will let the future write itself.

The "paycheck" comes at the end of the movie, when Jennings finds a winning $90 million lottery ticket hidden under the newspaper lining the bottom of Porter's birdcage. This fulfills the fortune cookie's message from earlier in the film, "If you only look where you can't go, you will miss the riches below."

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

The key premise of the movie (as well as the original short story), namely that knowledge of the future causes the destruction of the present (through a nuclear holocaust), was used in the one episode of the 1970s TV version of Logan's Run to explain the holocaust that destroyed much of human civilization in the 23rd century.

Although set in Seattle, the movie was filmed in Vancouver.

Affleck's character shares his love of the Boston Red Sox.

The movie features several of director Woo's trademarks, including two Mexican standoffs and the appearance of a dove.

[edit] Reception

Panned by critics and largely ignored by the viewing public, the movie was seen primarily as an action-adventure vehicle for Affleck. Some critics called this one of Woo's worst films, possibly because he downplayed many of the story's science fiction elements for transition to film. Fans of Philip K. Dick tend to be very critical of the movie.

Ben Affleck won Worst Actor from the Golden Raspberry Awards for his work in the movie, as well as in Gigli and Daredevil. After asking why he did not get his trophy, he was presented the Razzie live on Larry King Live a week later, which he promptly broke. The broken Razzie sold on eBay for enough money to cover the hall rental for the next year's ceremonies.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links

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