Paycheck
Time travel stories can sometimes be tricky with having everything make sense, but this 2003 John Woo entry (based on a story by Philip K. Dick) overcomes much of that while staying true to Wooâs signature breakneck pacing and visceral style. Ben Affleck (a guy whoâs taken a lot of shit over the years for his acting, mostly undeserved) stars as Michael Jennings, a âreverse engineerâ who mostly works on other companiesâ developed technology, copying and innovating for his own group, then agrees to have his memory digitally erased so as to not reveal the nature of his work and collect a big paycheck. When he agrees to work on a three-year project for his old friend and big corporate boss played by Aaron Eckhardt, he comes around three years later to discover he has forfeited his money and people are trying to kill and / or capture him, with only a mysterious manila envelope filled with trivial items that he had left for himself bailing him out of trouble each time. Right here, the combination of elements from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Memento in the form of a high octane action thriller makes for a sweet mix, as Affleck soon realizes that his top secret project was a machine that can see into the future for anyone who uses it, and uses the foresight provided to give himself a fighting chance with each random object to either save his life or help him escape in a very intricate chain of events. The ultimate theme of the movie, that knowing your future really gives you no future and deprives you of the excitement and spontaneity of life, is a potent one realized to its full potential, even as some of the ideas are either dependent on other characterâs stupidity (as when an FBI agent lights up a cigarette in a fire-controlled room), or turn out to be utter cheats in storytelling (as when the machine at the climax predicts that Affleck will come to a bad end when even this has been negated by his prior knowledge). In other roles, Eckhardt never quite gets his bad guy groove on as the CEO villain, but is still suave in the role; Uma Thurman (despite a slightly ragged appearance) is strong as the scientist Affleck had fallen in love with during his research who helps him save the day as his sidekick; Paul Giamatti plays another of his wormy character roles as Affleckâs best friend; Joe Morton and Michael (Dexter) C. Hall are the FBI agents on the case; and Colm Feore sneers his way through the film as Eckhardtâs main henchman. The film loses its way a bit at the end with Affleck doing Bruce Lee-like fighting moves and mowing down bad guys with a machine gun, while Feoreâs character, in the midst of the climactic gunfight, arbitrarily decides to hop on the future machine himself with hilarious results, but the final scenes are satisfying yet surprising and leaves the viewer happy. Overall, a pretty good sci-fi actioner that shows that Affleck doesnât deserve all his flackâŚ
8/10