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List Price: $12.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 8037
Released: May 18, 2004 |
| Our Price: $3.99 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The brainy, paranoid science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick has inspired one visionary classic (Blade Runner) and two above-average action movies (Total Recall and Minority Report). Paycheck aspires to follow in their footsteps: An engineer (Ben Affleck, Chasing Amy) routinely agrees to have his memory erased after every job so that he doesn't know what he's done. But after the biggest job of his life, he discovers that not only has he refused a $90 million paycheck, he's sent himself an envelope full of things he doesn't recognize--and he doesn't remember doing any of this. As he unravels the plot, he discovers he's also fallen in love (with Uma Thurman, Kill Bill) and invented a dangerous device for his former boss (Aaron Eckhart, Erin Brockovich). Affleck is bland, the script ruins a cunning idea, and the direction--from the normally dynamic John Woo (Face/Off)--plods along, aimless and bored. --Bret Fetzer
Paycheck (Special Collector's Edition) Reviews:
The future has come home 
2008-10-11 - Paycheck has advanced themes that it should pay closer attention to but the whole of the movie is fascinating. The movie projects Michael Jennings (Ben Afleck) on a course to save the world only he does not know it at the time. Michael is a reverse engineer, stealing designs from someone else and making slight modifications for his employer so they can trump the competition. "Future" science prevails in many different ways. Science fiction fans will love it.
Fun and Entertaining. 
2008-10-03 - A fun action flick, well done, excellent for an evenings entertainment. Recommended with a great bucket of popcorn, and some good friends.
booo john woo. zero stars for you 
2008-08-29 - What's worse than making a really bad movie is making a bad movie that ruins a good story written by a creative genius. Ben Affleck isn't a good actor. Uma should get on her hands and knees and thank Tarantino for the best roles by far that she'll ever have. John Woo is overrated because you can't do stupid junk and be considered a great filmmaker. I hope more Philip K. Dick tales are brought to the silver screen, but not by mediocre hacks looking for a paycheck.
Mind wipe for money
2008-08-19 - A contract trouble shooter who gets his memory wiped for
two month jobs, take a deadly three year contract.
As usual he is successful, but this time maybe too much so?
Can he decode his message to himself before his former friend and
boss erases him? The twisting of the plot involves a pretty blond
and the future.
Good sci fi if the acting and directing lack a little.
Reverse engineered for your enjoyment.
2008-07-30 - This is a fun concept movie that, yes, could have been more profound. But as it is, it's fun to see how they work the various items into Jennings' master plan in unpredictable ways. I've read the story by Philip K. Dick, and there are points of the story where it has been changed, and the machine works differently here, but the core concept is kept intact. And the question remains: Even if you could see the future, do you really think you'd be able to change it for the better?
Affleck doesn't really amaze anyone here, but he also doesn't detract from the story. Uma is fine and Eckhart is delightfully over-the-top towards the end. This is a man who has received a glimpse of the power he could have if he simply got rid of the obstacles, and he is determined to achieve that power. Even if one of the obstacles is his good friend Jennings.
There are some scientific improbabilities here along with some basic errors, but the driving force here is the philosophical concept, not the
scientific possibilities. And the pacing is generally fast enough that you can just relax and watch the action sequences if that's all you care about.
