Paycheck

Paycheck does itself harm by pretending to be serious. Or perhaps I overlooked the sophisticated intent to make the first comedy based on a Philip K. Dick story? At any rate, John Woo has been sent out this time into a world where there is no room for white doves. And that means wasting both his talent and Dick’s. At least Uma Thurman is good and John Powell serves up another super-cool soundtrack. Without them, this film would be a total disaster. (07.02.2004)

You can see that when you have an interesting source material (thanks again to Philip K. Dick) and a script that doesn't mess it up, you can do wonders. In other words, Paycheck bears none of the hallmarks of Woo's previous opuses, and the pace certainly doesn't suffer for it. Affleck gives a surprisingly solid performance, in contrast, Uma Thurman is very bland here, she's not suited for this type of role, but that's hard, after her strong woman in Kill Bill I'll look at her with different eyes every time. (13.08.2004)

A huge advantage of Paycheck is that John Woo knows how to make action films. Its huge disadvantage is that it is not purely an action film, but rather a patchwork attempt to create a "smart" sci-fi drama with a play on "what will happen in the future". Therefore, if i subtract from well-executed action scene, a couple of nice bonfires and imaginative choreographies from John Woo's imaginary receipt, I am left with a screenplay full of holes. When something on the screen is meant to explode, to dart across, or to shine like a New Year's rocket, Paycheck is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there is also dialogue in the film, and a story unfolds that is neither complex, nor surprising, nor thought through. In addition, most of it is dragged to the finale by the indistinct, handsome Affleck, whose engineer Jennings can only dream of the charisma and energy of someone like John Anderton. The story is unconvincing and it feels downright starchy in the escalated scenes... I basically forgot that Paycheck wanted to work with a thriller theme, because things fall apart quickly, leaving us with pretty decent action film by Woo. There is also a white dove. Only dove lightness is missing. 50% (16.12.2006)

I wish John Woo would catch a bit more of that uncompromising wind from the East and stop pigeonholing both in terms of genre and form. Paycheck is a polished action film where nothing goes outside the usual tracks. Formally competent, of course, but that's not quite enough. (30.10.2004)

Philip Kindred is spinning in his grave again and unfortunately it's my beloved Joh Woo's fault. Two scenes stuck in my mind from the film - the skillfully filmed motorcycle and car chase, which is really action-packed and "Woo-ish", although not very original and not very imaginative (the driving through containers and pipes was a pleasure, though) and the final showdown in the "greenhouse". Otherwise, it was boring, boring, grey, grey... Next with Nicolas Cage was better, though not by much. (24.01.2010)