I saw this one quite a while ago. Hard to believe it came out almost 8 years ago now. Well… not that hard.
I selected it because I remember being somewhat surprised by it, but didn’t have all the specifics down in my head. I recalled the premise and general plot, but not the details. I wanted to refresh them and see how it held up after having taken up a more critical eye and having learned more of the visual language of film.
What am I talking about? As the movie poster has told you, its Paycheck. Out in 2003, its a psuedo action-mystery-….something. The premise is sort of cool, in terms of the whole reverse engineering memory wipe thing. As for the meat of the story, its hard to discuss it without spoiling anything, which the trailer and movie poster already do a good job of doing (thats really kind of a stupid choice, dreamworks!)
I’ll just say, in case someone reading this hasn’t seen it: Its not really a matter of morality versus money, I mean seriously… what would anyone have done? That to me is somewhat of a plot hole, but I can’t really say its a really huge one because I don’t care too much to take out the scalpel with a popcorn movie like this. Over all, its entertaining and takes you on a good little journey. Thats enough! Not every movie has to be a masterpiece (and, yeah…. many aren’t). Still, from the best to the worst its an awesome thing to be able to package up a visual story and show it to millions. I degress, getting off topic here.
So, Ben Affleck… its just so hard to see him as actiony. Sure, he actually did a decent job in this movie all things considered. Still. Ben Affleck. Ben…. Affleck. Now, he does match that reverse engineer role perfectly, hes cast well for that – and to be fair this isn’t a RAW action movie, but a movie “with” action. So, it fits.
Still.
There were some shots, moments, and definitely lines in this movie that made me giggle inwardly. Not because they were funny, but because they were bad. I don’t mind though, in fact it kind of makes certain kinds of movies, of which this is one of those kinds, even MORE fun to watch if your paying attention to those kinds of things. The convenience with which he uses some of the objects in the envelope was, lets be honest, not honest. Most of them probably slide by just fine in a normal viewing – but a couple kind of made me crinkle my nose. For example in the interrogation room, somehow he thinks to put on those sunglasses in the middle of all that, not knowing that they are “special”. C’mon! That was just plain stupid.
It was funny as I have just recently discovered the amazing (truly) television series Battle Star Galactica, and while watching paycheck “Leoben” shows up for like 15 seconds as a guard. Always funny to catch someone in a way different role and remember, “Oh yeah, they make a living this way.”
I don’t think anyone got much overtime in their paycheck, making paycheck. Worth a watch though, not a bad movie over all – despite being on the nose. Maybe… maybe I’m just really forgiving of everything and always look on the bright side of stuff, but thats not bad at all! Just bear that in mind for future munches.
Paycheck’s rating: Adequate-ish
