OldBoy

It was a pretty decent action yarn. I agree with Aaron Beierle that it probably got overshadowed by the whole Benifer thing. I have always liked John Woo and you can definitely see his stamp especially the staple white dove (which I thought was a little much, but I guess had to be there).
Anyway, not bad at all for a sci-fi thriller. Some tense moments and decent chases. No where near a great film or a film that involves you to use your noggin, but ok overall.

One question...the movie takes place in the not so immediate future and they have more sophisticated machines, gadgets, et al. Even today we have them, but you mean to tell me that they still record tv shows/sports events using VHS tape?? (I am referring to Ben's character taping the Red Sox in the playoffs and then popping in the VHS tape from what he missed for the 2 months he was on the first project in the movie)..talk about archaic!

I mean today we even have digital recording! Just thought this was very, very odd...anyone else...

Drexl

Maybe it's D-VHS

cnynrpr

The bimmers and other cars were current models. I think the next generation recording device are DVRs, but try filming him browsing his Tivo box for shows he's missed in the 2 months he was gone. Popping in the VCR gets the point across a lot quicker and easier.

BTW, I love Uma in this movie. I love Uma as long as I don't see her toes (ala Kill Bill) hehe

PixyJunket

In the not-so-distant future, people will still use VCRs to record stuff.. that's not hard to believe at all.

ABCDE

I watched this tonight, and enjoyed it.

And yes, Uma looks good. It's not too often that the leading actress is older than the leading man.

wmansir

I can see people still using VHS in the Paycheck future, but I don't see ben's character doing it. First, he's wealthy, but more importantly he's a tech geek. Even today he would have a Tivo. Also, "making the playoffs" means at least 3 games and up to 19 games to tape. Obvioulsy he couldn't just set the timer for that. (edit: to say, I don't see it, but I accept it as a plot device.)

As far as the moive, it was ok. But it's mediocracy is the straw that broke the camel's back as far as my respect for John Woo. I now regard him as a hack.

Abob Teff

Granted I have yet to sit down and watch Woo's "great" films, but I have seen a good portion of his American work and have yet to see the fascination with him. The whole motorcycle chase thing really felt like a TV episode of Charlie's Angels.

ABCDE

His work prior to Hollywood was outstanding. I think that's part of the reason why this movie got shot down by the reviewers. Instead of judging this movie on its own merits, people are judging it based on their expectations of what Woo used to do.

BTW, I thought they should have used the alternate ending.

Michael Corvin

Just finished watching it. The whole VCR thing is kinda nit-picky. Maybe it was the last game of the playoffs? Who knows. That would fit on 1 tape. And until Tivo and Replay stop charging a fee for service, I don't see VCR's going anywhere anytime soon.

My question, what was the Detective's(joe morton) deal with the watch? He seemed overly pleased with himself and
Maybe I missed something. Some piece of info that clues him in to what was going on.

I liked it. A agree with the whole bennifer bit. Ben was really good in this. It's sad that his personal life overshadows his movies.

jaeufraser

The watch was one of the 20 items, and was left there by Afflecker to tell Morton that he blew the machine up and was alive. Morton...I guess sympathized and said he was dead so he would be left alone.

I admit...this movie blew. I thought the movie started out ok...it was passable entertainment, until the helicopter chase, then the movie just fell apart and became a bunch of stupid action sequences. Except...they weren't even good! And Uma's role...how pathetic...it was criminal giving her such a useless role, and I swear I spent the whole movie thinking she could beat the crap out of everyone in the movie. I listened to the commentary on this, and to no surprise the whole screenplay after that motorcycle chase was supposedly changed to fit Woo. All I can say is...whatever was in the screenplay had to be better than what played out. And both endings were insanely sappy.

Regarding the video tape...quite frankly, the rest of the movie went into sheer stupidity, so the video tape was irrelevant. I know they were trying for a futuristic but still modern look, so that explains the mingling of futurisitc tech and a modern tech.

atari2600

i swear im the only person left that watches movies without overanalyzing and searching for details.

Seantn

This thread title is misleading. The movie is indeed bad.

MasterofDVD

I bought this as a blind buy because I enjoy Ben's work. I thought it was very good and it was well worth the price.

I too was confused about how far in the future this was suppose to be. That was really my only problem with the movie besides the fact that I thought Uma looked like death warmed over.

3/4 of the way thru the film I made a comment to my wife that I was bummed there weren't any doves shown yet. She was clueless so I had to fill her in on Woo favorite animal. When they finally showed a dove I was laughing so hard I thought I was need a spare pair of boxers.

MrX

I just finished watching it and thought it was ok.

I liked Uma and Aaron Eckhart and the whole clue thing was cool. It started to fall apart to me during the motorcycle chase.

I wanted more Kathryn Morris too

Anyway, it was worlds better then Torque which I had watched right before this.

John Spartan

If there had been no motorcycle chase, Paycheck would have appealed to even fewer people. I'm surprised it was "added just for Woo" though, since it looks like he spent very little time on it and left the whole thing to his 2nd unit & stunt coordinator to shoot. The little fight inside the biolab was pretty cool.

OldBoy

I’m finishing this now again and what an absurd movie. Woo’s trademarks are just so overdone and not meaningful, especially in a movie like this. The gun to gun face thing was absurd. It worked in his other American movie, Face/Off but that whole premise was absurd and fun. This not so much and the pigeons were so stupid and out of place. Again, tm, but common.

Ash Ketchum

Wow! A 19-year thread bump--by the guy who started the thread!

cultshock

Damn, I haven't thought about that film in years! I remember reading reviews mentioning that the title is perfect for the film, as it was the only reason why Woo made it.

JeffTheAlpaca

It was ok the first time but then the second viewing it was kind of boring.