Paycheck (2003)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

John Woo

Writers (WGA):

Philip K. Dick (short story)
Dean Georgaris (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller | Action | Mystery

Tagline:

Remember the future.

Plot:

What seemed like a breezy idea for an engineer to net him millions of dollars, leaves him on the run for his life and piecing together why he's being chased.

Plot Keywords:

Engineer | Computer Engineer | FBI | Destiny | Amnesia

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Ben Affleck	...	Jennings
Aaron Eckhart	...	Rethrick
Uma Thurman	...	Rachel
Paul Giamatti	...	Shorty
Colm Feore	...	Wolfe
Joe Morton	...	Agent Dodge
Michael C. Hall	...	Agent Klein
Peter Friedman	...	Attorney General Brown
Kathryn Morris	...	Rita Dunne
Ivana Milicevic	...	Maya-Rachel
Christopher Kennedy	...	Stevens
Fulvio Cecere	...	Agent Fuman
John Cassini	...	Agent Mitchell
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Jude - Guard
Michelle Harrison	...	Jane

Also Known As:

La paye (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence and brief language.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:14 | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Burrard SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Just before Michael starts his second project he comments on the Red Sox making the World Series. Although this film was released in 2003 - it is set in 2004 and accurately predicts the Red Sox making the World Series, although it incorrectly predicts that they would lose.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Michael starts his tenure at Allcom he is forced to hand over all the personal items he's carrying, including his watch, as he won't be able to take them inside with him. Three years later a watch is given back to him in the envelope as part of his paycheck. When he claims during interrogation by the FBI that none of the items are his, the watch is removed from the envelope and fastened back on his wrist to show that the tan lines match. However, the watch that was given back to him wasn't the watch he initially had. He could have been wearing it the entire time he was working on the project, up until the time he switched the items in the envelope (he would have needed a new watch, since his old one was confiscated when he entered the building).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Holographic Woman: It's time to wake up... and get a life. We live in a 3-dimensional world. Until now, the world of computing has been a flat world, consisting of 2-dimensional imagery. Now, through the use of exclusive breakthrough technology, ARC has made it possible for you to get a life. A-Life, where we can work and play in a lifelike world of 3-dimensional reality. A-Life, the living monitor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in From Hong Kong to Hollywood: The Making of John Woo (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Another Dick shot

Ben Affleck designs products for companies that make them untold millions of dollars, and then has his memory erased after each development, and sent home with a very fat pay check for his efforts. His latest effort, three years in the making, has him running from assassins and the FBI, and Affleck finds he's short about $90 million. Instead, he has an envelope with several found objects to help him survive. Sound like a P.K. Dick plot? It is. The movie never amounts to much of anything, but the action is nonstop and Affleck is fun to watch as a brainy guy trying to remember what he has been made to forget. Uma Thurman is a scientist and his love interest, but she is not given nearly enough to do. The normally affable Aaron Eckhart is the bad guy. Worth a look.