Paycheck (2003)

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.

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

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

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Michael Jennings is a reverse engineer and what he does is technical jobs for certain companies and as soon as he is done, his memory of the work he has done is wiped out. Now the longest he has been contracted is 2 months. But now billionaire, James Rethrick offers him a job that would last 2 years, maybe 3, and he promises that he will probably earn 8 figures. Michael agrees. Before beginning he turns in all of his personal effects. And when the job is done, his memory is erased and he learns he made over 90 million dollars over the three years. When he goes to claim it and his personal effects, he discovers that prior to the erasure of his memory he waived his rights to the money he earned and that the items that were given to him were not the ones he gave when he began. Later he is arrested by the FBI who say that he committed some act of treason and murder. It's while he is in custody that he escapes using some the items that he was given. He later meets with a friend who gives ...

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Plot Keywords:

time | pipe wrench | babe scientist | seeing the future | evil corporation | 

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Taglines:

Remember the future.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence and brief language

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

El pago

Filming Locations:

Burrard SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,462,374, 28 December 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$53,790,451

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$96,269,812, 18 April 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jennings (Ben Affleck) was supposed to be a New York Mets fan (or Yankees, sources differ), but Affleck, a Boston Red Sox fan, persuaded Director John Woo to change the team to the Red Sox.

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Goofs

Jennings picks up a Glock, then locks Rachel out of the catwalk. In the standoff with Rethrick, he's using a SigSauer (or a similar gun with a hammer and no markings on the rear sight)

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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.

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Connections

Featured in Paycheck: Designing the Future (2004)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday to You
by Mildred J. Hill & Patty S. Hill

User Reviews

Philip Dick Reduced to a "McGyver" Episode

"Paycheck" is yet another adaptation of a Philip Dick short story that tones down his political criticism and cynicism to make a sci fi adventure flick, this time pretty much as an expensive and clever "McGyver" episode. You can tell how this is expanded from a story where the hero had five items/clues and now he has 20.

Ben Affleck is a bland Ken Doll of a hero, though Uma Furman has almost as much spunk as she did in "Kill Bill, Volume 1."

As a John Woo movie, of course the chase scenes are the best part. But the fight scenes are simply perplexing -- uh, why does Affleck's work out consist of electronic samurai stick fighting such that when the poorly-aiming bad guys all come at him with guns Uma throws him a stick to pick them off?

While I did see the movie on a scratchy print with tinny sound, I don't think that explained the confusingly bad continuity in the hair and make-up such that I thought they had been time-traveling at some tropical vacation in between scenes.