Paycheck (2003) - Ben Affleck Cinema
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 All Affleck, All the Time Mostly Affleck Halffleck (ensemble cast) AffSpeck (walk-on)
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Paycheck
Director: John Woo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti, Joe Morton
The new John Woo movie Paycheck is Ben’s super star action vehicle. Ben plays a engineering genius hired by a huge company to reverse-engineer new products, thereby giving said company a level playing field. I suppose it’s like Microsoft hiring a dude to reverse engineer Netscape, so that horrible Netscape won’t gain a monopoly over the browser world.
Woo, master of subtlety, introduces us to the distinguished Mr. Affleck with split frames!!
(actual frameshot featuring BA’s cooler-than-cool intro - please note subtle use of sunglasses to suggest “coolness”)
The one small catch to Ben’s lucrative profession is that his memory is wiped after each project. That means he doesn’t remember anything about the product he worked on!
the ability to zap neurons with lasers is now available. remember from basic science that one neuron contains entire memories!
In the course of his new job, he meets a biologist who bears an uncanny resemblance to the chick who killed Bill.
want to see my toes?
His new job involved some strange item in a glowing case - probably the case from Kiss Me Deadly. Or Pulp Fiction. Or Repo Man.
the box: you opened it… we came!
New problems arise including: Ben has mysteriously signed away his paycheck, Ben is captured by the FBI and almost killed, Ben goes on the run with an envelope of special items that get him out of tight situations.
no RAID to be found here
Turns out that our hero has invented a time viewer! It allows Ben the ability to see into the future, thereby knowing which movie offers to accept and which ones to reject! No more box office bombs… now he will be able to select only the screenplays that are guaranteed moneymakers!
Paycheck on Viewer Demand… now available in HD
Paycheck is BA at his most Affleck-i-est. Thrill to multiple action scenes as Ben kicks ass with the guidance of the Woo-master:
Affleck!
Affleck!
Woo!
Some other stuff happens, and Ben Affleck emerges victorious. The time viewer machine is destroyed, and evil corporations can no longer use it for evilness. Of course, Ben has no problem using a mechanical crystal ball to win the lottery, thus ensuring a life of luxury for him and love of his life Mia Wallace, with comic sidekick Paul Giamatti in tow to lighten the mood!
Affleck, Woo, Giamatti, Thurman… a winning combination any way you see it. Paycheck delivers more Ben for your buck than say, a Kevin Smith film. It also features flying pigeons/birds and bullet point-of-view, which has not been overused by John Woo, no matter what you hear. By the way, Woo’s first film was called Hard Target featuring Van Damme. There was never any movie called Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, or The Killer. That’s a myth.
enough BA to make one cry tears of happiness
