Film Review - Paycheck

Paycheck stars a model of Ben Affleck’s chin hewn from pine as Ben Affleck. Ben is an engineer who does high-level work for companies on short contracts before having his memories of his work erased for security. Oh how you will wish that this technology were real after watching Paycheck. It's not a classic movie.

After watching Ben Affleck ninja around like an unconvincing farmhand for a few minutes, we reach the crucial event. Ben takes a contract working for several years on a project, after which his memories will be erased as per usual. It turns out the project is some sort of see-into-the-future machine. Ben gives it a whirl and lo, he sees his own death. It would have given the film a slightly post-modern touch if Ben’s demise had been the result of a sustained barrage of deafening booing at his acting skills, but unfortunately he’s just shot.

The rest of the film is a Total Recall-esque journey as Ben follows a series of clues set by himself, all with the intention of evading his foreseen demise. Well it would be if the film weren’t actually about smashing lots and lots of panes of glass. Seriously, did they get a job lot from somewhere? Not a second passes without someone flying through a window, hurling something through a window, punching a window or dropping a champagne flute.

Eventually the film ends and you watch something more entertaining, like the letter U. I’ll provide you with something five times as good as Paycheck a couple of lines down.

U U