Woo brings ‘Paycheck’ down

Evan Marmol

“Paycheck” starring Ben Affleck had the promise to be a sci-fi

thriller with a narrative to fascinate and to intrigue its audience.

The only problem, or shall I say problems (plural), was that the plot

diffusion never allows the audience to feel engaged. The exposition

is shallow, the performances tepid and the nauseating flux in twists

and reversals were never engaging.

The initial promise is delivered with a strong opening that

introduces Affleck, an urbane engineering genius, into a world of

technology that boggles the mind and is a feast for the eyes. Affleck

is enticed into working on a cloak-and-dagger type project for an

astronomical compensation; the catch is that all of his memories for

the duration of this work will be obliterated. He awakens to find

that he has been betrayed, he is the quarry for a multibillion dollar

company and he only has 19 mundane items at his disposal for

survival.

It sounds phenomenal on paper, but that is before the film is

blindsided by the John Woo effect. Woo is the director for the action

junky with little, to no, imagination. Slowly, but surely, the Woo

effect imbues the movie with needless violence, plot holes and any

vision is lost. Woo is the true auteur and he crafts his films into

cliched gunfights and battle sequences that are more comical than

harrowing, he has made a niche for himself for perverting potential

blockbusters into sputtering pathetic shows.

The verdict for “Paycheck” is that if you like action then watch

it, but the introduction belies what is really just a shoot-’em-up

flick. Oh, I’m not giving anything away, but try your hardest not to

laugh when the trademark Woo superfluous dove comes gliding out of

nowhere. You’ll see what I mean.

* EVAN MARMOL is Laguna Beach resident, who reviews films for the

Coastline Pilot. He graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in

psychology and social behavior.