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.
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