Paycheck

PG-13

Released Dec 25, 2003

1 hr. 59 min.

Sci-Fi

Action

Mystery & Thriller

TRAILER

for Paycheck: Trailer 1

List

27%

155 Reviews

Tomatometer

45%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a top-notch reverse engineer. Corporations pay him to crack the secrets of their competitors' products. When the job is done, he has his memory of it erased. Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), head of a company called Allcom, hires Jennings to reverse-engineer a secret government device. After the job, Jennings wakes from the memory erasure to find himself being chased by various agencies. He soon realizes that the fate of the entire world may be in his hands.

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Premiered Mar 05

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Critics Consensus

Though Dick's short story has an intriguing premise, Woo reduces it to a lot of meaningless chases, shoot-outs, and explosions.

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Eye C

It's nice, a little over the top, but for a nice time it's ok.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/28/24

Full Review

Alec B

Dumb as a bag of rocks, but that's almost entirely the screenplay. John Woo's staging of the action scenes and the pacing make it watchable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/10/24

Full Review

DanTheMan 2

The combination of John Woo and Phillip K Dick could have worked, but it seems Paramount didn't trust Woo enough to try his hand at a Hitchcockian-style suspense thriller. Woo's stylish touches don't quite balance out the woeful acting and meandering, often remedial script, feeling like Total Recall without the ambiguity. It comes across like a neutered variation on his earlier, superior works with little in terms of states for his otherwise enjoyable action scenes. His trademarks are all here, but they often feel rather tacked on and out of place within the film he's trying to make, I don't think having four additional directors helped matters, further diluting his signature style. It should have been far more entertaining than it ended up being, but I guess this is what happens when you hire bloody Dean Georgaris to adapt the works of Phillip K Dick as it never manages to develop beyond its brainless writing. Paycheck is ultimately a John Woo movie but run through the Hollywood machine, removing all sense of the action maestro's talent and ultimately ending his stint in the US with a whimper rather than with a signature bang... Silent Night looking great though, I'm so ready.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/28/23

Full Review

Justin W

It's still one of the most epic scripts delivered clinically. You have everything here, sci-fi, romance, action.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/27/23

Full Review

Edoardo C

hide the remote, cause you will desperately seek for it.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

Full Review

Jimmy P

This is a really fun flick. It was just released at the wrong time. Had it been released a few years earlier or a few years later, the film would have been seen as a good film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

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John Woo

Director

Ben Affleck

Michael Jennings

Aaron Eckhart

Rethrick

Uma Thurman

Rachel Porter

Paul Giamatti

Shorty

Colm Feore

Mr. Wolf

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Paycheck: Official Clip - Motorcycle Chase

2:06

Paycheck: Official Clip - Bus Station Chase

1:40

Paycheck: Official Clip - Laboratory Beatdown

2:59

Paycheck: Official Clip - I Sold My Shares?

2:24

Paycheck: Official Clip - Fight the Future

2:44

Paycheck: Official Clip - Train Tracks Confrontation

2:57

Paycheck: Official Clip - Mental Extraction

2:37

Paycheck: Official Clip - The Reverse-Engineer

2:22

Paycheck: Official Clip - Bus Station Shootout

2:46

Paycheck: Official Clip - Shipyard Chase

2:56

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Paycheck: Trailer 1

2:25

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Neil Norman

London Evening Standard

A rubbish script, terrible acting from all concerned -- including, I regret to say, Uma Thurman -- and Woo's action histrionics uneasily confined to science lab interiors, all conspire to produce a movie of utter redundancy.

Jan 11, 2018

Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

This movie just sags, even in the action scenes.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 27, 2010

Full Review

Adam Smith

Empire Magazine

Some remedial script work is in need, and the characters are far from compelling. But the action is up to scratch and it rattles happily along.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 1, 2006

Full Review

Kathi Maio

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Ben can't, however, make Paycheck into the good movie it might have been. That would have required a director more interested in ideas and less interested in things that go boom...

Feb 28, 2020

Full Review

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews

Woo's stylish touches fall flat in this forgettable project

Rated: C-

May 14, 2012

Full Review

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

It's not necessarily high brow sci-fi, but it is very accessible to the mainstream eye.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 9, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a top-notch reverse engineer. Corporations pay him to crack the secrets of their competitors' products. When the job is done, he has his memory of it erased. Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), head of a company called Allcom, hires Jennings to reverse-engineer a secret government device. After the job, Jennings wakes from the memory erasure to find himself being chased by various agencies. He soon realizes that the fate of the entire world may be in his hands.

Director: John Woo
Executive Producer: David Solomon, Stratton Leopold
Screenwriter: Dean Georgaris
Distributor: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG
Production Co: Solomon/Hackett Productions, Frantic Films, Paramount Pictures, Davis Entertainment, DreamWorks SKG, Lion Rock Productions
Rating: PG-13 (Intense Action Violence|Brief Language)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $53.8M
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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