John Woo is going back to China to shoot a neo-noir thriller for Bristol Bay Prods. The untitled project will be filmed in Beijing and will be produced in association with StudioCanal. Woo also will produce with Terence Chang through their production company, Lion Rock Prods. Caroline Macaulay of Lion Rock will be executive producer. One of the appeals for the filmmakers was the chance to shoot in China and explore the country's seemingly contradictory duality of being a communist-run nation with a capitalist impetus.
- 6/15/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Thursday, Dec. 25
"Paycheck" is a nifty science-fiction twist on the old amnesia plot where a guy spends most of a movie trying to remember what he did and why everyone is after him. Only in this case, the character played by Ben Affleck isn't trying to remember the past but the future.
Working from a story by Philip K. Dick -- aren't the best science-fiction movies usually based on stories by Dick? -- writer Dean Georgaris and director John Woo propel a viewer through shoot-outs, chases and suspense sequences that break enough new ground to feel fresh. There are moments when you know you're watching a John Woo film but many more where he seems to want to flex new muscles without drifting too far from the action genre. The moral issues that are central to Dick's science fiction are touched upon only briefly, yet they do reverberate through the film. While opening against stiff competition at Christmas, Paramount and DreamWorks nevertheless should find yuletide cheer in this "Paycheck".
Affleck plays scientific genius Michael Jennings, a "reverse engineer" who can take a piece of high-tech equipment, disassemble it so he sees how it ticks, then improve and reassemble the device into a more advanced piece of equipment in a few weeks. He is also a scientific whore, agreeing to perform his reverse engineering for a conglomerate run by his old buddy, billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), in exchange for a whopping paycheck and -- this is the kicker -- his willingness to allow his quirky pal Shorty (Paul Giamatti) to erase his memory of those work weeks so he cannot disclose company secrets to anyone else.
Jimmy's latest project for Michael breaks the pattern. Not only does the job require three years -- a lot of one's life to give up -- but when he finishes and all memory is erased, Michael is mystified to discover that he agreed to forfeit his $90 million paycheck in exchange for an envelope filled with random objects. What's more, both the FBI and Jimmy's thugs are hunting for him.
When two of these seemingly innocent objects allow Michael to miraculously escape FBI custody, he quickly realizes that each of the objects not only provides a clue to his erased past but is vital to his survival -- worth more, in other words, than $90 million. The movie gradually lets the viewer in on Jimmy's dirty little secret: In the past three years, Michael perfected a lens powerful enough to see past the curvature of time into the future. So everything that happens to Michael he has already foreseen using his own super lens and has taken the precaution to supply himself with everyday objects that will allow him to change that future.
Now for readers who hate Logic Nazis, who delight in pointing out fatal plot holes in movies, this is fair warning: One enormous plot hole is about to be revealed, so you might want to skip to the next paragraph. Once Michael changes his fate and escapes the FBI and his foretold destiny, he is in a new future where he cannot possibly have foreseen anything that happens to him. The rest of the movie cannot be the future he saw with his super lens but a new series of events that directly result from his altering the future.
Fortunately, while caught up in the gripping tension of Michael's race against time to destroy his own machine and to recall his life with Rachel (Uma Thurman), the woman he has loved for the past three years but cannot remember, you don't think about plot holes. The payoffs from each of these everyday objects -- a matchbook, a coin, a crossword puzzle -- are fun. And when both Jimmy and the FBI realize what's going on and scheme how best to thwart a man who has seen the future but cannot remember, these strategies keep the movie intriguing down to the last moment.
Affleck gives his scientific genius enough of a blue-collar attitude to make the character believable. Although underutilized until the picture is almost half-over, Thurman gives Rachel a determined strength of character. But after the gymnastics of "Kill Bill", her fans can only see this outing as a comedown.
Woo and his crew make good use of Vancouver, where they stage a chase through heavy traffic with Affleck and Thurman on a motorcycle and another down in a subway tunnel with a train is about to wipe out the hero. Jeffrey L. Kimball's cool, crisp photography seamlessly integrates the visual effects and stunts into a very real-looking environment. Similarly, William Sandell's futuristic sets don't unduly call attention to themselves as is often the case with science-fiction movies.
PAYCHECK
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures
Credits:
Director: John Woo
Screenwriter: Dean Georgaris
Based on a story by: Philip K. Dick
Producers: John Davis, Michael Hackett, John Woo, Terence Chang
Executive producers: Stratton Leopold, David Solomon
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: William Sandell
Music: John Powell
Co-producers: Caroline Macaulay, Arthur Anderson
Costume designer: Erica Edell Phillips
Editors: Kevin Stitt, Christopher Rouse
Cast:
Jennings: Ben Affleck
Rethrick: Aaron Eckhart
Rachel: Uma Thurman
Shorty: Paul Giamatti
Wolf: Colm Feore
Agent Dodge: Joe Morton
Agent Klein Michael C. Hall
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Thursday, Dec. 25
"Paycheck" is a nifty science-fiction twist on the old amnesia plot where a guy spends most of a movie trying to remember what he did and why everyone is after him. Only in this case, the character played by Ben Affleck isn't trying to remember the past but the future.
Working from a story by Philip K. Dick -- aren't the best science-fiction movies usually based on stories by Dick? -- writer Dean Georgaris and director John Woo propel a viewer through shoot-outs, chases and suspense sequences that break enough new ground to feel fresh. There are moments when you know you're watching a John Woo film but many more where he seems to want to flex new muscles without drifting too far from the action genre. The moral issues that are central to Dick's science fiction are touched upon only briefly, yet they do reverberate through the film. While opening against stiff competition at Christmas, Paramount and DreamWorks nevertheless should find yuletide cheer in this "Paycheck".
Affleck plays scientific genius Michael Jennings, a "reverse engineer" who can take a piece of high-tech equipment, disassemble it so he sees how it ticks, then improve and reassemble the device into a more advanced piece of equipment in a few weeks. He is also a scientific whore, agreeing to perform his reverse engineering for a conglomerate run by his old buddy, billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), in exchange for a whopping paycheck and -- this is the kicker -- his willingness to allow his quirky pal Shorty (Paul Giamatti) to erase his memory of those work weeks so he cannot disclose company secrets to anyone else.
Jimmy's latest project for Michael breaks the pattern. Not only does the job require three years -- a lot of one's life to give up -- but when he finishes and all memory is erased, Michael is mystified to discover that he agreed to forfeit his $90 million paycheck in exchange for an envelope filled with random objects. What's more, both the FBI and Jimmy's thugs are hunting for him.
When two of these seemingly innocent objects allow Michael to miraculously escape FBI custody, he quickly realizes that each of the objects not only provides a clue to his erased past but is vital to his survival -- worth more, in other words, than $90 million. The movie gradually lets the viewer in on Jimmy's dirty little secret: In the past three years, Michael perfected a lens powerful enough to see past the curvature of time into the future. So everything that happens to Michael he has already foreseen using his own super lens and has taken the precaution to supply himself with everyday objects that will allow him to change that future.
Now for readers who hate Logic Nazis, who delight in pointing out fatal plot holes in movies, this is fair warning: One enormous plot hole is about to be revealed, so you might want to skip to the next paragraph. Once Michael changes his fate and escapes the FBI and his foretold destiny, he is in a new future where he cannot possibly have foreseen anything that happens to him. The rest of the movie cannot be the future he saw with his super lens but a new series of events that directly result from his altering the future.
Fortunately, while caught up in the gripping tension of Michael's race against time to destroy his own machine and to recall his life with Rachel (Uma Thurman), the woman he has loved for the past three years but cannot remember, you don't think about plot holes. The payoffs from each of these everyday objects -- a matchbook, a coin, a crossword puzzle -- are fun. And when both Jimmy and the FBI realize what's going on and scheme how best to thwart a man who has seen the future but cannot remember, these strategies keep the movie intriguing down to the last moment.
Affleck gives his scientific genius enough of a blue-collar attitude to make the character believable. Although underutilized until the picture is almost half-over, Thurman gives Rachel a determined strength of character. But after the gymnastics of "Kill Bill", her fans can only see this outing as a comedown.
Woo and his crew make good use of Vancouver, where they stage a chase through heavy traffic with Affleck and Thurman on a motorcycle and another down in a subway tunnel with a train is about to wipe out the hero. Jeffrey L. Kimball's cool, crisp photography seamlessly integrates the visual effects and stunts into a very real-looking environment. Similarly, William Sandell's futuristic sets don't unduly call attention to themselves as is often the case with science-fiction movies.
PAYCHECK
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures
Credits:
Director: John Woo
Screenwriter: Dean Georgaris
Based on a story by: Philip K. Dick
Producers: John Davis, Michael Hackett, John Woo, Terence Chang
Executive producers: Stratton Leopold, David Solomon
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: William Sandell
Music: John Powell
Co-producers: Caroline Macaulay, Arthur Anderson
Costume designer: Erica Edell Phillips
Editors: Kevin Stitt, Christopher Rouse
Cast:
Jennings: Ben Affleck
Rethrick: Aaron Eckhart
Rachel: Uma Thurman
Shorty: Paul Giamatti
Wolf: Colm Feore
Agent Dodge: Joe Morton
Agent Klein Michael C. Hall
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 1/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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