Product Details

• Actors: Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 18, 2004
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (190 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001WTV3E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,877 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The brainy, paranoid science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick has inspired one visionary classic (Blade Runner) and two above-average action movies (Total Recall and Minority Report). Paycheck aspires to follow in their footsteps: An engineer (Ben Affleck, Chasing Amy) routinely agrees to have his memory erased after every job so that he doesn't know what he's done. But after the biggest job of his life, he discovers that not only has he refused a $90 million paycheck, he's sent himself an envelope full of things he doesn't recognize--and he doesn't remember doing any of this. As he unravels the plot, he discovers he's also fallen in love (with Uma Thurman, Kill Bill) and invented a dangerous device for his former boss (Aaron Eckhart, Erin Brockovich). Affleck is bland, the script ruins a cunning idea, and the direction--from the normally dynamic John Woo (Face/Off)--plods along, aimless and bored. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT TOOK ME BY SURPRISE!, October 17, 2004

By 

J. Redbird "Love Mother Earth" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paycheck (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Every now and then a movie passes by me and I totally dismiss it out of lack of interest. Paycheck was one of those. When it was first released, It didn't sound all that great, so I ignored it. Then by chance I came across a DVD of this movie and decided to watch it. What a surprise! This is now one of my favorite sci-fi movies. Had I known that it was based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick, I might have paid more attention to begin with. Especially since he was the author of Minority report and Blade Runner (under the written title of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"). One of the most outstanding things about this film is that there is no bloody gore, no sex, and not a lot of strong language. It is very fast paced, filled with action and suspense, great acting, and includes some of todays finest actors. I thought it one of Uma Thurman's best performances, and Ben Afflick was at his best. I would highly recommend this DVD (which also has some great bonus materials) to anyone who is a Sci-fi fan and loves action movies, because it is both. An excellent movie!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Paycheck- Mostly Enjoyable, December 30, 2003

By 

Daniel K. (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

Paycheck, the new sci-fi action thriller from John Woo delivers some great action and entertains on a high scale. Ben Affleck is better, (eagerly trying to redeem himself after the huge debacle of Gigli). Uma Thurman does just fine and Joe Morton and Paul Giamatti shine.
Now the premise of this film might throw you off, but it shouldn't. Knowing that this film is based on the work of Philip K. Dick who wrote Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall you can expect something new. The film while similar to The Bourne Identity definetly has its differences. In fact, Matt Damon was originally offered the lead role in Paycheck but he declined because he said it was too similar to his role in The Bourne Identity.
Essentially, Affleck plays Mike Jennings, a big computer engineer. His clever mind has enabled him to make a new program. Mike is soon offered a huge job offer by his good friend Jimmy Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart). After he's done the job he gets a huge paycheck, hence the title of the film. But his memory but be erased, and so he'll have no recollection of what his job was, since it is very secretive and confidential. After his memory is erased he soon learns he has a girlfriend, played by Uma Thurman. She along with his good friend Shorty played nicely by Paul Giamatti are the only ones he can trust.
Though the movie isn't as predictable as it may seem, it does build up with some suspense. And as I stated earlier it delivers with the typical action of a John Woo flick. From here we get a great BMW motorcycle chase, (similar to M:I-2, though it's hard to say which was better) along with some other action sequences.
Paycheck is rated PG-13 for Intense Action Violence and Brief Language. The violences includes mainly gunplay, fistfights and explosions. Language is extremely mild. There's
also some sexual innuendo, but not explicit. All in all, a good movie to see over the holiday. Worth viewing in theatres and possibly owning on video or DVD.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Commodity film......, November 26, 2005

By 

D. Bowen (Crawford, NE USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paycheck (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

One always has great hope for a film script with Philip Dick parentage, but this film was a disappointment. John Woo is a talented director, but he is completely unsuited for this sort of film. The dark paranoiac style in Philip Dick's writing has not been used to greatest advantage in film except in 'Blade Runner', which ironically did not cling closely to the story, however, 'Paycheck' pushes alienation from the spirit of the story to new heights. Neither does 'Paycheck' show the humor or spirit, director Woo's films are famous for, leaving Paycheck's unnecessary and out of place chase scenes feeling like a death mask of a John Woo film.

From a performance perspective, Affleck and Thurman are ill matched romantically, with this casting choice made worse by director Woo's decision to play up the romantic aspects of the film. The supporting actors, particularly Aaron Eckhart turn in a strong performance however.

Despite the poor directing, miserable and underdeveloped script, lack of strength as either an action, or science fiction film, and an unhappy "near future" look that looks only Hollywoodish and phony, Paycheck is not a genuinely awful film, and someone satisfied with a generic commercial movie might not be too severely disappointed. I would not recommend purchasing this movie to anyone with a limited DVD purchase budget however.