Paycheck

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From accled director John Woo (Face/Off and Mission Impossible II) comes a futuristic thriller that combines spectacular action with a spellbinding mystery, guaranteed to keep you guessing from explosive beginning to breathtaking end. Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a brilliant computer engineer hired for work on top secret projects. After each job, Jennings’ short-term memory is erased so he cannot recount any project information. Emerging from his latest assignment – a three-year contract with an eight-figure paycheck, given to him by an old friend (Aaron Eckhart) – Jennings is shocked to be told that agreed to forfeit all payment. It appears he is left with no comeback – until he receives a mysterious envelope containing clues to his forgotten past. With the help of a beautiful scientist (Uma Thurman), Jennings must race to solve the puzzle of his past … whilst avoiding a terrifying discovery which awaits him in the future. From .co.uk ----------- 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) 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-dollar paycheck, he's sent himself an envelope full of things he doesn't recognise--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) and invented a dangerous device for his former boss (Aaron Eckhart). Affleck is bland, the script ruins a cunning idea and the direction--from the normally dynamic John Woo--plods along, less and bored. --Bret Fetzer