Paycheck (2003)

Note Générale:

6,1/10   

Réalisateur:

John Woo

Scénaristes (WGA):

Philip K. Dick (short story)
Dean Georgaris (screenplay)

Date de sortie:

25 décembre 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Science-Fiction | Thriller | Action | Mystère

Accroche:

Remember the future.

Intrigue:

What seemed like a breezy idea for an engineer to net him millions of dollars, leaves him on the run for his life and piecing together why he's being chased.

Plot Keywords:

Engineer | Computer Engineer | FBI | Destiny | Amnesia

Récompenses:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

James Dwan's Paycheck Review

Ensemble

Ben Affleck	...	Jennings
Aaron Eckhart	...	Rethrick
Uma Thurman	...	Rachel
Paul Giamatti	...	Shorty
Colm Feore	...	Wolfe
Joe Morton	...	Agent Dodge
Michael C. Hall	...	Agent Klein
Peter Friedman	...	Attorney General Brown
Kathryn Morris	...	Rita Dunne
Ivana Milicevic	...	Maya-Rachel
Christopher Kennedy	...	Stevens
Fulvio Cecere	...	Agent Fuman
John Cassini	...	Agent Mitchell
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Jude - Guard
Michelle Harrison	...	Jane

Autre(s) titre(s):

La paye (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence and brief language.

Durée:

119 min

Pays:

USA | Canada

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur

Rapport de forme:

2,35 : 1

Son:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Classification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:14 | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | USA:PG-13

Lieux de tournage:

Burrard SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Société:

DreamWorks SKG

Anecdotes:

Just before Michael starts his second project he comments on the Red Sox making the World Series. Although this film was released in 2003 - it is set in 2004 and accurately predicts the Red Sox making the World Series, although it incorrectly predicts that they would lose.

Goofs:

Considéré à tort comme goofs: When Michael starts his tenure at Allcom he is forced to hand over all the personal items he's carrying, including his watch, as he won't be able to take them inside with him. Three years later a watch is given back to him in the envelope as part of his paycheck. When he claims during interrogation by the FBI that none of the items are his, the watch is removed from the envelope and fastened back on his wrist to show that the tan lines match. However, the watch that was given back to him wasn't the watch he initially had. He could have been wearing it the entire time he was working on the project, up until the time he switched the items in the envelope (he would have needed a new watch, since his old one was confiscated when he entered the building).

Guillemet:

[first lines]
Holographic Woman: It's time to wake up... and get a life. We live in a 3-dimensional world. Until now, the world of computing has been a flat world, consisting of 2-dimensional imagery. Now, through the use of exclusive breakthrough technology, ARC has made it possible for you to get a life. A-Life, where we can work and play in a lifelike world of 3-dimensional reality. A-Life, the living monitor.

Connexions:

Référencé sur From Hong Kong to Hollywood: The Making of John Woo (2004) (TV)

Bande son:

Dream a Little Dream of Me

James Dwan's Paycheck Review

Set in the near future Ben Affleck stars as Michael Jennings a 'reverse engineer' who hacks into new electronic technologies for rival companies to duplicate. To protect his client's confidentiality Jennings agrees to have his memory erased, but after a highly paid top-secret assignment for the shady James Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart), Jennings is awoken to discover that he has forfeited his paycheck. In return he receives an envelope of seemingly meaningless items, which may well later become integral to his survival. Jennings must discover what he has been working on in the past two years before his memory was erased, and why he's been accused of murder, but time is not on his side, and he must piece together the clues he left for himself before the Feds or his former employer catch up with him.

Paycheck starts promisingly as an intelligent story with intriguing fast-paced action, but unfortunately the chase becomes relentless and the action tedious, as the characters remain underdeveloped and the script underwritten. Based on the work of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, Paycheck doesn't live up to other cinematic adaptations of his works such as Blade Runner or Total Recall, and Dick's warped and paranoid futuristic world is unrealised in John Woo's under-designed future. This film is ultimately a disappointment which falls short of the intriguing story promised by its trailer, but nevertheless it is a better than Affleck's and Woo's respective disappointments with their previous projects Gigli and Windtalkers. On the other hand Uma Thurman has taken a backward step after her success with Kill Bill by playing such as diminutive role as Rachel the 'plant biologist,' even if that is an ass-kicking bitch of a plant biologist.

This film is at times completely unoriginal, borrowing and in some cases completely ripping off other recent films such as Memento, Minority Report and Die Another Day. Paycheck is ultimately rescued by its chase scene into which Woo crams cars, motorbikes, helicopters and a few well placed discarded pipes, topped off with a few explosions Woo shows us why he's still one of the best action directors and although this film isn't bad enough to demand your money back its not one to remember either.

3/5