Paycheck represents the union of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick and acclaimed director John Woo. Dick was a visionary - writing primarily in the 50's and 60's - his bleak visions of the future have yielded a number of sci-fi films. We have Dick to thank for Bladerunner, Total Recall, Minority Report and A.I. (although I don't know how many are thankful for that mess). Woo, director of Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Mission Impossible II and countless films in his homeland of Hong Kong, gained a reputation for his intense yet elegant action films. The combination of Dick and Woo should be a beautiful thing. Yet, Paycheck doesn't quite rise to the level of expectations. It's a good action movie, nothing more - certainly not great.

Paycheck is about reverse engineer Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck). He can take a product, figure out how it works and build another one, many times improving on the original. Companies hire him to do his unique form of corporate espionage. Yet, to keep him from selling his knowledge to another competitor, Jennings agrees to have a portion of his memory erased at the end of each assignment.

Former college buddy and shrewd businessman Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) makes him an offer he can't refuse. The catch is that instead of removing a few weeks or months from Jennings' memory, it will take 3 years. When the assignment is completed, Jennings emerges to find that he's forfeited over $90 million in exchange for the random contents of a manila envelope. Since the last three years have been erased he doesn't know why he forfeited the money or what these objects represent. With his girlfriend of three years, Dr. Rachel Porter (whom he can't remember) and his faithful buddy played by Paul Giamatti at his side, FBI agents (Joe Morton and Michael C. Hall) on his trail and Rethrick's henchman (Colm Feore) out to get him, he attempts to uncover the secret that everyone is willing to kill for.

I could buy Ben Affleck as the reverse engineer. However, there were a few plot holes that were hard to overlook. Uma Thurman is the best there is when it comes to ass-kicking females, but I didn't think her character was very well written. She was a little too sweet and too eager. She was supposed to be a doctor so I expected to see a little more intelligence and skepticism and a little less doe-eyed lovey-doviness.

The action sequences are long and fairly intense but they lack the visual grace that I have come to associate with Woo. The movie works as a straight up action movie but I just kept waiting for more style and more flair.

Having seen a few of the reviews, I have to say, it wasn't THAT bad. Far from it. If you like action, you'll like this movie but don't go into it expecting anything more than that.