Paycheck Discussion

karizma

Junior Member
Messages
58
Paycheck Discussion

Up for Discussion: Paycheck (2003) starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman

First of all I am not a Ben Affleck fan. I find his acting to be stiff and predictable, but the movie selection is something that was recent and I thought popular enough for a round table discussion. Now that I have my "I am not a Ben maniac" disclaimer out of the way, on to the show.

Ok...you pass up $90 million dollars for a bag full of clues. Question one. If you as the bad guy are going to try and kill this engineer wouldn't you find it odd that he refused payment? That was my first red flag. He sent himself non alarming clues yet refuses a $90 million dollar paycheck. Couldn't he have accepted the money and gotten his bag of clues out? As far as his former employer knew they were his personal affects from his first day of work.

I don't want to be the only one to go on and on about the movie so tell me what you think. Am I totally off base or right on the money? I would love to hear from everyone.

Karizma <I am not a Ben maniac>
 

John

Member
Messages
317
Paycheck Discussion

I don't like Ben because he hooked up with Jello, I mean J-Lo. I have never liked her. J-Lo seems fake...what a poser.

Oh, and I thought that Paycheck was very predictable. I was surprised not to see the McPaycheck burger or BKPaycheck fries. Would you like a McPaycheck shake with that McPaycheck Big Mac? And what exactly was the machine doing? From the discussion in the movie it was like they were going after a worm hole or something. Anybody know under what premise the machine was supposed to function to view into the future?
 

karizma

Junior Member
Messages
58
Paycheck Discussion

From my understanding the machine worked with "optics". I know. What kind of optics, how do the optics work, etc., etc. It seemed to me that they didn't explain the concept of the machine enough. Everybody that put their hand on the machine saw different parts of the future. It also seems like they might have asked the machine a question. I'm a little fuzzy on that detail. Ok, so we have the sense of touch and sound, but still no optics. Affleck was able to view his immediate future and the world's far off future. I agree that the story line was a little lacking when it came down to the most needed details. They gave more history on the stupid birds from the apartment than they did on the "time machine". Which only shows time in general and doesn't actually go anywhere.
 

karizma

Junior Member
Messages
58
Paycheck Discussion

***Major Point***

I almost forgot about the screen shots. Ok, Affleck is able to see the world's future AND take screen shots of newspapers (also from the future), then shrink them down and have them placed on stamps. How is this possible? He was hired with that other scientist to work on an "optics" project (more with the optics) and this machine somehow has the capability to take screen shots of the future. Why not just email the screen shots to the mass media or hey why not break the machine the day before you leave. Oh that's right, he had the knowledge to put a computer bug in the machine to prevent it from working after he was off of the project, just not to permanently disable it. Screen shots of the future he can manage but he can't make the machine self destruct.
 

CaryP

Senior Member
Messages
1,432
Paycheck Discussion

Well, I haven't seen the damned movie. I don't like Affleck or Jello. Both of them are bas clas. Why some knucklehead would pass up a $90 million paycheck is beyond me. Probably suffers from some mental incapacity. Sounds just slightly better than Gili or whatever that bomb was with both of the bad actors sighted so far. Sorry for my lack of a contribution to this discussion. I prefer movies where the theme of redemption is present, otherwise "kick ass and take names" suits me just fine. And no, I don't mean redemption in the after life. Redemption as a human being in the here and now is my standard. There are a number of good movies supporting this theme. Surprisngly, Bill Murray stars in two of them. Not Caddyshack. Scrooged and Groundhog Day are the titles I'm thinking of. Caddyshack is hilarious, especially when one has been a member of small minded clubs a la "Bushwood", but that is another topic altogether.

Cary
 

karizma

Junior Member
Messages
58
Paycheck Discussion

Cary,

Satan and I fell in love over Groundhog Day. That is like our absolute most favorite movie.

P.S. - Gili was a bomb and I pity the poor souls who did venture out to see it. I'm saving the viewing experience for a day on which I long for suicide.
 

TheWoog

New Member
Messages
2
Paycheck Discussion

Hello,

I am new to this forum. I dragged my friends to the theater to see Paycheck, and they couldn't wait to get out of there. I agree with the way the discussion is going, Ben sucks and the movie wasn't that great.

BUT, what many people might not realize is that Paycheck is based off a Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. If any of you time travel fans don't know about the late Dick, STOP what you doing right now and go buy a collection of his short stories!
I first heard about him after seeing The Minority Report (another movie based off a story of his). He has written hundreds of short stories and novels dealing with the interaction of technology and society and exploring the ethical issues that might arise from any given technology. He also just explores very basic ideas such as time travel paradoxes and follows them to a logical conclusion. Also, tons of his stories have either been converted directly to film, or their theme used as a basis for a movie (e.g. Blade runner, Total Recall, Screamers, Terminator)

Here's what Dick wrote about his own short story Paycheck:

"How much is a key to a bus locker worth? One day it's worth 25 cents, the next day thousands of dollars. In this story, I got to thinking that there are times in our lives when having a dime to make a phone call spells the difference between life and death. Keys, small change, maybe a theater ticket - how about a parking receipt for a Jaguar? All I had to do was link this idea up with time travel to see how the small and useless, under the wise eyes of a time traveler, might signify a great deal more. He would know when that dime might save your life. And, back in the past again, he night prefer that dime to any amount of money, no matter how large."


So maybe this would explain to some people why he gave up the money - it was useless to him, and also its dissappearance made him suspicious and alert. Also, in the short story, he ends up not destroying the company but using his leverage to gain control of it, so money is not an issue to him in the long run.

Also in short stories you don't have the burden of explaining how the technology works - so while I think it was a really cool idea, it just might not have been suited for film. And oh yeah, no film is suited for Affleck either, except Dazed and Confused.

--TheWoog
 

karizma

Junior Member
Messages
58
Paycheck Discussion

I totally agree....a friend of mine reads Philip Dick stories and he said that the movie was ok, but the written work was much better. A movie studio can really kill a good story or book.

Karizma


P.S. - Dazed and Confused was good and Affleck also plays a good bad guy in Mall Rats.
 

lev

Junior Member
Messages
144
Paycheck Discussion

::.. Another hole in the movie was how the machine "knew" to show a certain person's future by sampling their DNA??? ..::.. Makes no sense - where is the connection? :: Further, how did the machine know to pick a time? ..::.. Did I miss something? :: Very shabby explanations ..::

::.. PS : I Love J-Lo! ..::
 

Unintentional

Active Member
Messages
577
Paycheck Discussion

http://www.timetravelforum.net/forums/inde...findpost&p=8993

Paycheck, the movie is AWESOME! It is about a machine that can show images of the future, so IMO is a movie about time travel.

If you are of the Christian persuasion, IMO, as a metaphor, this movie is also an awesome statement of how God treats his people. In the movie, Afflect is given an envelope of 20 objects. At first they seem to be a random collection of items of which seem to have no discernable purpose. Throughout the movie, each item becomes the most important thing in his life when it becomes needed. Metaphorically God has given each of us a seemingly random collection of skills and resources. When the time comes, what God has given us will become the most important thing in our life. We don't know what we need or when we need it, but God already does.

I hate to sound preachy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as a Sci-Fi mystery about time viewing AND about God. This movie actually has nothing to do with God, but that is how I felt and thought when I saw it.

Sorry I didn't know there was a whole thread based on this movie. That was my two bits a few days ago. To those who didn't like the movie, I suggest you go see it again. I think this is one of those rare movies that seem better every time you see it. I liked it more the more the second time and even more the third time.

Also, if you want to nitpick, here is whole bunch of goofs in this movie (trust me every movie has them):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/goofs

My favorite goof:
When Michael is fired upon, the bullet moving towards him in slow motion is actually a complete rifle cartridge, not just the bullet.
That is some gun that also fires the cartridge!!!
 

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