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SB Connection digs John Woo's PAYCHECK!
Hey folks, Harry here... oh boy... John Woo action flick! Hehhehehe... Can't wait. Double-fisted guns rules through his lens. Anyway, seems his action really made a difference for the film, which is, of course, natural for a Woo film. I heard about an earlier test screening in New Jersey I believe, and a guy I know was talking to several audience members afterwards that loved it. SO.... This relatively "secret" film could surprise folks this Holiday season. Let's keep our eyes open for it!
Hey Harry,
I travelled down the coast to Ventura tonight to see a test screening of Paycheck. The film was identified as a sci/fi thriller non sequel with a bankable star, so we suspected we'd be viewing the latest John Woo film starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart. The one trailer of the film I had seen didn't look very promising, but being a life long John Woo fan, I was stoked all the same. My excitement reached full peak when the man himself walked in. We were watching a movie with John Woo.
The film was a work print so some of the color timing was off and a couple scenes looked were fuzzy. So Affleck plays Michael Jennings, a "reverse engineer" who gets hired by old pal Rethrick (Aaron Eckart) to work on a top secret project. The story, originally from Phillip K. Dick, is entertaining and fast paced. Affleck has a lot of fun with role, spreading charm and energy all over the place. The script however falls short, giving most of the characters line after line of corny dialogue. The supporting players (Joe Morton, Michael C. Hall, and Paul Giamatti) have very little room to shine with Affleck and Thurman running around most of the movie.
What makes up for all of the movies flaws are the action sequences. John Woo remains the king, even with lame dialogue surrounding evey scene. Look for the badass motocycle chase scene in particular. There are amazing camera movements in this scene, putting the old Woo touches on every frame (slow motion, two guns, close up reaction shots).
After the film was over, I saw Mr. Woo outside. He was surrounded by men who appeared to be studio types. I waved to him and he gave me a smile and waved back.
I hope he gets the better scripts in the future. With Paycheck, John Woo proves once again that his action senses are still finely honed. He just needs someone to fill his beautiful images with worthy dialogue. Thanks for your time.
SB Connection
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I could've written that after having seen the trailer. Great scoop, Harry.
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There is no way it will approach the brilliance of Total Recall. Hell, it probably won't even be as good as Minority Report.
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Woo has become such a damn parody of himself. Isn't anyone tired of the doves/slo-mo/double gunplay schtick yet??! And haven't we all seen enough of Assfleck for the moment, too? Shit soup, baby! My opinion of him was going down faster than a cheap Chinese hooker already - then that poncey Loreal ad came along and... and... Jeez. Words alone cannot do my thoughts justice. Sigh. Anyhoo - back to the movie. As Crazy Chris Walken so elegantly put it in Batman Returns: 'Yawn'.
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Where are the slow-mo pigeons / doves? Can we be guaranteed that they're in there somewhere?
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... which was by far the worst Philp K. Dick adaptation so far. But that doesn't say much, really. From the trailer for PAYCHECK alone you can see that they took yet another intelligent PKD story and turned it into a mindless, corny action-flick. And as for Woo ... let it be said that the real John Woo died right after HARDBOILED.
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But he waved to you in person??? Well, shit, THAT is a reason to suggest to the masses to go see an otherwise bloated Affleck terd on the big screen...it reminds me of a scientific fact I was once told.....If you shit on a plant, it will grow....therefore.....I REFRAIN FROM SHITTING ON THEE...PLANT!!!!!.....And thus, when's Ben back with J-Lo? - - - George, The 7th Chicken!!!!
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I don't get why people like John Woo...maybe I just haven't seen his good films. I saw the preview for this one and it looked good...maybe he will finally make a good movie.
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...but WTF is the film about!?!?
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Mr. Chicken George-Are you some demented grandson of Ben Vereen? He was "chicken george" in Roots. You're one messed up dude. The other reader was indeed right in asking "Where is the review?" I still know nothing of the story and little else about the film. Harry sure does put anything on his site these days...
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Nov 04, 2003 7:14:47 AM CST
Is this Batman and Robin? Is Uma Thurman playing Poison Ivy? I g
by zeedarteretz
Becuase I smell a PLANT!
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Hard Boiled will forever be one of my favorite action flicks. It opened my eyes and showed me what kick ass action is all about. Absolutely fantastic. But lets face it, ever since he came to America to direct, he has made bad movie after bad movie. Every time I go to see his latest movie, I hope that this one will be the one... but it never is. Windtalkers was ass-tastically bad. And now that I look back on Hard boiled, I wonder just how forgiving I would be today. If you look at that film critically, it's a damn mess. Maybe the fact that it was a low budget foreign film glossed over its imperfections. Now, more than ever, I think Woo should have come to America and tried to become the Roger Corman of low budget action films. It might have worked. All that said, I will go see Paycheck. I have too.
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Over the amount ofbad adaptions of his stories, there have been some decent films made based on a PKD books/stories but none of them have been any where close to the source material.Bladerunner,Total Recall,Minority report good films but bare NO frelling relationship to the original stories except in the boardest terms especially Minority Report,Screamers was closer to its source but was only passable as a film and Impostor even though it was a mediocre film tried to be faithful which is more than could be said for most of the adaptations,as for Paycheck i hav`nt read the story its based (unlike the others) so at least i will be able to judge it on its own merit and not as an adaptation of PKD
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Affleck?...why, why does this movie have him in it
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Just when I thought Woo might pull out something a little different......WRONG. God when all his tricks seemed new and fresh Woo was God but directors need to evolve and Woo seems to be fixed in place.
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No he's starring in John Woo's version of The Bourne Identity.
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He seems to keep getting work and nobody likes him ( except for gays and teenage girls) and he's fucking J-Lo.
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I won't comment on the film or the trailer...but, I refuse to listen to this blasphemy about a lousy script. PAYCHECK, for those who know, happens to be held as one of the better action scripts written in recent times. If the dialogue in the film seemed off in any way I'd first criticize the acting and then the direction.
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Nov 04, 2003 7:46:40 PM CST
The plot is interesting ( a guy leaves himself clues to somethin
by frankdrebin
...but the action scenes in the trailer are giving me flashbacks to CHAIN REACTION.
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Well, I have some friends who worked on this one. They say that Mr. Woo is incredibly nice, accessible, and humble. He actually oversees camera placement on all big explosion scenes. (most any other director would throw that over to the second unit) Even Ben himself -- a miserable asshole to everyone on the set -- showed visible respect to Mr. Woo. I was also told that J-Lo (who visited the set in Vancouver from her own film location a few hours east in the interior of British Columbia) has an ass that really can't be judged until you see it for real in the pink-track-suited flesh. It is bigger than you'd even believe. If nothing else, the shooting of this movie has provided the world with great tabloid fodder. I have been to Brandy's strip club (it was a stag, sue me!) and if you're gonna mess with strippers, these are the ones you'd wanna mess with. How else can you justify nine bucks for a Heineken? Sure it's a Canadian nine bucks -- but still!
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this is probably the PKD work that can best be brought to the screen. it is a real page-turner. but after SOLARIS, i have little faith in hollywood putting great sci-fi books on the screen. something is missing; even with endless possibilities thanks to CGI a crucial element is missing: good direction. KEEP WOO away from sci-fi and let him do what he's good at: heroic bloodshed flix, conflicting loyalties, family, friendship and chow yun fat.
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I want VALIS or Radio Free Albemuth. But I do agree that UBIK is probably well-suited to an adaptation. Unfortunately Hollywood thinks "science fiction" equals "FX action for teenage retards" and UBIK would be turned into some Total Recall-esque bloated atrocity. But unlike JackBurtonLives, Solaris gave me some glimmer of hope that intelligent thought-provoking SF is possible. But man, as much as I love old John Woo movies, I can't believe they thought of him to direct an Dick story. Paul Verhoeven, all is forgiven.
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After all, being such an obvious PLANT, he needs his sustainence...
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AHHH!!!
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You what I mean? and tap that ass all day. SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH!...CHEERS Amigos!
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I meant to say " you know what I mean?". CHEERS Amigos!
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Hard-Boiled is perhaps the coolest movie ever made. Not the best, mind you. It has plot-holes up the ass. But it was never about that. It was about Chow jumping from the ceiling of a warehouse and firing gas grenades all over the place and flying over flaming motorcycles. Hard-Boiled was his pinnacle. All downhill after that, though. I even liked Face/Off, still his best American movie, even if it doesn't hold up as well with repeated viewings. But now it's just... well. So what? Broken Arrow and Hard Target were barely watchable. MI2 was ridiculous and stupid, and Windtalkers made me angry. He is dead to me. And I highly, highly, highly doubt some butchered sci-fi film with freakin' Ben Affleck is gonna make me change my mind. RIP John Woo.
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M:I-2 was well-directed, at least.
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He's sippin' martinis with VALIS while the black iron prison keeps churning out this asinine schlock.
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