Paycheck

The sad decline of John Woo continues with his second stinker in a row after Windtalkers. Woo’s trademark slo-mo and ballet-gun dances now seem like self-parody, and it doesn’t help that he’s got a clueless Ben Affleck starring in this adaptation of yet another Philip K. Dick novel. This one had Dick basically repeating himself ala Minority Report (the plot involves the ability to see into the future). Uma Thurman is on hand, also looking clueless, and Paul Giamatti is back to being sidekick after ruling the world in American Splendor. While the film is about seeing into the future, it feels very much stuck in the past. It’s not what the doctor ordered to save Ben Affleck’s career, and John Woo needs to do something amazing the next time out. His only announced project is Land of Destiny, starring Nicolas Cage in a film about working on the frontier railroad. Slo-mo shots of sweaty men laying railroad tracks being attacked by doves?