Movie Review by Neils Hesse
Starring: Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore, Joe Morton
Director: John Woo
In the not too distant future (Ben Affleck) Michael Jennings, a reverse engineer breaks down products and recreates other products based on the original product design. For legal reasons his mind is then erased for the time period within which he reverse engineered the product and consequently he cannot be held liable for any issues involving the new product.
Highly paid, Michael is offered the chance of a lifetime for 90 million dollars, but it will require three years of his life to be erased from his memory. Now three years later Michael only has an envelope containing twenty odd items such as hair spray, cigarettes and a train ticket amongst others things, to show for the past three years, no 90 million dollars, and that he agreed to forfeit all payment!
To top things off as the mystery deepens the FBI arrest him on suspicion of illegal product production. Michael must now choose either to run or try to stop and change quite possibly the impending disasters of the future.
Ben Affleck is adequate as Michael Jennings, portraying an arrogant yet brilliant reverse engineer while Aaron Eckhart and Uma Thurman give good performances as the supporting actors. John Woo delivers an average sci-fi chase movie, but sadly that seems to be all there is to this film – chases, stunts and not much more.
However it is still an entertaining movie with a few nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
