Paycheck by Phillip K Dick

Published in 1953, Paycheck dares to ask the question, how much of your life would you sacrifice for money? It reminds me of Johnny Mnemonic, the Johnny Depp film/William Gibson short story, where people carry sensitive information for corporations in their brain, but lose their memories as a result. In Paycheck, individuals are rented for a certain amount of years to complete a job. These jobs are sensitive, so once the job is complete, their memory is wiped. So, it begs the question, how much would it cost for two years of your life?

In our story, we meet Jennings, an electrical mechanic who has exchange the last two years of his life for $50,000. We meet him just as he wakes up from his memory wipe, and is on his way to get paid. He's still trying to justify his decision and accept that he is suddenly two years older, which would no doubt weigh on anyone.

When he goes to pick up his earnings, he is instead informed that during those two years, he decided to alter his contract. In lieu of $50,000 he wanted to be handed a series of random objects: a piece of wire, a bus token, a ticket stub, a piece of cloth, a code key, and half a poker chip. An angry Jennings leaves his temporary employer, Rethrick Construction, but is immediately picked up by the police. While in custody, he starts to realize that maybe the random trinkets were placed in that envelope for a reason as he begins to see uses for them.

Paycheck is an interesting mystery that leaves you anticipating how each trinket will play into the story. It's not overly complex, but it tells an entertaining enough of a story that is redeemed by its ending. The motivation by the Rethrick Construction company is one of those moments in sci-fi that hits a little close to home in 2026. This reveal, more than enough makes up for the meandering that seems to go on about half way through the story.

In 2003, Paycheck was adapted into a film directed by John Woo and starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. It was a critical failure, but pretty much doubled its budget at the box office. I was there opening night, because the idea of early 2000's Ben Affleck and John Woo was enough to make me buy a ticket. Top all that off with a PKD story... you couldn't keep me away.

I hadn't seen Paycheck in twenty years, so I decided to sit down and watch it shortly after finishing the story. Paycheck has a great premise and a decent cast, but overall the movie is very meh. The score is surprisingly good at times, and it kept my attention but it's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination.

There is a great car/motorcycle chase scene, and a few great action shots, which you'd expect from John Woo, but the story lingers a bit too long and like many of PKD's short stories, this might have worked better as an hour long anthology episode rather than a full-length movie.

I will say, Jennings ends up with a different set of trinkets, and I preferred the way the movie utilized them in comparison to the book. Having more room (not being a short story) allowed for these items to be used naturally and that helped with the twists and turns. In exchange though, we lose that great motivation that I appreciated in the short story and instead are left with a sort of flat ending that comes off like a generic action flick.

Overall, I was entertained by both the short story and the movie, however, I do not see myself ever revisiting either one.

Next up a movie and a story I've never experienced before... Impostor.