Scant days before Christmas, you’d reckon that the last thing anyone would want to think about is running out of cash. But, long story short, that’s exactly, to the tune of $92 million bucks, what happens to engineer Michael Jennings in Paycheck, the new John Woo movie out on Christmas Day.

Paycheck, based on a 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick, is all about memory and finding that which is lost. And ultimately, that which is truly important.

Michael Jennings, played by Ben Affleck, develops top-secret high-tech projects for major corporations for big, big bucks. As part of his agreement with his clients, Jennings has his memory erased at the conclusion of every job to ensure confidentiality. It seems an almost perfect gig. And it is, until Jennings is enticed by old friend and mega-billionarie Jimmy Rethrick to work on a three-year super-project at the end of which Jennings will lose three years of memories, but receive the biggest payoff of his career.

The money, and the alluring glances from brainy and beautiful biologist Rachel Porter, seals the deal for Jennings. But, of course because it’s that kinda party, it all goes terribly wrong. And Michael Jennings has to battle corporate evil, hired killers, the FBI and his forgotten memories to find out really went on during those lost three years and what happened to his cash.

As 2003 comes to a close, let’s get one thing about Paycheck out of the way quickly – Ben Affleck is pretty good in it. Like how Keanu Reeves’ often wooden acting style found the perfect home as Neo in The Matrix trilogy, the often overly dramatic Affleck has hit his stride as a guy who knows something is going on but isn’t sure what it is.

Which works because, Paycheck is, at its core, a set of heavily stylized old ideas of a new self. A classic movie motif if ever there was one. But beyond a discussion of who one really is and what we really know, what is Paycheck? It plays with some fairly weighty concepts, and certainly tackles all the issues that have heralded the career of director John Woo as a director for decades – moral choices, honour, revenge and loyalty.

Films are both on and off-screen a collective endeavor. Put the right stars, the right material, the right director, the right release date together and you’ve got a hit. That’s partially why today we, quite rightly, define films by whose idea they are based on, who’s in them, who directed them, even who’s produced them. Part of the confusion of Paycheck is figuring out whose film it actually is.

Is it Phillip K. Dick’s film? The cannon of the visionary chronicler of paranoia and technological intrigue, who wrote 30 novels and over 100 short stories, has proven successful Hollywood fodder with Blade Runner , Total Recall and Minority Report, among others. So there is an intellectual legacy there. But the script for Paycheck by screenwriter Dean Georgaris seems to draw as much inspiration from How To Be A Villain – Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans and More!! as it does from the short story it was adapted from.

Aaron Eckhart who plays Jimmy Rethrick, a man intent on world domination, has one of the worst haircuts in recent movie history – and that’s saying something – and rather than appearing as threatening or even believable comes off instead as a Bill Gates with better suits and cheekbones.

Unlike Dick’s novels and short stories, there is a professional sloppiness throughout this film. Too many of the plot twists are weak. Too many times characters that are omnipotent overlook the simplest of cues. Too often the bad guys become dumb at the most opportune moment for the good guys. Movies, especially action and thriller movies have to have a certain inner logic to carry you with them. But suspending disbelief is hard when you are forced to watch a reasonably intelligent film strive to be way smarter than it is.

So, is it director John Woo’s film? In Paycheck, Woo, who hasn’t had a real hit since Mission Impossible 2, pulls all the rabbits out of the hat that made him one of the Kings of Hong Kong Heroic Bloodshed films. The face-to-face two gun standoff -- the symbolic doves. And the always-popular over-the-top chase scene when Ben and Uma Thurman (Rachel Porter) are on a motorbike fleeing the baddies as they whip through abandoned cargo containers. Borderline symbolic overkill, I grant you, but effective.

Over his career, from Hong Kong, to the John Travolta/Nick Cage thriller Face Off, Woo has never been merely effective. He has been a master of form and content. And in that sense Paycheck might play an interesting role in the larger career of the director, because this is John Woo’s first journeyman film. Even with the richness of Dick’s material, it feels like Woo is doing this to fulfill a contract requirement and prove to Hollywood he can once again be trusted with the big budgets after the disastrous Windtalkers. Effective and with injections of personal idiosyncrasies, Woo does the journeyman’s job but there is none of his usual unique flare.

Could Paycheck be Ben Affleck’s film? Well it is a return to favour for Ben after the disaster of last summer’s Gigli and the thermonuclear overexposure of his relationship with Jennifer Lopez. Our Ben does his job well, but while he is in almost every frame, he doesn’t have the presence to own it, Contrary to tabloid belief, Ben Affleck is an actor, not a movie star, if you know what I mean.

Is it Canada’s film? Made in Vancouver, Paycheck does have a lot of beauty shoots of B.C., even if it is supposed to be Seattle. And it does feature a number of Canada’s best actors. Having said that, the classical trained Colin Feore is wasting his time, while probably lining his pocket, as Wolfe, the lead thug. And it’s insulting to ask an actor of Callum Keith Reenies’ abilities to drag his knuckles along the ground as Stupid Security Guard #17. So sorry, no flag-waving there.

Paycheck may have a number of deep ideas but it comes down to one in the end: Love conquers all. And it is when Uma Thurman, the biologist love interest who can kick some serious butt – as all female biologists seem to be able to do in movies - bounds into the film that it takes off. Taking the flick from a plethora of half-baked brains and ideas to a straight-ahead guns and explosions thriller. And that’s a check that she can write, because Uma Thurman can cash it.

Hot on the heels of her other butt-kicking box office success in Quentin Tarintino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1, it seems right now that everybody loves Uma. And why not? Beautiful. Smart. Accomplished. Fashionably dressed -- and never afraid to get her hands dirty. After years playing the beauty or the smart aleck, Uma has become that rarest of actors – a reliable superstar. And in truly saving the day, Uma makes Paycheck her movie with moxy and motivation.

A word of further warning, besides keeping expectations reasonable, you should buy yourself a lottery ticket before you go to see Paycheck. Don’t ask why just trust me. Because predicting our own futures can be fun. And you’ll kick yourself if you don’t.