Some reasons why this movie failed

--- Spoilers, so whoever waited about 9 years without watching this movie, but still wanted to come here and not be spoiled (an unreasonable demand), do not read further. ---

I wonder if anyone else got bothered by the dialog continuously stating the obvious when it isn't being otherwise incredibly stupid?

Everyone seems to be a real dumbo in this movie. The police/CIA/FBI man (I forgot which) says "I don't understand" after someone explains something very obvious to him.

But even worse; Uma's character says "That's in the lab - that's the catwalk" the same moment the audience sees that yes, it is indeed a catwalk. Did this really need to be said out loud?

And my favorite: "He must've done something to the controller", when they can't get the doors to open (so they could go in and kill Jennings). Well, duh - REALLY? Must he? Oh man. Why would that be a surprise to them, and why would they state it out loud like that?

There must have been over 10 places where I thought to myself "any half-intelligent human being in the real world would have said something -way- more intelligent and useful instead of THAT".

The premise is interesting (though the idea that memories are just some physical 'pathways in the brain' that you can just destroy physically, and then the memory is destroyed, is ludicrous of course - war veterans with only about 14% of their brains left can still remember everything they normally would, their family, their life, everything - that proves that memories are not anything in the physical part of the brain whatsoever), and there are a few moments where the audience can appreciate John Woo's talents - the 20 objects thing was a bit hacky and not very well thought out, but serves the plot nicely for awhile.

But after the premise has been set, and the viewer gets a full grasp of what's going on and why, the whole movie falls apart while simultaneously devolving into the lowest common denominator feed. The intelligence that many parts of the movie hints to, is gone, lost and remains erased from this movie.

The dialog is the final nail in the coffin - it's THAT stupid. If you don't believe me, watch it yourself and pay special attention to the dialog, write it down or just analyse it in your mind. You will see and hear that sadly, I was correct.

With better writing, this could have been a neat little movie, but with the modern scifimovie clichés (that 'cryptic mind-stream of quickly flashing pictures and ear-hating sounds'-gimmick was already very old when this movie came out, and so many movies used it - just look at "Cypher" for one example) and style over substance, and so much ridiculousness when it comes to using computers or monitors and other electronic systems (like usual) just buries the movie.

I mean, wouldn't using a computer the way Jennings uses it STANDING UP and MOVING HIS ARMS IN THE AIR CONSTANTLY be extremely exhausting and tiring? I mean, who would use a computer like that? "Oh, instead of normally using a mouse and keyboard to do this sitting down, I have to stand up and move my arms? That doesn't sound like my kind of job, sorry, boss"..

I predict that anyone with over 80 IQ can find at least 20 similar ridiculous things about this movie. And I don't even need the help of a 'laser lens that looks beyond the curvature of space' to do it.

By the way, why do so many scifi-movies seem to need two completely unnecessary things:

- Romance with some annoying, selfish, obnoxious slut with an 'attitude' (notice in Paycheck how Uma's character reacts whenever Jennings does something clever, like 'jamming the outside reader'. She doesn't encourage, compliment or praise Jennings and his cleverness, but acts as if she despises him! What the heck?) - too bad in this movie the romantic 'partner' has to even be ugly.
- Helicopter

No matter when or almost where the movie is set, you can always find a helicopter (or more than one) in these modern scifi-movies. Even Back to the Future!

These are the scifi-movies that come to mind and they have a helicopter in them:

- This movie (the 'cool' silver helicopter, and then the red cop-helicopter)
- 6th Day (the 'cool' helicopters that can be used remotely)
- Cypher (the 'slick' black helicopter)
- Back to the Future (the helicopter that lets the viewer know we are in 1985)
- The Terminator (Hunter-Killers move in a helicopter-like position, and their movements are very helicopter-like - they seem to be future versions of helicopters)
- Terminator 2:The Judgment Day (T-1000 drives the helicopter that explodes just before it hits the police van)
- The Matrix (the helicopter with the minigun that trinity drives)
- Ghost in the Shell (oh, so many, many scenes, but especially the ending) - yes, it seems that even 1) drawn 2) Japanese movies are bound by this weird rule

Even if you remove The Terminator from the list, it's a little curious how many of them have helicopters and always show them in a very positive, cool light. I have no idea why that is, but it definitely seems to be the case. The movies which are set in a very futuristic surroundings of course do not have a helicopter per se, but even Blade Runner seems to have "helicopter-ish" stuff in it.

I think it's weird.