saw 'Paycheck'(spoilers)

[FaxModem1]

Well, I paid 6.50 for this, and it was okay. Another John Woo film, was hoping I wouldn't get bored like I did with Mission Impossible 2.

So anyway, after the whole song and dance, why exactly did he wipe his memory? He could have destroyed the machine while still a part of the project, lived with Uma Thurman, win the lottery and have the garden, so why did he wipe his memory in the first place?

Ya'll's thoughts?

[Howedar]

I got the impression it might not have been his choice. I figured that the company planned to knock him off all along to keep the FBI from finding anything out.

[Andrew J.]

Maybe I'll go see it; nothing I've heard before has been particularly encouraging, though.

[neoolong]

He would have gotten caught and then killed most likely if he tried blowing the machine while still part of the company.

The bad guys were planning on having him die because of the FBI, like it said in the future. That plan went south and then they tried to kill him themselves.

[kojikun]

whats this machine do now?

[neoolong]

whats this machine do now?

It looks around the curvature of space-time and let's you see the future.

Basically it's a giant crystal ball.

[Zoink]

why exactly did he wipe his memory? He could have destroyed the machine while still a part of the project, lived with Uma Thurman, win the lottery and have the garden, so why did he wipe his memory in the first place?

Ya'll's thoughts?

Because maybe he saw that doing so would result in greater harm. Maybe he'd die or be arrested or something

He used the time machine to work out a perfect future for himself. The events needed to get this future involved wiping his memory, the clues, all those fights, etc, etc. He's now rich, the police aren't after him, nobody is trying to kill him, and he "get's the girl".

Everything in the movie went according to that plan. From the perspective he had while working on the project, all those future fight scenes seem rather trivial and 'safe' because he knew he wouldn't die.

He wanted to wipe his own memory anyway. At the end of the movie he makes a comment on why people wouldn't want to know their future. If he knew the future then nobody would have 'free will' (from his perspective) and he wouldn't be happy.