A week ago I sat down to re-watch the 1990 adaptation of Philip K. Dick short story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, titled Total Recall a film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This may have been a mistake because after I saw Len Wiseman’s remake of the same name I realized two things: nobody should ever remake a movie that starred Arnold and nothing will ever come close to the brilliance of the original feature.
Unlike the original which takes place on Mars, Len Wiseman’s version takes place on Earth after a nuclear fallout of sorts. Now there are only two livable places on the planet, the United Federation of Britain and The Colony (formerly Australia). Britain is considered high society and run by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) while The colony is considered the low class area and a place where rebels plot secession. People, like our lead Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), travel between the two states using The Fall, a massive elevator/tunnel that goes straight through the earth’s core.
Total Recall follows Doug Quaid, an assembly line operator who experiences a recurring disturbing dream every time he sleeps and can’t figure out why. One day he sees an ad for Rekall, a place where memories can be implanted into your mind to escape the harsh realities of the world. After being warned by his friend not to go, Quaid decides to give it a shot and chooses the secret agent dream. Once strapped into the chair things go horribly wrong. A police squad comes to take Quaid away and he kills every single one of them. Now Doug is a man on the run, with his hot wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) the one out to kill him, and another looker, Melina (Jessica Biel), trying to help him.
I may have sat there in the theater comparing the two features the entire time since I saw the original a week ago but, reflecting back and thinking about the 2012 version as a standalone film, one thing becomes clear, this is just another soulless run-of-the-mill mainstream action movie. Normally I’m fine with brainless action but Total Recall’s story is supposed to make you think and question if Quaid is in a dream or not which, by the end of the film, you don’t do. It’s supposed to mess with your mind like Inception but instead the answer seems extremely clear and leaves the audience with no food for thought. The movie asks you the questions is it real, is it recall? By the end your answer is who cares? As a cinephile this is really disappointing but no unexpected.
There are a lot of other issues with the film like bad dialogue, lack of emotional investment in the characters, how Lori managed to stay alive for so long, how she tracked Doug, and the fact that they keep the movie completely action driven rather than finding the right balance of plot and thrills. About 80% of the movie is Colin Farrell being chased while the other 20% his him questioning his identity and offering up a c
onfused look here and there. The characters are cookie cutters, someone is either clearly good or clearly bad, there is no middle ground even though Doug should be. Since I’ve already told you that the film isn’t exactly smart, there is no need for me to continue explaining.
If one looks at this as a straight mainstream futuristic action flick, I’ll say that most causal film goers will enjoy it. From a CGI standpoint, the world Len Wiseman and his crew created is pretty spectacular and looks very realistic. I was a big fan of the futuristic robot police called Synthetics and loved all the subtle nods to the original Schwarzenegger film, though the three breasted woman felt like she was forced into the movie just so we could see her! There were a ton of chase scenes and cool action sequences but I felt they could have been more intense and suspenseful. I do wonder how this movie got a PG-13 rating though.
Having watched the original Total Recall earlier this week I can honestly say this one does not even come close to the greatness of the original. Real film buffs and fans of the original will likely leave pissed off and ashamed with the only positive thoughts related to the action. For those who haven’t seen the original or haven’t seen it in a long time, this is a good mindless piece of shiny action entertainment as long as you don’t question anything and process what you watched, just don’t do it.
Rating: A soulless action film that’s all brawn and no brain (3.5/10)
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