Directed by:
Len WisemanCinematography:
Paul CameronComposer:
Harry Gregson-WilliamsCast:
Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bokeem Woodbine, Bill Nighy, John Cho, Will Yun Lee, James McGowan, Michael Therriault (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (11)
I was expecting a much bigger disaster. In many aspects, I liked the new Total Recall more than the original. I'm not counting the “inflation difference” of the years, meaning that now, you can get much more sophisticated visual effects than before with high budgets. Overall, the film is surprisingly watchable. In terms of action scenes, Len Wiseman is getting better, more inventive, and more gripping with every film. There are moments in Total Recall where I couldn't even breathe, and that hasn't happened to me in a long time. Kate Beckinsale is excellent as a terminator, Colin Farrell is good, and the production design is fantastic. Some say it’s a rip-off of Minority Report and Blade Runner, but there aren't many other options for depicting the future realistically, or at least somewhat believable. Occasional inspiration, in my opinion, doesn't hurt, and if the audience picked on every little thing like this, soon every movie would be a disaster just because it starts, as I've seen the beginning of a movie many times, etc. With proper sound and good visuals, this film is worth seeing multiple times – even the slightly flawed screenplay encourages it. Just never have a steel tunnel through the Earth's core again, please.
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A passable remake, adapted to today’s hurried times. Perfect craftsmanship, Wiseman lays action scene upon action scene on the viewer and the shots of his wife (Kate Beckinsale) are filmed with such care that it’s a pleasure to watch. Also, she’s a thoroughbred terminator, but with a smile to fall in love with your dying breath. Poor old Colin Farrell doesn’t have much acting to do, but he tries hard. Bryan Cranston is fine too. The visual side of the movie is superb. A combination of Blade Runner and Minority Report, with a pinch of Star Wars. It’s over the top and gets away with it. It’s fantasy, after all, isn’t it? ;) If I’m not me, then who the hell am I?
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A terribly simplistic and almost painfully naive dystopian sci-fi flick, but when you stop asking questions like “how” and “why”, it sort of works. Visually and technically, it’s very good, but the script is so stupid. With other films, I wouldn’t get over it, but here yes, if only because of the dynamic and original action scenes. Wiseman might not be genius, but if he ever gets a good script, I wouldn’t ignore him.
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The visually arresting first half will tickle the heart of any sci-fi fan. And it doesn't matter that the Asian architecture, the perpetual rain and parakeets are a rip-off of Blade Runner, and the chases with hoverboards are a rip-off of Minority Report. But then, as the minutes tick by, the film makes it clear that the script was written by the infamous Kurt Wimmer, a man with no talent and no creative intelligence, so the mounting annoying clichés and situations like those from the most subpar B-movies quickly cool down the initial enthusiasm. Where the old Total Recall clearly wiped its ass with clichéd Hollywood and was engaging in its ambiguous answer to what is truth and what is a dream, Wiseman's film is dull and woefully predictable. It's like Kate Beckinsale's "terminator" character: visually appealing and energetic, but bluntly direct.
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The original didn't appeal to me in the slightest, so the reconciliatory three stars are a small victory for the new Total Recall. It's pleasing that they got rid of Mars and put more emphasis on the versatile wife, but unnecessary logical flaws and the slightly excessive running time are annoying. Len Wiseman saves a lot of things with the action (led by the premature climax of the movie in the form of a chase in elevators) and the reinvented Kate Beckinsale helps him out the most. And yet the courage of the producers to pour so many dollars into this particular vision defies comprehension.
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