Review of Total Recall (2012) by Drm — 06 Aug 2012

So I went out to see this last night, with the lowest of expectations. Much to my surprise, it wasn't that bad. Sure it had problems, and it doesn't really stand up to the original, but I really didn't need it to.

I am not a fan of reboots, but still, the people behind this did manage to make an entertaining film. Colin Farrell does a decent job, and thankfully does not try to act like Arnold. Kate Beckinsdale is super hot, though her character seemed a bit ruined by one flaw I see in a lot of films: the supermodel military commando, complete with skin tight catsuits and lady gaga heels.

Hollywood...you really need to get over this cliché. Was Kate not hot enough to dress her up in fatigues? I don't think so. They definitely simplified the plot from the original, but found interesting work-arounds for some of the glaringly missing components.

The villain was unflinchingly evil, the violence was constant, the effects were pretty, and the action sequences were unrelenting. There are some things they could've done better. The Blade Runner homages going on this picture tread on cannibalism.

It felt a little like a club to the head in parts. Still, that's minor. The other thing that didn't exactly work for me was Kate's character. In the original, Lori is married to Richter. When Quaid kills Lori, Richter is pissed, and has a strong motivation for revenge.

In the reboot, Lori and Richter are morphed into the same character of Lori, which deprives us of the revenge subplot, and makes her come off like a psycho **** without a clear motivation. The next thing that was a bit upsetting, was the use of clones.

Clones, much as George Lucas knows, are just a cheap tool to minimize the impact of hardcore violence. These suckers die by the hundreds, and you just don't care about them. The last thing I found puzzling, was why they bothered to connect it to the Total Recall franchise.

It's a decent film on it's own. Parts of it felt shoe-horned into the franchise, and I don't think it needed to be. Look, we're all starved to death for some sci-fi and violence. We don't need it connected to some nostalgia.

It's fine on it's own. PS Hats off to whoever did the industrial design on this picture. It's worth looking at just for that.