Review of Total Recall (2012) by Adam F — 23 Jul 2013

The 2012 version of "Total Recall" contains none of the intelligence of the original and even on its own merit it's not a particularly smart movie but at least it partially makes up for it with some decent action and impressive special effects. The story here is that in the future, Earth has been mostly rendered uninhabitable due to chemical warfare and only two sections of the planet remain amicable to humans: Australia, where the worker-class live and Northern Europe, where the rich live. Our protagonist is Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), who is revealed early on to be a secret agent captured and brainwashed when a mission goes awry. He now believes himself to be a normal civilian until one day he decides to visit "Rekall" a service that inserts fake memories into your brain, simulating vacations or fantasies in ways that feel just like real life. When the workers at Rekall begin the process however, they discover that Quaid already has hidden memories of being a secret agent in his head. He begins to remember his real identity and must now go on the run, deciphering which of his friends are part of the conspiracy against him and which he can trust while uncovering a sinister plot by a corrupt Chancellor Vilos Cohagen (Bryan Cranston) to attack the southern inhabitants.

This is a remake of the 1990 Paul Verhoven film, which loosely based on a story by Philip K. Dick and follows the plot of the original story even more sparingly. The beginning, while not strong starts off all right, with a clearly established "rich vs. poor" conflict and a futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting. Our main character is sympathetic and seeing him piece together who he is amid the confusion is entertaining. The film uses modern-day special effects to add other cool science fiction elements like a robotic police force and an evolution of cellphones that's quite ingenious. A frustrating element however is the constant useless references to the original film, like a brief scene where we see three-breasted woman early on... just because there was a three-breasted woman in the original Paul Verhoven film. There are no mutants in the film so we have to believe that this is just a coincidental, random birth defect or that this woman just wanted attention so badly that she got plastic surgery to give herself a third boob. Other characters like Quato, the underground leader of the resistance feels like he belongs in a completely different movie. He has little impact on the story and his part could have easily been removed to trim the nearly 2 hr running time or to give us more character development on our protagonists.

When it comes to the original elements, the non-science (that's to say the nonsensical science) begins from the opening crawl and keeps going throughout. Most offensive to your brain is going to be the "Fall" a tunnel that allows people to quickly travel from Europe to Australia by passing through the center of the Earth. The reason for this tunnel existing is weak and the very premise of such a thing being built is ridiculous. At least it's introduced right from the start so you know that you have to basically expect dumb sci-fi throughout. Because the movie's lack of brains is apparent, the special effects and action scenes have been kicked up a notch. Although at times it feels like the level in a video game, there is an entertaining highway chase with flying cars, a chase through some sci-fi elevators with some robots and several kick-ass confrontations with Kate Beckinsale as Quaid's wife Lori. One thing the movie does get consistently right is the action. There is a very good unbroken shot early on where we get a big reveal about our protagonist Quaid and Collin Farrell gets to show off his physical action skills. The movie uses the capacity of 2012's technology to its full potential with the special effects and on Blu-ray it looks impressive. On the level of pure spectacle the movie really does work well.

Often "Total Recall" degenerates into pure action film cliché nonsense. Most irritating is very end of the movie, where people panic uselessly in the streets as impending doom comes towards them while the villain, who appears to be evil just because the plot needs him to be decides that he needs to take matters into his own hands. He's just a politician but appears pretty confident when getting himself ready to take a secret agent that's consistently taken down dozen of robots and special agents. It's pure rubbish and makes a goofy but entertaining movie go down a whole notch. You'll be able to suspend your disbelief when it comes to the robots, the flying cars and even "The Fall" (though that last one is a doozy) but you'll never be able to forgive the nonsensical actions of all the characters involved. Despite all of the silly and unexplainable moments, on a pure "turn off your brain and enjoy this" level there are quite a few thrills and some genuinely good action moments. "Total Recall" isn't a very smart movie but if you want dumb entertainment, it delivers the goods. (Extended Version on Blu-ray, June 7, 2013).