Customer Reviews

Total Recall (Blu-ray + UV Copy) [2012][Region Free]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Just in case you didn't know, there was once a book called 'We can remember it for you wholesale', which was made into a movie in 1990 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was called Total Recall and was very popular. It was about a man called Douglas Quaid who pays to go on a virtual holiday as a spy to Mars, but as they're implanting the spy memory, they discover he's already a spy. Cue lots of running around on Mars, alien artefacts and literally eye popping special effects.

For this remake we fast forward (cough) twenty two years and now Colin Farrell is Quaid, Len Wiseman (Underworld, Die Hard 4) is directing and Kate Beckinsale is reprising the famous role of Quaid's wife. A mouth watering prospect with Farrell an action star who really can act. Wiseman really knows his action and we all know what Beckinsale can do in leather hotpants.

Visually Total Recall (2012) is stunning. It is one of the richest and deepest realised futuristic worlds I've ever seen. It pulls heavily on Blade Runner and Minority Report but carves a distinctive, grittier feel of its own. A superb backdrop for what turns out NOT to be a remake of the original movie but a re-imagining of Philip K. Dicks original story. There is no Mars here, no eye popping effects or ancient artifacts. Quaid now works in a factory building synthetic police, a job he commutes to across the planet in a shuttle that literally flies through the centre of the earth. But at night Quaid isn't sleeping, he dreams of being chased. When he goes to Recall the real memories are realised and mayhem ensues, practically non-stop to the final credits. Along the way Wiseman tips his hat to all the fan favourite moments of the original and to Minority Report and adds some very deft touches, including a hint of a future connection with James Bond.

Come the end my overriding sense was of confusion. The beginning was exposition heavy but then we barely had any story narrative at all to the end. I think the confusion came mostly from my expectation for what the movie would be over what it was. Something similar to what I felt walking out of Dark Knight Rises, I just didn't feel I had a grip on what happened. With Dark knight this was a problem resolved by watching it again. These two movies are the first times I've been aware of a movie taking me on a ride and not caring so much that I knew where I was going, because they knew I'd figure it out with subsequent viewings via one medium or another. That's smart modern movie making for my mind.

That said there are failings in Total Recall that time isn't going to fix. First up is the bad guy: Cohaagen, played by Bryan Cranston. He barely gets any screen time so his threat is mute. Matthias the rebel leader is played by Bill Nighy, but the impact was lost because, well, it was Bill Nighy. The cross world shuttle didn't have the gravitas that running around on Mars did. Throughout you get a sense this is very confident movie making that didn't quite fit into the two hour runtime. Except there was at least one major and fairly lengthy action sequence that seemed almost totally pointless. Maybe they ran out of edit time.

Total Recall is a movie I'll appreciate more with time. Unlike the superb Dark Knight Rises I suspect there is just too much here though that doesn't work for me to ever lose myself in a story well told. It felt more like a two hour trailer spotlighting the talents of Farrell, Beckinsale and Wiseman against a stunning CGI backdrop. Worth the admission for the visuals alone.

Hope this was helpful.

A flat, boring and totally unnecessary remake, lacking the charm, humour, over-the-top cartoon violence and mad Martian finale of the Schwarzenegger version. A generic modern Sci Fi action flick, Total Recall is soulless and disposable;a montage of chases and fights, fights and chases. Farrell as Douglas Quaid is bland and unengaging, while Beckinsale's character has no depth beyond 'angry pretend wife/looks sexy when fighting'. The usually dependable Bill Nighy has little to do, looking rather lost and sadly, he does not lift the proceedings. Even the future world conjured here is an uninspiring mishmash of styles from other,(much) better films; a big chunk of Blade Runner, a bit of Minority Report,a dash of Brazil, etc. Watch the infinitely superior 1990 original instead (or read the PKD short story; "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale").

If you go into this film not expecting much, primed by all the negative reviews, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Whilst it's very similar in storyline to the now-surprisingly-camp 1990 original (it is based on the same Philip K Dick story after all) it's totally different in look and feel. For a start its dour set designs are much more realistic of a dystopian future urban environment, instead of the simplistic Logan's Run style sets of Arnie's film. True, it's quite derivative, Blade Runner meets Minority Report with some I Robot thrown in, but it's bustling, intense, action packed and has enough original set pieces to call its own.

With car chases and fights to match Bourne, and twists and turns aplenty, this Total Recall never lets up as the ripped Colin Farrel's intense amnesiac spy races around trying to aid the Resistance's struggle against the Evil Corporation. If that wasn't difficult enough, he is hindered at every turn by scene-stealer Kate Beckinsale's homicidal wife and hard as nails counter spy. Beckinsale is superb (here playing both the Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside roles of the original), gleefully embracing her serious anger management issues as she shoots, punches and kicks her way all over the place.

Overall a completely different experience but this Total Recall is easily as good as the original, so ignore all the nay-sayers even if it's just to see Kate fight angry.

Total Recall was incredibly disappointing. When I saw that this film was being made, I was taken in by the grandeur of the magnificent visuals in the trailer, the idea of the incredibly sexy Kate Beckinsale playing the part of Lori and the premise that Colin Farrell might bring an emotional intensity to the Quaid character that Arnie (as much as I like him) could never deliver. Unfortunately the film only delivered on the first of those three promises, and the rest was pure fluff.

[SPOILER ALERT]

The respective worlds look incredible and there are plenty of environments, set-pieces and special effects to please the eye, but the world itself is ridiculous. The story is set on Earth in a time when, because of the after effects of nuclear war, people can only live in two pockets on the globe: London and Australia. London is a rich vibrant metropolis full of all the rich people and the Australian town is a squalled cesspit full of poverty and crime. The people who live in the Australian territory have to travel through an enormous tunnel, through the core of the planet to reach London where they work. Please?! It's one of the most ridiculous Sci-Fi plots in history. The original film's concept of people terra-forming Mars was so much better.

So onto the cast. Kate Beckinsale looks amazing and kicks ass, which is exciting and gripping for about 5 minutes but then it just becomes repetitive and boring. In the original, Lori fought Quaid twice in a two hour film. In this version, she is after him for the whole two hours. And the worst part about it is that this meant there was no Richter character, previously played by Michael Ironside, whose sinister edginess and violent temper made for some of the best scenes in the original. Safe to say, Beckinsale was not enough of a presence to carry the whole film as the villain.

As for Farrell? I have always like Farrell but I was really disappointed with him in this movie, mostly for agreeing to be in it. Given the script and the lackluster production, I'm not sure that he could have done a lot more with the role, but it certainly wasn't the gritty, charismatic and powerful Colin from such films like 'Pride and Glory' or 'Tigerland'.

In short, Total Recall (2012) was watchable and exciting in certain places, but really a complete waste of time and nothing whatsoever compared to the original.

I didn't expect much, given the harsh reviews but I really enjoyed it. Farrel is very engaging and the stunning Beckinsale elevates a two dimentional role into something more enjoyable than the script would otherwise allow. The story is, thin, linear and a bit light on substance but nothing less than your average action picture; the film keeps the basic premise of the original but moves the action to Earth. The jazzed up visuals are never less than excellent. Some of the sets are derivative stuff though as the environment is very Blade Runner and the cars in the air came straight from the 5th Element. Still, there's plenty of action, the explosions and chases are very well handled and the leads look like the kind of people we all would like to be. What's not to like.

I finally got round to seeing this over the Christmas holiday and didn't know what to expect after reading some of the negative reviews. However, I liked it, fantastic special effects, good story if similar but not the same as the original and great characters. So there's no Mars, which would have made the film better I think but it didn't matter really.

I liked it so much that after seeing it on the television, I went out and bought the blue-ray dvd. Fair enough, it's not the best ever science fiction film but it's certainly worth four stars.

Dreadful rubbish. Like others have commented "it's just one boring long chase and shooting" I regret buying this dross. Farrell should be embarrassed.

i dont normally buy remakes of films as there not so good,but this was a good remake i thorourly enjoyed

I loved the original Arnie version of Total Recall but it really can't be compared to this version as they are quite different films (just have a simialr basic storyline). And yet, I loved this film. Mainly because Colin was hot and Kate - well i supposed she was pretty ok too! It was fast paced action pretty much through-out and fab-u-lous graphics. As with alot of this type of movie, the actual storyline was maybe a bit weak, but then you can just enjoy for what it is.

Really looking forward to owning this, and they release it on December 26th, just in time for Christmas..... Wait a minute.... D'oh! Lol!