Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Total Recall (2012)

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Posted by Joseph L. Kleiman (Member # 3097) on 08-05-2012, 11:15 AM:

The only reason this film exists is for the catfight between its two hot actresses, one of whom is married to the director. If they hadn't screwed up the ending, it would have been a good film. As it is, it settles in as just a fun romp.

And Cinemark/Century, please stop shutting off your AC at midnight when you have midnight premieres.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-10-2012, 06:55 AM:

The only reason I've watched this is because my girlfriend wanted to see it. She is, like me, a fan of the original. So, I trashed my personal principles once more...

The movie starts with an information dump, featuring glossy 3D animations, rotating globes, etc. Usually a sign of bad things to come.

The campy and cynical humor from the Verhoeven adaptation of the same short story (actually, the first film was based on the short story by PKD, this movie was clearly based on the original movie and not on the short story), has been replaced with clinical seriousness. The only slightly fun parts are the small references to the original movie. Also gone are many of the subtle hints about the truth of the presented "reality", that made the original more than just a decent action flick.

The environment might look good, but most of the stuff on display is either pointless or totally unbelievable (traveling 8700 miles in 17 minutes, right trough the core of the earth for example). And just like the story, most elements are one big déjà vu, ripped shamelessly from other Sci-Fi movies, like Blade Runner and Minority Report. We even got Star Troopers with droid-style intelligence running around and one particular elevator chase scene looked like a scene in a new CUBE movie. The whole movie was such a ratatouille of cheaply borrowed elements, in one scene I even thought the red glowing eye of HAL was present, but that turned out to be a graphic of Earths core on some computer screen...

Although the story is roughly the same as the original, this one gets old pretty quickly. The movie is essentially a big string of endless chase scenes in ever more pointless and complex settings, interleaved with over-the-top fighting scenes. I was quite hoping this Lori character (Kate Beckinsale) would finally die somewhere early in the story, but she kept coming back like a Terminator. I once even though she might turn out to be a robot of some kind after all... not that this would have made any sense at all, but a lot of stuff didn't make any sense at that point.

Not just the story and settings were a Total Ripoff (sorry, couldn't help it...), but the visual style too, but in overdrive. They probably liked the J.J. Abrams adaptation of Star Trek very much, or at least the heavy use of pointless lens flares. Like some teen discovering Photoshop for the first time and putting a beveled edge, drop shadow and lens flare on anything, this movie had at least one anamorphic lens flare (the movie was probably not even filmed with anamorphic lenses) in every scene. I left before the credits were done, but I guess they had their very own Lens Flare specialist, alongside with a big ILM Lens Flare budget...

Did I expect any more? No, actually I got what I expected... Still, it is a shame that a good "classic" is being "replaced" with a pointless remake. It's a waste of money and resources, the same budget could have been spent on something much more original and worthwhile.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-10-2012, 11:58 AM:

I like the look of the movie. Blade Runner style cities (and slum), Fifth Element style cars.

There sure was a lot of leaping around. The three stars were all built on springs.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 08-22-2012, 12:00 PM:

I am hard-pressed to recall the last time I so thoroughly enjoyed a movie from start to finish. I really enjoyed their (admittedly unrealistic) depiction of the future. While I am sure it is highly implausible, the concept of The Fall is fascinating. And the score! Want. That. Soundtrack.

Sadly, I have not seen the original. It just jumped to the top of my list.

quote:
Heavy use of pointless lens flares....I guess they had their very own Lens Flare specialist, alongside with a big ILM Lens Flare budget...

YES! I completely agree. It is one of the reasons I cannot stand JJ Abrams' films, and you would swear he did this one if you didn't know otherwise. Definitely loses points for this. Otherwise, a thoroughly enjoyable film for me.

quote: Frank Cox
I like the look of the movie.

Agreed!

quote: Frank Cox
Fifth Element style cars.

Mmmm...not exactly. The cars in Fifth Element weren't coupled to any sort of track system like they were here. (I can't really figure out the point of that.)

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-25-2012, 07:33 AM:

Okay, let's be honest, Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall is not the greatest sci-fi movie of all time but it did have wise-cracking Arnie in it, it did have incredible FX work for its time and it touched on some interesting mind-bending aspects from Phillip K Dick's short story, albeit shying away from taxing its blockbuster audience too heavily. Now Underworld helmer, Len Wiseman, has had a crack at it and rather than build on his predecessor's story, he's watered it down to the point where it is totally subservient to the action.

The plot, which makes no sense, revolves around prior super agent, Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), who has been mind-wiped by the government for treason and placed in the care of a faux wife for 6 years. After Quaid decides to procure the services of a contraband memory implanting organisation (Rekall) and arbitrarily chooses a "double agent" memory, the government attempts to capture and/or kill him. Naturally, they fail to do this, and Quaid manages to infiltrate a resistance organisation to warn them of the government's evil plans. This leads government operatives to the resistance leader which was apparently their plan all along. Huh? Are we truly to believe that the authorities' plan was predicated on Quaid's chance encounter with Rekall and, furthermore, choosing a "double agent" memory implant after they themselves had reprogrammed his brain and shelved him with a fake wife for 6 years? Sounds more like a happy accident than an ingenious scheme!

What we really want in Total Recall is a plot we can sink our teeth into as this is an area where Verhoeven's film could be significantly improved. So much could be done with this story in terms of what's real, what's implanted memory and, indeed, what makes the self. But Wiseman ignores all this cerebral nonsense, playing it straight down the middle to Dumbsville. By the time we've arrived neatly at the end, we've forgotten all those bothersome questions about false realities and such, content instead with the handsome guy getting the pretty girl after the obligatory overblown finale.

The styling of the movie borrows heavily from Blade Runner (appropriate, I suppose, given the source material) and Minority Report. The result is nicely polished and shiny though not a lot of thought has gone into the featured future technology, much of which is simply unfeasible and lacks imagination.

However, as an action movie, Total Recall is a cracker! The action is thrilling, peaking with an inventive Russian roullette-style chase sequence through a multi dimensional elevator system. And Kate Beckinsale vs Jessica Biel - what could be wrong with that! It would just be nice to have some adult substance with all this boyish excitement.

Personally, I'm still hanging out for Cronenberg's take on it; surely one of the lost opportunities of cinema history.

7 out of 10