Total Recall Review

I wanted to like the 2012 version of Total Recall. I really did. I love the Arnold Schwarzenegger film from 1990, but I recognize that there are a lot of different and cool directions that a skillful filmmaker could take that story. Sadly, the new version is a highly glossed stinker of a film that is all style and no substance. It doesn’t really go anywhere or carry any message and it comes across as completely unnecessary.

The story follows Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) as a factory worker who is bored with a mundane life. In his factory job, he helps build a robot army to protect the wealthy Great Britain colony from terrorists from the only other colony on Earth – the low-class Australia colony. Somewhere in the film there’s supposed to be a message of class inequality and the struggle of the oppressed Australian colony standing up to the snooty British colony. Like many elements of the film, however, this element is lifeless.

Quaid decides to visit Recall, a company that specializes in implanting memories into peoples’ minds. He selects the super spy/double agent package because it seems exciting and immediately discovers he has mad skills with guns and hand-to-hand combat. He also learns that everyone he knows is out to kill him. The problem is that he isn’t quite sure if he is really doing these things or if they are implanted memories. Is he a spy, or is he strapped in a chair in Recall? Who is he really, and how does he fit into the greater scheme of colony rebellion?

What sets off following the Recall visit is a chase to get away from the cops (lead by Kate Beckinsale who plays his wife), a mission to discover his true identity, and ultimately to put and end to the problems between the colonies.

It should be a straightforward action piece, but practically everything about it falls flat. Director Len Wiseman propels the characters forward with little sense of direction or purpose. They just sort of do stuff and go places and not much of it is exciting. There is a ten-minute hovercar chase that manages to be dull. Wiseman also has too much reliance on visual flair to sell the futuristic society. Lens flare is a cool lighting effect, but c’mon Wiseman. Just because you can do a special effect doesn’t mean that you have to do it. The cities look very glossy and remind of Balde Runner. But, both Great Britain and Australia look exactly the same, and it’s hard to see the supposed class differences that are supposedly behind the conflict. I mean, when both the upper class and lower class societies look exactly alike, then what is the purpose of rebellion?

Granted, some elements of the film are cool. The palm phone thing is pretty sweet, and the way the “unlocking the key” part is handled is crafty. All of the actors put in great performances. The mediocrity of the film is not on Farrell or Beckinsale or Jessica Biel. Those guys are great. But the neat moments of the film are limited and hardly justify the time and money needed to invest in the new version of Total Recall.

The good news is that we will always have Arnie’s version to enjoy. If you want to see an engaging action film with a real story at its heart, look that one up instead. The 2012 version of Total Recall takes a great property and does practically nothing with it.

2 out of 5 stars

What did you think about Total Recall? Should I go get my head checked, or is my review about right? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!