It’s ironic that the name of the studio that made “Total
Recall” is called Original Picture, when Len Wiseman’s (“Underworld”) new film
is the opposite of original. For starters it’s a remake of a 1990 film directed
by Paul Verhoeven, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (which in turn was loosely
based on a short story by Philip K Dick) and the film’s structure and use of
queasy, blurry hand held cameras is reminiscent of a Jason Bourne movie.
Since Wiseman’s picture deserves to be judged on its own
merits, all I’m going to say about it in comparison to Verhoeven’s movie is
that this new version doesn’t follow it as closely as it could have. This time the
characters don’t go to Mars. So O.K., does that mean Wiseman’s film gets a pass
just because it’s not exactly like Verhoeven’s? Of course not. The story uses
the “run and shoot” formula (used in many action films) in such an uninspired
way. The visuals are drab and ugly and the script, in an attempt at wit,
succumbs to cheesy action movie lines. Above all “Total Recall” is, like most
remakes, pointless. Another empty summer diversion.
The year is 2084. Most of the world has become uninhabitable
by a third world war. Only two areas remain: Euroamerica, where the rich live
and New Shanghai aka The Colony, which is overcrowded with the poor. In this
world lives Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell, although it could have been anyone
else), a lowly factory worker who makes one hell of a commute to work in
Euroamerica, by traveling through the center of the earth. In order to relieve
himself of nightmares he’s been having, he goes to Rekall, a company that can
provide you with implanted, artificial memories.
I give Wiseman and his writers (Kurt Wimmer and Mark
Bomback) some credit. Initially they at least try to establish a compelling plot
and interesting characters as opposed to just jumping right in to the action. But
soon enough, Wiseman abandons that and the movie becomes convoluted and full of
cat-and-mouse antics. The Rekall treatment finds that Doug got his memory
erased sometime ago. Doug isn’t the man he thought he was.
Out of nowhere federal police break in and try to kill him.
Doug is able to fight them off and from there on out the movie uses that
run-and-shoot formula I mentioned above. He runs home and finds out that his
wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) is not actually his wife, but a secret agent. So
she shoots at him as he runs away. He shoots back at her. Then both of them are
running and shooting at each other.
Eventually he stops running and shooting briefly when he
meets up with a rebel agent Melina (Jessica Biel) who has to do with his past
self. And together, whilst running and shooting they try to find out who Doug
really is, in order to stop a major attack of the colony led by Vilos Cohaagan
(Bryan Cranston, the guy who plays Walter White on “Breaking Bad,” and who made
a lasting impression in last year’s “Drive” is now reduced to playing a
laughable, one dimensional, villain) the evil Chancellor of Euroamerica, who
also knows about Doug’s past.
If he wanted to Wiseman could have made his “Total Recall”
much deeper. The Rekall by itself is a fascinating subject (not surprising,
since it’s from the mind of Philip K Dick) and early on the film briefly
touches on other potentially interesting ideas, like questioning your existence
and questioning your daily routine. Wiseman could have made the film more
ambiguous, much like Ridley Scott did with “Blade Runner.” Not only that,
Wiseman could have further emphasized the class differences parable: The rich
Euroamericans and the poor Colonists.
But instead, he goes
for a messy run of the mill action/chase movie structure, with some political
overtones. As the film goes on it feels like Wiseman is just trying to get
through it as fast as he can and be done. The cast includes a number of capable
actors and a few great ones (Cranston and sadly Bill Nighy) but none of them
are given much to do. The screenplay is filled with stupid, cliché action movie
lines like: “I may not know who I was, but I know who I am.”
On top of that, the film is not even fun. That could have
made the thinness of the plot more tolerable and the entire film could have
been entertaining in a pulpy way, sort of like Oliver Stone’s latest “Savages.”
The cinematography by Paul Cameron and the production design by Patrick
Tatopoulos are so dim and dreary that it’s almost like watching a poorly
converted 3D movie without the glasses. And to make things even worse, hand
held cameras are used during the action scenes making them more chaotic and
muddled.
Look, “Total Recall” isn’t the worst movie of the year by
any means and I appreciate that it isn’t a shot by shot remake. But that’s not
enough to make the movie worthwhile. In the end it’s still a jumbled,
unexciting, overly serious and hollow sci fi action film.
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