Total Recall (2012)-review

“Total Recall” is a 2012 remake of a movie made in 1990 of the same name.  Directed by Len Wiseman who takes a break from his “Underworld” movies and decided to take his chances at a sci-fi classic.  While keeping the same general idea, this movie takes a lot of it’s own creative twists.  Some of the ideas are okay to watch, but for the most part the new concepts are drowned and lost in a sea of action sequences and lens flares.

Doug Quaid, played by Colin Farrell, is unsatisfied with his life as an assembly line worker making robots and living with his wife, played by Kate Beckinsale.  One day he goes to Rekall, a company that implants memories in people. Quaid does this in the hopes of having a vacation of sorts, but he finds that his memories let him recall being a secret agent.  Is what he is experiencing real or just part of the programing of Rekall being implanted in his brain?

The movie has a very stylized look.  It’s similar to “Blade Runner” in the way that there are towering urban landscapes and an amalgamation of Asian and European cultures.   There are lots of chase scenes that are filmed well, but then they also put so many lens flares on the screen that you’d think this trend is cool to blind your audience. 

When remembering the original “Total Recall,” I remember some very neat things.  For example: The effects of Kuado, the humor of a Johnny cab, and the cool look of the landscapes of Mars.  Get ready to have none of these in the new one.  In the remake it’s not about a struggle for air as a resource on Mars, it’s a movie about an invasion by a robot army. 

While not the worst thing in a remake to change things, this version lacks most of the fun and heart of the 1990 version.  It’s visually cool and it’s got some bold new sci-fi devices.  If they were just going to half-ass this movie and just make it a colorful sci-fi movie without substance, then why bother.  If you are a big sci-fi person it’s worth a rental.  It’s a very so-so movie that gives up nothing new or risky.