As the year drudges on through the summer onslaught yet another remake is thrown into the mix to make the days of originality feel that bit more dull. An all out nuclear war leaves the world a desolate place, wiping out must of humanity only leaving the remnants of Australia now known as the Colony and the United Federation of Britain in it's wake. Down on his luck and stuck in a mundane life in the slums of the Colony, Douglas Quaid is eager to escape his everyday labour anyway possible. As if an answer to his sullen mood, he hears about Rekall from a co-worker, a place where you can have the dreams and memories you desire imported straight into your head. Quaid sees it as an opportunity to live the life of his dreams, but when the procedure begins it triggers what appears to be long lost memories of his real identity and life. Quaid soon realizes nothing is as it seems as he tries to recall his memories, avoid his decoy wife trying to kill him and find out why he's become a fugitive to everyone he knows. Resist, recall and save the world becomes his new goal in life... just as he dreamed.
Colin Farrell takes the lead as Douglas Quaid/ Carl Hauser a man out to find himself, though more literally than most films. While Farrell is more emotionally engaging than Schwarzenegger, he's no where near the action hero that Arnie presented us with in his own take on the role and even with the emotion there chances are you won't care too much who Hauser is really working for as either way it makes little difference in the plot. Playing the dutiful and psycho wife Lori Quaid is Kate Beckinsale who's really the high point in terms of character though only appearing as a gun wielding agent out to get Quaid, her wife remarks and charm are ever present and actually make the dull scenes somewhat entertaining. Jessica Biels' character Melina is far more underwhelming and non present in dialogue or physically for most of the film leaving Biel as more of a wasted asset. Also appearing the same as Biel is Bokeem Woodbine as Quaid's colleague Harry, though he has more of a presence and point in scenes than Biel for the most part he still feels underused. Speaking of underused two big names with big parts... turn into bit parts, Bryan Cranston as Cohaagen the leader of the UFB forces appears as the background enemy always pulling the strings but when he appears on screen he's given little chance to shine only to make bad fight scenes and poor exchanges. In the same vain is Bill Nighy on the other end of the war scale as the resistance leader Matthias, who like Cranston has a large role yet is used as a way to give Quaid some deep and prophetic explanations about who he is, in a five minute conversation and then he's outta there.
It's a Hollywood remake. In the end that's essentially all you need to say. With scenes almost taken word for word from the original this is one remake which really makes you question, why? Farrell really brings nothing new to the character or story and neither do his fellow co-stars and the film's only real alteration was including a large mass of CGI scenes to make your eyes flip out of their sockets. The story itself was poor, even in Arnie's day the film felt smart and kept you questioning whether it was part of Rekall or not, but in this version it's insinuated from the start, it's real. It's the grounding to a sense of reality which takes the sc-fi/thriller nature of the film and throws it out of the equation, leaving the carcass of an action film with a futuristic setting, robots and not much else. Those present on screen make the dull happenings even duller which is quite unique and where the original had you guessing where and what turn the narrative would take, this remake just leaves you bored and vaguely aware you're actually watching a form of entertainment. For a film called Total Recall it's ironic they assumed that people would just forget the original completely and buy into the same film with the same story yet slower, less intelligent and based solely around the wooden acting of Farrell and the world around him a computer can make with a ridiculous amount of wasted money. If your interested in the premiss then renting or waiting for the original to appear on your telly box is the best option and frankly this makes that film feel like a masterpiece in cinema, I'd advise totally recalling whatever amount of money you were thinking of spending to see this and leave it alone.
3 / 10
FIN.
Colin Farrell takes the lead as Douglas Quaid/ Carl Hauser a man out to find himself, though more literally than most films. While Farrell is more emotionally engaging than Schwarzenegger, he's no where near the action hero that Arnie presented us with in his own take on the role and even with the emotion there chances are you won't care too much who Hauser is really working for as either way it makes little difference in the plot. Playing the dutiful and psycho wife Lori Quaid is Kate Beckinsale who's really the high point in terms of character though only appearing as a gun wielding agent out to get Quaid, her wife remarks and charm are ever present and actually make the dull scenes somewhat entertaining. Jessica Biels' character Melina is far more underwhelming and non present in dialogue or physically for most of the film leaving Biel as more of a wasted asset. Also appearing the same as Biel is Bokeem Woodbine as Quaid's colleague Harry, though he has more of a presence and point in scenes than Biel for the most part he still feels underused. Speaking of underused two big names with big parts... turn into bit parts, Bryan Cranston as Cohaagen the leader of the UFB forces appears as the background enemy always pulling the strings but when he appears on screen he's given little chance to shine only to make bad fight scenes and poor exchanges. In the same vain is Bill Nighy on the other end of the war scale as the resistance leader Matthias, who like Cranston has a large role yet is used as a way to give Quaid some deep and prophetic explanations about who he is, in a five minute conversation and then he's outta there.
It's a Hollywood remake. In the end that's essentially all you need to say. With scenes almost taken word for word from the original this is one remake which really makes you question, why? Farrell really brings nothing new to the character or story and neither do his fellow co-stars and the film's only real alteration was including a large mass of CGI scenes to make your eyes flip out of their sockets. The story itself was poor, even in Arnie's day the film felt smart and kept you questioning whether it was part of Rekall or not, but in this version it's insinuated from the start, it's real. It's the grounding to a sense of reality which takes the sc-fi/thriller nature of the film and throws it out of the equation, leaving the carcass of an action film with a futuristic setting, robots and not much else. Those present on screen make the dull happenings even duller which is quite unique and where the original had you guessing where and what turn the narrative would take, this remake just leaves you bored and vaguely aware you're actually watching a form of entertainment. For a film called Total Recall it's ironic they assumed that people would just forget the original completely and buy into the same film with the same story yet slower, less intelligent and based solely around the wooden acting of Farrell and the world around him a computer can make with a ridiculous amount of wasted money. If your interested in the premiss then renting or waiting for the original to appear on your telly box is the best option and frankly this makes that film feel like a masterpiece in cinema, I'd advise totally recalling whatever amount of money you were thinking of spending to see this and leave it alone.
3 / 10
FIN.
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