Total Recall (2012) Review

Total Recall 2012

As much as I love and hate remakes, expecting a movie to duplicate the original story will likely cause disappointment. Expecting a similar visual presentation will probably produce complaints about using too much computer graphics and these are the types of complaints viewers had with the new Total Recall. It’s been 22 years since the original Total Recall was released. Do you really think the original story and visual presentation back then would be acceptable in this day age? In my opinion, NO! I expect better visuals and story, not an exact duplicate of the original.

The story starts very similar to the original movie, where Douglas Quaid played by Colin Farrell lives with his wife Lori Quaid played by Kate Beckinsale. Douglas keeps having mysterious dreams that lead him to RECALL; a place that implants memories for people to experience. Upon his visit they scan him for issues, but instead activate his abilities that help him to take out a security force. He starts to question who he is and returns home to his wife, but she is out to kill him leading to non-stop action, gunplay and the search for the truth. At this point the movie starts to branch away from the original movie, and begins to tell its own story.

As I much as I enjoyed the original, the new Total Recall presents a non-stop action with amazing visuals and over-top scenes that would make Arnold loss weight given the amount of calories burned by the three most active characters. It also tells a different storyline without mutants, aliens and Mars that the movie shouldn’t be considered a remake, for I think the title doesn’t give the movie justice for its new presentation.

I will always enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, but he doesn’t hold a candle to the two new talented and gorgeous actresses, Lori Quaid played by Kate Beckinsale and Melina played by Jessica Biel. Kate was superb! Seeing her play as villain was surprising, entertaining and sexy. Jessica was also amazing and her one-on-one fight scenes with Kate were entertaining and hot! Although not as muscular as Arnold, Colin Farrell did an excellent job. His smaller body size presented a more agile and versatile character, which delivered more action and martial arts choreography not observed with Arnold’s character in 1990.

I was surprised to read viewers complain about the movie using too much computer graphics. Without the use of CG, the visual presentation in the movie would not be possible. We don’t live in the days of using props or low-level graphics, so we should strive for better CG quality rather than complain about a tool that is commonly used in our film productions today. Also to hear viewers complain the movie was too much like a video game. What movie were you watching? At what point did the movie portray it was a video game. Yes. It had a lot of action and over-top visuals, but it never tried to be like the movie Doom, where it actually had scenes in first person view to mimic what players do in a video game.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this movie. Like in most remakes, I expect an improvement in story and presentation. The new Total Recall delivers just that. It’s visually amazing and action packed. Although the story isn’t as thrilling as the original, it has different take in the story that I enjoyed.

I give Total Recall (2012) 4 out of 4 smiles. A must see!