Title: Total Recall (2012)
Director: Len Wiseman
Writer: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback
Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate
Beckinsale, Jessica Biel
Review:
I recently wrote an article in
which I compared both versions of Total Recall: Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 film, and
this new remake. On that article I pointed out the many differences and
similarities between both films, because let’s face it, it’s kind of difficult not
to compare the two, especially when you’re such a fan of the original one. But
now that I’ve said my piece about both films, I feel like this new one is good
enough to get its own review. So, here it is a review for Len Wiseman’s Total
Recall, sans any comparisons to Verhoeven’s film. But remember, if you’re
interested in reading about how the new and the old compare, don’t hesitate to
check out my previous article which does just that in a pretty extensive way.
On this film we meet Douglas
Quaid, a blue collar worker who can’t wait to escape his redundant life, he
doesn’t know what it is he wants, but he knows he wants a change. While
drinking at the local bar he asks his co-workers if they are happy with how
their lives have turned out, spending their shitty pay drinking shitty beers in
a shitty bar. Quaid wants more out of life, unfortunately he is stuck in his
same-o same-o life. But salvation awaits! ‘Rekall’ is a company that sells you
fake memories, they can implant fake memories into your brain and make you
believe you’ve done whatever you ever wanted to do. Of course, Quaid finds all
of this very titillating, it is exactly what he needs, the great escape. So Quaid
ends up buying the ticket and taking the ride. Problems arise when the fake
memory implants awaken a hidden personality which was lying dormant somewhere
in the back of his mind. Now people are chasing him and trying to kill him! Is
Douglas Quaid who he thinks he is, or is he someone else?
First things first, I loved the
themes on this film. I’ve always said that the best sci-fi films are those that
comment on the world we live in rather then just being a showcase for special effects and I’m glad to say that this
new Total Recall does just that, it comments on the way society is structured
and on they way governments are operating, making their moves so to speak in
order to keep a certain part of the population enslaved. Slavery isn’t over; it
just changed its name. This new film makes us question the structure of society
and if this is the way things should be. On this film when Douglas Quaid is on
his way to work, he has to step onto this giant elevator to take what they call
“The Fall”. Basically, the working class travels to their jobs by traversing
through the core of the planet on this huge elevator. The thing we need to
notice about this scene is how tired and bored everybody looks from doing the same
thing every day.
Same as the working class that
Chaplin portrayed as sheep in Modern Times (1936) or the workers who enter the
giant elevator to work in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), the workers in Total
Recall are portrayed as sheep as well. Interesting how going to work and
commuting is called “The Fall”, the symbolisms didn’t escape me at
all. It’s the idea that we are being
treated as herd and that our lives are being wasted doing menial, repetitive jobs that lead our lives nowhere. I take the train to work everyday and can’t help to think we’re
all sheep when I see so many people getting on and off the train, looking tired
and bored out of their minds; like sheep in a heard in deed. Or rather, like
lambs to the slaughter, day by day, the blue collar workers lives are sheered
by the scissors of redundancy and time. Why does life have to be like this for
some? Can’t life turn out to be something more interesting? Can it all be
changed somehow? Can humanity focus their efforts on something more worthwhile? These are some of the questions that Total Recall considers.
This version of Total Recall is
really about waking up from that slumber, about disconnecting from that dormant
state and taking control of your lives. Quaid is about to take the ‘Rekall’
trip, which is really just a way to try and forget the world and live in a
temporary state of bliss. In this film, Quaid is buying a fake escape, not
unlike the fake escape that drugs and alcohol offer. These escapes are only
temporary, when you wake up; your problems are still there. A smarter solution
to redundancy would be to identify it and take the steps to eradicate it from
our lives. In a way, Total Recall is also commenting on the stupidity of
succumbing to mind numbing drugs to escape our problems. One thing is to use
drugs for recreational purposes, but it’s far more damaging to use them to
forget about your life, to ignore and escape your problems instead of facing
them. There’s a quote from Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), by the way, one of my
favorite films ever and a film that addresses some of the very issues that this
new Total Recall film addresses; and that quote says: “My father says that almost
the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see. Everybody you
talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and that they live in a
state of constant amazement” I totally agree with this sentiment, and it’s what
this new Total Recall film is talking about, waking up from that slumber;
taking control of your life and doing what you really want with it.
In Quaid’s case, what he feels he
needs to do with his life is joining the revolutionary movement so he can
change the status quo of society, shake things up, destroy the old way of doing
things and starting something new. The idea of destroying something in order to
create something new is not a new idea in cinema or in life for that matter,
but it is a path seldom taken by society. Big changes occur when old patterns
of action are left behind; this I feel is something that has to happen in the
world. Things have to change in order for everyone to be happy and free, in
order for all of us to truly enjoy life. Not just a select few. Not just the
rich and powerful, but everyone.
In the world of Total Recall, and
in many parts of the real world we live in governments have taken steps to
oppress the working class even further, while lying through their teeth about
how they do it. The villains of this film are a dictator and his army of cops.
The dictator tells the people that they are putting more cops on the street to
protect the population, when in fact what they are really doing is gathering
more cops to increment their own private little army with which to oppress. In
this respect, Total Recall also reminded me a lot of those faceless cops in
George Lucas’s THX-1138 (1971), by the way, THX-1138 was an obvious inspiration for this film. I’ve personally seen the powers that be
increment their police force, only to use it against the population and to
violate said populations humans rights. Not to protect it, but to oppress. But
you wouldn’t know that from looking at the media, where they portray themselves
as protectors of the people in television commercials and news articles paid by
themselves, to make themselves look like heroes. The film is telling us not to
stand idly as these vile creatures take over the world, that in order for a
change to occur, people need to rise up from complacency.
Aside from these heavy themes,
the film is a great sci-fi/action film, I was never bored. Tonally, it’s a more
serious film than Verhoeven’s film, it's not looking to make you laugh
with one liners or jokes every five seconds, it doesn’t feel as overtly kinetic
as Verhoeven’s film and that’s fine, we couldn’t really expect Len Wiseman, the
director of this film to do the same exact film in tone or feel. This Total
Recall was going for something different. Yeah we go through the same beats and
moments, and there’s a nudge or two to Verhoeven’s film, but in the end, this
new Total Recall was trying it’s hardest to be something different. I love
Verhoeven’s film for all its craziness, but I also loved this new Total Recall
for different reasons, mainly, the awesome art direction, the futuristic technology,
I mean, how cool where those hand phones? I enjoyed the decidedly rebellious
tone and the flying car chase sequence! They really out did themselves with
those scenes. In terms of fx and action, this one pulled no stops, it’s a chase
movie with nonstop action. So many things worked just right on this one that I
can’t bring myself to say I didn’t like it, because I did like it very much so,
it’s not as fun or gory, but then again, it wasn’t trying to be.
Rating: 4 out of 5
I saw this recently on an illegal download on Youtube, it had been filmed in a cinema with a mobile phone and the picture quality on Youtube was 240 (the lowest quality image) so as you might think it was a pretty gruelling veiwing experience, however i could still see that there was a great film shining through the incredibly murky image (always a good sign), i cant wait to see this on Blu-Ray on a giant screen Plasma to finally experience the movie as it should be seen.
ReplyDeleteWatching a film on youtube is never the way to go, unless of course there's no other way to see it, but yeah man, highly recommend seeing this one the proper way, it's not as bloody or fun, but it still has its merits.
ReplyDeleteSo how were Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel in the film? Wiseman certainly loaded the film up with eye candy!
ReplyDeleteKate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel, I mean, you can't ask for two more beautiful women to star in your film, well, technically you could, but these two are at the top of the hotness meter thats for sure.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of beauties, this Total Recall was kind of tame on the skin department, on Total Recall (1990)Verhoeven had Sharon Stone show some skin, on this one not a peep, unless you count Beckinsale in her sexy undies and the three boobed mutant prostitute. Still, this new one is tame on all departments when compared to the old Total Recall.
Nice review Francisco. The cast and action make this predictable story a whole lot more enjoyable, but it’s still the same, old formula as the original. Except this time, it’s without all of the hilarious Arnie one-liners.
ReplyDeleteYeah, without Arnie onliners and without Mars, or mutants, or alien machinery...I always thought they sucked the fun out of it in a way, this new Total Recall is a more somber affair.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how this movie was dubbed worst movie in 2012. I think that a lot of what this movie is 0about is going on in our society today. Big government dictating everyone's every move. This movie is just explaining it to the people. I think this was a great movie.
ReplyDeleteI personally enjoyed this one a lot, agree, its a reflection of modern society, and it doesnt forget to entertain as it puts its themes across, certainly not one of the worst of 2012.
ReplyDelete