However, flash forward twenty two years and Hollywood has given Total Recall the remake treatment, swapping Arnie with Colin Farrell. The remake decides to throw out the comedy, charm and Mars from the script and keeps it stuck on Earth with the basic same plot outline... except the twist has been removed completely. It doesn't look good, does it?!
Earth has been ravaged by war and nuclear fallout. The only inhabitable places left are the UK and parts of Europe, known as the United Federation of Britain (UFB), and the Colony, which was formally Austrailia. While the rich live a lavish lifestyle in the UFB, the inhabitants of the Colony face a 17 minute trip through the centre of the Earth (known as 'The Fall') to go and work for the rich in the UFB. Total Recall follows factory worker, Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) who lives with his beautiful wife, Lori Quaid (Kate Beckinsale) in the Colony. Upon hearing about Rekall, where they can implant the perfect memories into your mind as if you have really lived them, Quaid sets about to have the memories of being a secret spy set into his mind. However, when the procedure goes wrong, Quaid finds himself on the run from his police and his wife. With only the help of fellow secret agent, Melina (Jessica Biel) Quaid must recall as much of his previous life as secret agent as he can to hunt down the terrorist leader Matthias (Bill Nighy) to help him bring down 'The Fall' and the power that the UFB have over the Colony before it's too late.
First of all, I have to admit that the basic plot outline for Total Recall is not too bad. While I'm not a massive fan of Sci-Fi films being completely contained on Earth (it doesn't feel very scientific... and not much scope to include much fantastical elements) this film did a decent job of updating the world as we know it to a fantasy world that could be set in the future - however, The Colony did seem to be more like what we saw in Blade Runner rather than something completely original. To be honest, I even liked the idea of 'The Fall' - an express elevator ride between The UFB and The Colony for workers - even with it's cheesy gravity shift when it reaches the core. Having said all that, the major thing that this film was missing was Mars and the mutants from the original. Yes, the prostitute with the three breasts is back in this film (the only slight hint at the mutants in this film) but she feels a bit thrown in. Every other character in this film falls into a bland shadow that could easily fade into the background. On top of all that, they're too serious! I even felt myself missing Arnie's crazy gurning comedy faces from the original Total Recall.
That is the most major problem with Total Recall. It's just bland all over. Director, Len Wiseman (from the Underworld series of films) doesn't take the style of the film firmly enough into film noir territory (like Blade Runner) to make it a tense action film, but then he has taken all the wit and charm out from the original to make it a light-hearted film either. It falls somewhere in the middle, not quite being either type of film, and ends up feeling rather... blah. Wiseman's directing also doesn't feel fully developed yet. Despite the film trying to be an all-out action Sci-Fi film, the pacing sometimes feels a little slow and occasionally Wiseman throws in things like the single take fight scene when Quiad is first attacked by the Police, which also brings the pace of the film right down.
The final problem with Total Recall is that it takes out all the originality of the original 1990 film. The original really posed the question to the audience, "What is Real?" Whereas the new film hands the answer to the audience on a plate. There was one shining light in the remake, where Quaid is on the run from the Police and his wife but is confronted by his friend, Harry (Bokeem Woodbine) who tries to convince Quaid that it's all in his head. What follows is a tense minute or so where Quaid begins to question his motives and whether he really is who he thinks he is. However, all tension is then dashed as we are shown that Quaid was being lied to by Harry. Surely that kind of thing should have been left out to keep the question in the audience's head throughout the entire film rather than have it there for a couple of minutes?!
Instead, what Total Recall really ends up being is a watered down simplistic version of the original film. Sure there are well shot action and chase scenes, but the entire film is one big chase scene. There is hardly any substance behind the characters to make you feel like you are being told a proper story. The terrorist leader, Matthias is barely in the film, yet he is the crux of the entire story and the sole reason why Quaid is on the run from the authorities. For someone who wants to take down the strangle hold that The UFB has over The Colony, he doesn't really come across as a strong character that is believable as the leader of a terrorist group. Another major casting problem was Jessica Biel as Melina. In the original, Arnie teams up with a headstrong stripper in order to find out the truth, however Melina in the remake is just a bland secret agent with hardly any backstory, who seems to just be there to shoot a gun and look pretty. While I am inclined to blame the underdeveloped character and scriptwriting, I feel that some of the blame also must lie with Biel herself as she plans it completely deadpan throughout.
So, if you like your films to be thin on story but heavy on chase and action scenes, then Total Recall might be right up your street. However, fans of the original 1990 film will probably find this film severely lacking in most parts and find themselves wanting to go home and stick in their DVD of Arnie to find out how a cheesy Sci-Fi film should really be made.
**½ / *****
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