Total Recall

The original didn't appeal to me in the slightest, so the reconciliatory three stars are a small victory for the new Total Recall. It's pleasing that they got rid of Mars and put more emphasis on the versatile wife, but unnecessary logical flaws and the slightly excessive running time are annoying. Len Wiseman saves a lot of things with the action (led by the premature climax of the movie in the form of a chase in elevators) and the reinvented Kate Beckinsale helps him out the most. And yet the courage of the producers to pour so many dollars into this particular vision defies comprehension. (09/12/2012)

The visually arresting first half will tickle the heart of any sci-fi fan. And it doesn't matter that the Asian architecture, the perpetual rain and parakeets are a rip-off of Blade Runner, and the chases with hoverboards are a rip-off of Minority Report. But then, as the minutes tick by, the film makes it clear that the script was written by the infamous Kurt Wimmer, a man with no talent and no creative intelligence, so the mounting annoying clichés and situations like those from the most subpar B-movies quickly cool down the initial enthusiasm. Where the old Total Recall clearly wiped its ass with clichéd Hollywood and was engaging in its ambiguous answer to what is truth and what is a dream, Wiseman's film is dull and woefully predictable. It's like Kate Beckinsale's "terminator" character: visually appealing and energetic, but bluntly direct. (08/18/2012)

A passable remake, adapted to today’s hurried times. Perfect craftsmanship, Wiseman lays action scene upon action scene on the viewer and the shots of his wife (Kate Beckinsale) are filmed with such care that it’s a pleasure to watch. Also, she’s a thoroughbred terminator, but with a smile to fall in love with your dying breath. Poor old Colin Farrell doesn’t have much acting to do, but he tries hard. Bryan Cranston is fine too. The visual side of the movie is superb. A combination of Blade Runner and Minority Report, with a pinch of Star Wars. It’s over the top and gets away with it. It’s fantasy, after all, isn’t it? ;) If I’m not me, then who the hell am I? (08/16/2012)

Why? Could anyone explain to me why anyone needs to do this? Why do actors have to get involved in such a film, why do they have to invest money in it at all and why do people have to go to the cinema to see it? Why does this movie have so many reviews on this site? I know, it’s a lot of questions for one movie that I absolutely did not want to see. But then the opportunity arose and I couldn’t resist. I must say that by today’s standards, it is a decent job. It buries the original film completely, but that’s a standard procedure in our CGI times. The whole thing is a bit simpler than the original film with Arnold, but probably so that today’s undemanding viewer would understand everything. But as I was saying. This film completely buries the idea behind the original movie, which was the last blockbuster without CGI, instead using manually prepared tricks, and which contained not only a message but had the balls to do something new and unique. The remake is just a cash-cow, where everything is made in a completely standard way. The creators might have gotten some money out of it, but for me it’s something that will be forgotten forever. What won’t be forgotten, however, is the fact that the 21st century Hollywood is afraid of making original movies, instead investing too much money into a brand that promises to return this investment, because they’ll always find some new fans who haven’t seen the original. Disgusting. I’m giving this three stars only because the film-making craft is objectively good. The rest, however… (08/03/2013)

I was expecting a new version of a Dick’s story, but what I got was an excruciatingly boring cover version of a great film. Aside from the good visual effects and the idea of dusting off the "good old" idea of displacing the inconvenient inhabitants of Great Britain to Australia, nothing in the new Total Recall impressed me at all. This bland story full of stupidities and clichés, which doesn't manage to do anything more imaginative than quoting from the original, is not even close to Verhoeven's bloody sci-fi anecdote. Colin Farrell is awkward, Bill Nighy underused, the female characters useless. Just like this whole movie. Perhaps one thing worked - watching it made me want to watch all the much better films it had ripped off again. (12/30/2012)