Total Reacall - Review

Total Recall

Action/Adventure

1 hr 49 min

PG-13 Intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief nudity and language

Grade: B+

Director: Len Wiseman

Writers: Kurt Wimmer (screenplay), Mark Bomback (screenplay), and 5 more credits »

Stars: Colin Farrell,

Kate Beckinsale,
Jessica Biel, 

Bokeem Woodbine, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy | See full cast and crew

Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. -- (C) Sony

The film is based on the 1990 film Total Recall (buy DVDs for both versions) and both use the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick as their inspiration (buy it here). Die hard Si-Fi fans will probably not be happy with any attempt to remake what they view as a classic film, forget the fact that the new film takes liberties such as changing the story line. For example, unlike the original 1990 film, the plot for the 2012 film lacks a trip to Mars and contains strong political overtones. In addition, the film also blends Western and Eastern influences together, due to the fact that the two nation states, United Federation of Britain and The Colony, are battling for political power.

I do like the original version and, at the risk of committing Si-Fi blasphemy, I do like the revised version as well. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. I am leaning slightly toward the latest incarnation. Arnold Schwarzenegger most certainly strikes a formidable presence, but I find Collin Farrell a bit more genuine, more believable than Arnold.

I can more easily identify or relate to Collin than to the muscle bound Arnold, plus there is no denying Collin Farrell is a better actor. In the role of his wife, Lori Quaid, Kate Beckinsale is far more appealing than Sharon Stone. (Incidentally if you would like to see a whole different side to Kate Beckinsale, a non-action character Kate, I strongly recommend one of her earliest films chocked full of superb performances, and a personal favorite of mine, Cold Comfort Farm.)

The adaptation in the storyline that keeps everyone earthbound seems to be a bit more plausible than the journey to the Martian colony in the 1990 version. The Federal Troopers/Synthetics do sort of drag you back into the Star Wars storm trooper mode and I did find that a tad distracting.

The Plot 

In a futuristic setting of 2084, after being devastated by World War III, Earth is divided into two superpowers, United Federation of Britain and The Colony, who are locked in a battle for supremacy to unify the world. Citizens of The Colony and the UFB travel between the two nations via a super massive underground gravity elevator, called "The Fall", which takes them directly through the core of the Earth, emerging on the opposite side of the planet in under 20 minutes. 

Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), a factory worker, grows tired of his monotonous life in The Colony (formerly Australia).

Suffering from violent nightmares, Quaid decides one day to visit Rekall, a company that implants its clients with artificial memories of experiences they want to remember. Doug is persuaded by McClane (John Cho), a Rekall employee, to be implanted with memories of being a secret agent.

Doug is tested on his past to dispel any compatibility issues, but fails and McClane accuses Doug of being a spy in real life. Before he can shoot, however, McClane and his co-workers are gunned down by a squad of armored police officers. While Doug is being arrested, he suddenly reacts instinctively and manages to kill all of them before escaping.

Returning home to his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale), Doug confesses what has just happened. Lori attempts to kill Doug and reveals she is not really his wife of 7 years, but an undercover police officer, and they'd just met 6 weeks ago. After an equally matched hand-to-hand confrontation, Doug flees on foot and manages to escape Lori and the police. Former associate Hammond (Dylan Scott Smith) contacts Quaid via a cell phone embedded in his hand, revealing to him that he has a safety deposit box in a nearby bank. Quaid cuts the cell phone out of his hand to avoid being traced, much to Lori's frustration.

Quaid discovers a recorded message from his former self, leading him to his former apartment. On the way, he meets Melina (Jessica Biel), the woman from his dreams, while running from the police. They successfully reach the apartment, where Doug uses his piano to reveal a second recorded message. The recording reveals that Doug Quaid was formerly Hauser, a highly skilled agent working for the Chancellor, Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston). Chancellor Cohaagen plans on destroying the Colony in favor of uniting humanity within the United Federation of Britain. After defecting to the Resistance movement, Hauser was captured and implanted with false memories of his life as a factory worker.

The recording tells Doug that, as Hauser, he saw a "kill code" to stop the massacre, and it is still in Doug's memory, and can be retained with the aid of resistance leader Matthias (Bill Nighy). Melina reveals that she was formerly Hauser's lover, and the two were separated before Hauser was captured.

Interrupted by the police, Doug and Melina find themselves surrounded. Doug's co-worker and friend Harry (Bookeem Woodbine) arrives and tries to convince Doug that he is currently in a dream, and that killing Melina is the only way to wake up. Doug is conflicted, but sees Melina crying upon Harry's insistence that Doug shoots her. Realizing that the whole situation is a ruse, Doug shoots Harry in the head and flees with Melina, eventually escaping Lori's pursuit in the elevator shafts. 

Spoiler alert! The following reveals the entire plot if you don't want to know before seeing the film don't read the next three paragraphs.

Reaching the Resistance headquarters in an uninhabitable region, Doug and Matthias meet and begin to access the kill code. When Doug's memories are accessed, it is revealed that the "kill code" was merely a setup to help Cohaagen finally locate Matthias.

Cohaagen and his forces arrive and kill Matthias and most of the resistance members. Doug and Melina are captured, and Cohaagen plans on reverting Doug back to the Hauser that was loyal to Cohaagen's cause. With the aid of Hammond, who had infiltrated Cohaagen's forces, Doug escapes and goes to rescue Melina.

Aboard The Fall, Doug finds Cohaagen's robotic forces in stasis. Doug plants a number of time-detonation bombs aboard The Fall before rescuing Melina. They are pursued by Cohaagen's human forces and ultimately end up on top of The Fall.

Doug is shot in the shoulder and separated from Melina. Cohaagen prepares to shoot Doug before being interrupted by Melina in a Federation gunship.

While Melina kills Cohaagen's forces, Cohaagen and Doug engage in a brutal hand-to-hand fight, culminating in Doug stabbing Cohaagen with his own knife while the bombs detonate. Doug and Melina just barely escape the exploding, plummeting Fall, though Doug appears not to survive his wounds.

Waking up in an ambulance, Doug is greeted by Melina. However, he notices the absence of a scar on her hand and realizes it is Lori in disguise.

Lori ultimately overpowers Doug and is about to shoot him before he uses the defibrillators to kill power in the ambulance and disarm and shoot Lori, killing her. Doug and Melina are reunited and embrace while in the background an advertisement is playing for Rekall.