Total Recall: A Chase Too Long

Movie: Total Recall

Director: Len Wiseman

Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston

Rating: **

As much as I loved and considered Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 ‘Total Recall’ as one of the best and complex sci-fi  films, today, I feel sorry to say Len Wiseman’s ‘Total Recall’ turns out to be sheer disappointment. All that excitement that you had built waiting to be entertained goes down the drain after sitting through this senseless journey in to boredom. Based on Philip K. Dick’s short story, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall is one of the films made much ahead of its time.

Undoubtedly, Colin is a better actor than Arnold but unfortunately he fails to add vim to the same role essayed by Arnold many years ago with ease. Colin plays Douglas Quaid, a factory worker, married to pretty Lori (Kate), the chief of a workers’ resistance movement. Quaid suffers from a very bad appetite for sleep as most of his nights are disturbed by a dream, so real.

He aspires to be a secret agent and when he finds Rekall, a company, which implants realistic memories into customers letting them be whatever they wish to be, he offers himself for the procedure. Before the technicians can implant the memories, cops break in searching for Quaid, claiming him to be a terrorist. Why does Quaid become the prime target of a secret espionage mission and why does everyone including his wife Lori, want him dead forms the rest of the story?

Len’s Total Recall fails majorily because of the grandiose presentation which fails to strike a chord with the audience. It’s true we love action, don’t we? But, what is action which doesn’t make any sense, without any purpose or meaning? You ultimately lose interest in such kind of action and eventually in the film. Visually, Len’s film supersedes all his earlier films to give us an experience to be remembered for a long time. While there’s no Mars connect in this remake, Len however makes it a point to appeal the audience with some breathtaking art direction.

The film turns bore when you’re thrown with too many chase sequences which at one point don’t make any sense at all. Colin is running and running and running and stops at one juncture only to meet Melina (Jessica), and continues his running marathon with her. Although he’s running for a reason but it irritates you after some time. And on his trail is Kate Beckinsale, who’s running too with her entire force only to irritate you more. She can kick some ass too. I mean she can really kick hard when she’s not pointing a gun at you. So, Kate’s sexiness is vicious because she’s plagued with action and killing attitude.  Jessica plays a chic yet tough match to Kate, who’s not as good as her counterpart in ass-kicking but definitely pulls off her role in style.

Len Wiseman who started his career in art department with films such as Independence Day, Men in Black and Godzilla, and later directed some visually enthralling ‘Underworld’ film, fails to make a difference with ‘Total Recall’.