August 28, 2012

Total Recall (2012)

I think this is one of those films that I wanted to like, and while there is nothing terribly wrong with it (actually I did enjoy the visuals a lot), the fact that the 1990 iteration exists kind of ruined it for me. In fact, if it weren’t for the original, this would have been yet another Len Wiseman (of Underworld “fame”) product, only salvaged by the association with Philip K. Dick, which the 1990 version also enjoyed. The fact is, I believe Paul Verhoeven to be a much better director than Wiseman, and despite the 22 year difference between the movies, I find the original to still hold today, without CG and with so called outdated effects. In fact the few parts that raised a chuckle in this version were the winks to the old film, like the 3 breasted lady or the border mask robot woman, who ended up being just a lookalike in this film. Other than the old film, this is more of a Blade Runner (itself a Philip K. Dick adaptation) or Fifth Element knockoff, especially visually speaking, and if it weren’t for the fact that i’ll throw money at anything futuristic/post-apocalyptic/hover-cars related, I could have cared less about it. Perhaps i’m being too hard on Wiseman. He is afterall a relatively competent effects-flick director, and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this new Total Recall at all, I just think that it was too soon for a remake, and it wasn’t different enough for me to consider it as a viable retelling of the mythos. Also that creepy little conjoined twin thing from the original could have made a comeback, I missed that little guy.