Total Recall

Rated : PG-13

Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes

Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel

Colin Ferrell is no Arnold Schwarzenegger, but in this version of the movie he doesn’t have to be. I was doubtful of this movie when I first heard it was being remade. Then I became even more doubtful when I heard Colin Farrell was going to be playing the main part, Arnold’s part. But when it was announced that Kate Beckinsale would be playing Sharon Stone’s part, I knew I’d be seeing this movie. Well, in all honesty I would have seen it anyway. I’m a sucker for an action movie, even if it is a remake. But 2012’s Total Recall isn’t so much a remake as it is a re-imagining.

The story doesn’t take place on Mars, as a matter of fact it has nothing to do with Mars at all. While the basic premise is the same and a few character’s names are the same, this is a different movie. It’s the air on Earth that is poisonous. There are only two nations left, the United Federation of Britain and the Colony. Basically the UFB is where the power is and the Colony is where the worker bees live. People travel back and forth between the two using a contraption called "The Fall" and it allows travel to pass through the center of the Earth between the two nations. 

The action is fast and the dialogue is well, hokey, but the action is fast so all is well in the action movie universe. I do have some minor complaints about a couple of the scenes where the camera is hand-held and so herky-jerky, it’s hard to tell what in the hell is going on.

All of the actors did a good job. Colin Farrell’s Hauser is a leaner, faster version compared to Arnold’s. Maybe a little more vulnerable but he didn’t sell the bewilderment, as well as Schwarzenegger, that his character had to have been feeling as the story unfolds. It was billed that Beckinsale was playing Sharon Stone’s part, I think it is more a combination of Michael Ironside and Stone (since Ironside's character isn't even in this movie). Beckinsale is the fake wife assigned to keep an eye on Hauser/Quaid and then tries to kill him the rest of the movie. Jessica Biel plays Melina the woman of Hauser’s dream, but her character plays more like a sidekick than a romantic partner. I really wanted to see the two women square off against each other and really duke it out, but it just wasn't meant to be.

There is one scene that I’m not sure if everyone will catch, but I thought it was great. It doesn’t really give anything away, so I’ll spill the beans. When Quaid tries to go through the security check for the UFB, he is wearing a holographic disguise. But what is awesome, at least to me, is there is a woman wearing a yellow coat that passes through before him. The woman is the disguise that was used in the original movie, when Quaid was going through security on Mars.

Overall, if you go see this movie don’t compare it to the original (I’ve already done that for you). The people that will probably like this movie the most are those that were either too young to know it is a remake, or those who refused to see it for whatever reason. Bottom line is go see this movie and enjoy it for what it is, a fun way to spend almost two hours.