Total Recall (2012)

Comments

• Pope

  Well said, Mike. TR 1990 was mediocre. Some great scenes and a bit of a headwrecker the first time you see it, but it doesn't hold up on the wow-scale like Terminator or Robocop. TR 2012 is faster and louder, but not much better.

  Posted 10:35 | Sat 25th Aug 2012

• spikeprint

  I beg to differ, the original Total Recall is a masterpiece! It has all the right levels of action and humour, topped off with a top notch plot. And it has a woman with 3 boobs. The conversation went a little like this: Benny, "you make me feel like I wanna have three hands". Three boobed lady, "you're doing just fine with two honey". But Benny is a mutant and only actually has one hand! Genius.

  Posted 00:52 | Mon 27th Aug 2012

• FilmBuff76

  The 1990 Total Remake is no masterpiece, but what it is a riotously good and fun film. I can't say the same for the new version, which feels very toned-down to ensure a kid-friendly rating and is more like a long chase sequence. Some scenes don't even make sense - how can flying cars have pile-ups? Jessical Biel was wasted in a nothing part, presumably due to the increased screen time given to Kate Beckinsale instead (the director's wife, no less). I was disappointed with it, but my expectations were low to begin with. I much prefer the original.

  Posted 19:16 | Thu 30th Aug 2012

• damien

  WOW! What can I say here other than save your money ,no really just go see something else .I was not even biased against it from the start,as I am a big sci-fi fan,and the frind watching it with me is not.So this is a well balanced review in our minds .Let me classify this movie according to its Pros and Cons .Pro ,you have Colin Farrell giving avery good account of himself,quite believeable. Pro, the set design,lighting,visual effects and all technical aspects to the movie are as good as anything out there to date .So why doesn't this movie work I hear you say? Cons , of which there are many, this screenplay feels rushed,like it was piched to the producers over cocktails ,with the result that quality control went out the window. Cons, they take the dystopian feel of the Colony and the world in which it exists too far ,to the point where you lose all the humor(albeit black humor ) and sense of wonder of the original film.You basically have no empathy for the main characters ,they come they go ,who cares.This is a major flaw. On some fundamental level Hollywood needs to the address this issue ,you can have spectacle without sacraficing the story,e.g. Avatar. Cons, the story if it can be called that has so many holes it seems to defy all logic.The means of invasion at the end of the movie all hinges on one opening into the colony and a set of clamps holding the invasion platform in place,while our heroes do their best to destroy said clamps ,I cannot believe I just wrote that line ,but that is probably what the writers said aswell.Cons ,Kate Beckinsale is a hybrid character of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside from the original film .She is also the the director's wife .By the end of the movie she has come back so many times to try and kill our heroes that the film had descended into farce.Think Michael Myers and the Haloween movies .Conclusion ,just because technically speaking movies have evolved does not make them better .If plot,story structure and characterisation are missing then all the bells and whistles in the world wont make a bit of difference. Do yourself a favour avoid at all costs.

  Posted 15:13 | Sun 2nd Sep 2012

• mikecoughlan

  This is a really great action film and there is no let up at all, as you are hurled along at a hundred miles an hour. I think Colin Farrell is a great actor and he plays his part well, but I think it would have being better to allow him to be a bit more freeked out and emotional at everything that happens to him, as this would have drawn not only the other characters into the film more, but the viewer as well

  Posted 10:57 | Sat 1st Sep 2012

• Scifi-Freak

  I was so looking forward to watching this movie. At first I was so impressed of the post apocalyptic scenes that were the cities, reminded me of the classic future city in Bladerunner. So many other things in this movie were also brilliant. This movie had so much potential especially after TR1 which although quite cheesey was a good film. The worst thing with this movie is the endless fighting, shoot em up, although the car chase was good and reminiscent of the car chase in Minority Report. As for Kate Beckinsale while initially it was quite a credible role, her husband has done no favours for her acting career. The amount of times it seems impossible to kill off is just plain stupid and makes a mockery of the film. There are a lot of holes as well in the film which just don’t make sense. There are two scenes when the cops come out of nowhere after being notified. Like in Rekall centre when he gets injected and seconds later cops appear. Okay it is a film but really… it just goes to show the disdain the director has for doing a good job. Total Recall if directed properly could have been a box office smash. A wasted opportunity by a so, so director. This movie is well acted and some of the action scenes are superb, but after a while they are monotonous and the story doesn't make any sense. Colin Farrell holds this film together being quite believable although all the scenes are so rushed it the actors don’t connect with the audience. I have seen this movie so many times before just in different settings, Hollywood has a lot to answer for with nothing truly original just the same old boring bubblegum movie. Despite looking forward to this movie I was hugely disappointed.

  Posted 15:52 | Mon 3rd Sep 2012

• Fiona74

  Avoid this, keep your money and stay home and watch the original. This is a very disappointing remake. I don't get Hollywood, all they had to do was take the pretty decent enjoyable story they had from the original and beef it up with cooler special effects and better acting (sorry Arnie fans : ->) instead the story is thrown out the window and all you are left with is humourless dialogue and never ending chase scenes that although brilliantly executed are so similiar that they become boring. I went to see this with my sister (we both loved the original despite its cheesiness) and she fell asleep!! I stayed awake but not sure why I bothered, other than Colin is lovely to look at and was doing his best, and I enjoyed Kate Beckinsale even though I thought at the end it would be revealed she was a robot as she appears to be indestructible. It's not that this movie isn't well acted and some of the action scenes are superb, but the story doesn't really make any sense, there is none of the humour or urgency that the original movie had. In a nutshell it just doesn't work, what a waste of $125m!!

  Posted 13:57 | Mon 3rd Sep 2012

• b_plant01

  shocked to read the bad reviews above, as i really enjoyed the movie! loads of action and loads of fight scenes and some kick ass special effects. It was a cross between Bladerunner and I Robot and to top it off it had two awesome babes in it.

  Posted 21:09 | Thu 13th Sep 2012

• marc

  crap movie!!!

  Posted 16:57 | Sat 22nd Sep 2012

• Tomboy

  I was very disappointed , The same as a lot of crap I have seen before just a different title.

  Posted 09:59 | Mon 17th Sep 2012

• andrewire

  Three stars? This is more like 1. It's nearly plot-less and Colin is not even close to be a proper leading man for an action flick. It's full of one-note performances and awful dialogue.

  Posted 12:15 | Fri 21st Sep 2012

• damien

  WOW! What can I say here other than save your money ,no really just go see something else .I was not even biased against it from the start,as I am a big sci-fi fan,and the frind watching it with me is not.So this is a well balanced review in our minds .Let me classify this movie according to its Pros and Cons .Pro ,you have Colin Farrell giving a very good account of himself,quite believeable. Pro, the set design,lighting,visual effects and all technical aspects to the movie are as good as anything out there to date .So why doesn't this movie work I hear you say? Cons , of which there are many, this screenplay feels rushed,like it was pitched to the producers over cocktails ,with the result that quality control went out the window. Cons, they take the dystopian feel of the Colony and the world in which it exists too far ,to the point where you lose all the humor(albeit black humor ) and sense of wonder of the original film.You basically have no empathy for the main characters ,they come they go ,who cares.This is a major flaw. On some fundamental level Hollywood needs to the address this issue ,you can have spectacle without sacraficing the story,e.g. Avatar. Cons, the story if it can be called that has so many holes it seems to defy all logic.The means of invasion at the end of the movie all hinges on one opening into the colony and a set of clamps holding the invasion platform in place,while our heroes do their best to destroy said clamps ,I cannot believe I just wrote that line ,but that is probably what the writers said aswell.Cons ,Kate Beckinsale is a hybrid character of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside from the original film .She is also the director's wife .By the end of the movie she has come back so many times to try and kill our heroes that the film had descended into farce.Think Michael Myers and the Haloween movies .Conclusion ,just because technically speaking movies have evolved does not make them better .If plot,story structure and characterisation are missing then all the bells and whistles in the world wont make a bit of difference. Do yourself a favour avoid at all costs.

  Posted 15:20 | Sun 2nd Sep 2012

• Scifi-Freak

  Avoid this, keep your money and stay home and watch the original. This is a very disappointing remake. I don't get Hollywood, all they had to do was take the pretty decent enjoyable story they had from the original and beef it up with cooler special effects and better acting (sorry Arnie fans : ->) instead the story is thrown out the window and all you are left with is humourless dialogue and never ending chase scenes that although brilliantly executed are so similiar that they become boring. I went to see this with my sister (we both loved the original despite its cheesiness) and she fell asleep!! I stayed awake but not sure why I bothered, other than Colin is lovely to look at and was doing his best, and I enjoyed Kate Beckinsale even though I thought at the end it would be revealed she was a robot as she appears to be indestructible. It's not that this movie isn't well acted and some of the action scenes are superb, but the story doesn't really make any sense, there is none of the humour or urgency that the original movie had. In a nutshell it just doesn't work, what a waste of $125m!!WOW! What can I say here other than save your money ,no really just go see something else .I was not even biased against it from the start,as I am a big sci-fi fan,and the frind watching it with me is not.So this is a well balanced review in our minds .Let me classify this movie according to its Pros and Cons .Pro ,you have Colin Farrell giving avery good account of himself,quite believeable. Pro, the set design,lighting,visual effects and all technical aspects to the movie are as good as anything out there to date .So why doesn't this movie work I hear you say? Cons , of which there are many, this screenplay feels rushed,like it was piched to the producers over cocktails ,with the result that quality control went out the window. Cons, they take the dystopian feel of the Colony and the world in which it exists too far ,to the point where you lose all the humor(albeit black humor ) and sense of wonder of the original film.You basically have no empathy for the main characters ,they come they go ,who cares.This is a major flaw. On some fundamental level Hollywood needs to the address this issue ,you can have spectacle without sacraficing the story,e.g. Avatar. Cons, the story if it can be called that has so many holes it seems to defy all logic.The means of invasion at the end of the movie all hinges on one opening into the colony and a set of clamps holding the invasion platform in place,while our heroes do their best to destroy said clamps ,I cannot believe I just wrote that line ,but that is probably what the writers said aswell.Cons ,Kate Beckinsale is a hybrid character of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside from the original film .She is also the the director's wife .By the end of the movie she has come back so many times to try and kill our heroes that the film had descended into farce.Think Michael Myers and the Haloween movies .Conclusion ,just because technically speaking movies have evolved does not make them better .If plot,story structure and characterisation are missing then all the bells and whistles in the world wont make a bit of difference. Do yourself a favour avoid at all costs.

  Posted 15:56 | Mon 3rd Sep 2012

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