Total Recall Review

It raises some intriguing ideas, but does this modern remake pack the goods?
If there's one thing we've learned these past few years from the film industry, it's that remakes can be a risky, hit-and-miss maneveur- just ask Alice In Wonderland, Spy Kids or King Kong for evidence of that fact. Luckily, Colin Farrell and the rest of the production team on Total Recall have managed to avoid some of the major typical pitfalls of the genre in resurrecting the science-fiction classic that once starred Schwazeneger himself, yet can that ultimately sustain our interest? The answer is...sort of. Recall certainly looks the past, boasting some stunning CGI vistas for Farrell's character Doug to gaze upon and get into an all-manner of unlikely futuristic shootouts and platforming hi-jinks in, yet as Avatar learned the difficult way in terms of critical reception, you need more than good looks to carry a blockbuster nowadays.

Again, in this respect the film is in luck, 'stealing' from one of the greats a storyline which packs in plenty of thought-provoking moments of illusion and deception that might make one question the reality of our own world just as something like The Truman Show did earlier this century. Colin Farrell is most definitely a likeable fill-in for the Terminator, and the supporting cast isn't half bad either, even if virtually all of them are relatively unknown bar a cruelly brief cameo from Brit legend Bill Nighy. There's certainly a lot to like about the main setpieces of the flick, although they do feel like they're going through the motions on the odd occassion too.

To wrap up my thoughts here, I would say that personally it felt as if the writers thought their script was a little more intelligent than it actually was, with a lot of the philosophical concepts raised likely seeming to have more of an effect in theory than they do in their flawed execution. Total Recall often shows some great signs of true blockbuster potential, but it's held back from an identity crisis of sorts when so many other sci-fi flicks in recent days have attempted to ape the original's plot. A likeable romp, yet one which is unlikely to be picking up a Film Of The Year award from myself or other critics anytime soon.
3/5