Total Recall (2012) | Movie Review

Total Recall (2012)

Release Date: 02 August 2012

Running Time: 2 Hours

Director: Len Wisemen

Cast: Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Ethan Hawke

Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Thanks to Nuffnang and Sony Pictures, I won myself a pair of the tickets to the screening last night.

Prior to the screening, I've checked tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes and the ratings were a disappointment - 31%. So here's what I have to say about the film.

It's a fast paced action packed film. The beginning was a little bit foggy to me because I did not get what that world was about and all the talk about Rekall. It was half way when they showed the scene above where Quaid being tied on this chair thing with various strings attached to his head and then being injected with a memory, that I understood what it was about.

Their attempt to do something like Inception, where they make a mess with what you think is real and what's not, was not really successful because at the end of the day, I as an audience knew clearly which was Quaid's real memory.

Apparently, the original movie back in 1990 staring Arnold Schwarzenegger did fulfil the concept of reality and imaginary.

There wasn't much substance in storyline either because what he basically did was run and run and run and in a mission to find his memory following the few leads that he left himself.

It wasn't much to 'wow' about except for the CGI effects, technologies and actions because it did spike up the whole  film quite a bit.

To watch or not to watch, you be the judge. With all the bad review that you see around, it's probably good to watch this first before going through the original 1990 film. Just so you don't get disappointed, just like me.