Total Recall

Total Recall is a typical summer blockbuster, but not in a negative way. It has everything that sends moviegoers to their Twitter pages to insult the film, which they haven’t seen. It’s a remake of the 1990 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was based on a short story by the renowned sci-fi writer, Philip K. Dick. It’s also a big budget action film with well-known actors fighting alongside robots wielding powerful weapons. But the reason the film is successful is because of its ability to stay in the heads of the viewers with lingering questions and high-concept suspense.

Colin Farrell plays Doug, an average guy bored with his life in a dystopian future. But when he visits Rekall, a company that will implant memories in your brain so you feel more accomplished, he finds out that he was once a spy who had his memory erased, or maybe not. Kate Beckinsale, who plays Doug’s wife and Jessica Biel, a former flame, provide sturdy support in roles which surprisingly have emotionally driven moments. Farrell is constantly on the verge of falling into his habit of coming across as droll and apathetic. Though as the plot thickens, his performance improves and he gives a lively rendition of the character.

The movie is much less ground-breaking than its predecessor since we’ve had more than 20 years of sci-fi since then to set the standard. But the balance of style versus substance that occurs until the final act makes Total Recall worth watching. Sure, everything eventually deteriorates into chase scenes, shootouts and fist fights, but there’s a reason movies do that. It’s exciting. The movie pays homage to the original story while changing enough for it to stand on its own. In fact, a few of those references take away from the film. The original is a cult hit; don’t make viewers wish they were watching that instead.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.