TOTAL RECALL

US, 2012, 118 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bokeem Woodbine, Bill Nighy, John Cho.
Directed by Len Wiseman.

A remake of the 1990 science-fiction film with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Time has enhanced the memory of the original and, with the huge outburst against this new version, it has acquired pedestal-classic status. This raises a perennial question: should movies be remade? More often than not, they don’t measure up to the original (or memories of the experience of the original which may not have been seen for some time). But, sometimes they do.

This review is happy to go out on a critical limb and praise Total Recall, 2012. In 1990 , the about-to-be governor of California was basically a bodybuilt action star with a heavy accent and delivery. Sharon Stone was just another actress – Basic Instinct came after this. Maybe, audiences read back their later iconic status into the film. It was directed by Dutchman Paul Verhoeven who had made Robocop and was to direct Basic Instinct.

The point. Colin Farrell is an actor, handsome but ordinary-looking. This means that this version is meant to offer a hero who is bewildered, manipulated, tormented by nightmares, laboring in a humdrum factory job, seeking his true identity and prepared to go to the company, Rekall, to be injected with new memories. Audiences can identify with Farrell. His wife is played by Kate Beckinsale who turns into a relentless pursuer of her husband, a fighter bent on vengeance. And, whatever her limitations, Beckinsale can act more persuasivley than Sharon Stone could in 1990. Perhaps modern audiences compare them as unfavourably ordinary compared with the larger than life protagonists of the original.

There is Jessica Biel as the mysterious rebel from The Colony. This time, there are two habitable parts of earth after chemical warfare in the 21st century, the United Federation of Britain and The Colony (as the map shows it: Australia) rather than Mars in the original. Bryan Cranston is the ruler of the Federation with malign intent on the Colony. Bill Nighy appears briefly (with an American accent) as Matthias, leader of the Revolution.

One of the most striking features of this Total Recall, and one reason for seeing the film, is the production design. The futuristic sets, intricate with great detail and huge in scope, are outstanding. The dark colony, very much like a crowded Chinese waterfront, reminds us of the design of Blade Runner. The Federation is much more London-like. But, it means that whatever is happening in the action, there is always something to look at, amazing sets.

We Can Remember it for you Wholesale is the Philip K. Dick short story on which the film is based. It ties in with the identity themes and control from his Blade Runner and Paycheck.

Maybe Paul Verhoeven and the original script had more tongue-in-cheek than this version which plays everything quite straightforwardly. As a straightforward version, with an effective lead who has to transform from meek worker to double agent and huge heroics, always good to look at, this Total Recall is gripping in its action and in its questions (though laziness in the screenplay often substitutes quick expletives for genuine emotions of fear and frustration).

1. The comparisons with the 1990 version? Plot? Cast? Director? Tone? Interpretation of the work by Philip K. Dick?

2. Philip K. Dick and his science fiction, the worlds that he created, futuristic? Issues of identity, humanity, androids? The implantation of memories, mind control? Revolution?

3. The importance of the sets, the colony and its darkness, the Chinese waterfront? Crowded? The British Federation, daylight, buildings, reminiscent of England? Familiar scenes? Transport, tunnels and mechanical devices and engineering? The home of the rebellion – dingy and abandoned? The musical score?

4. The tone of the film, straightforward – not with irony?

5. The initial information about the colony and the Federation? The transport between the two areas of the world? Space at a premium? The transport of the workers? Homes, jobs, mechanical and dreary, the creation of androids? Boredom, routine, the same seats in the transport? The attraction of Rekall? And possibilities?

6. Doug, the initial nightmare, the pursuit, Melina and her rescuing him, their being shot, her fall?

7. At home, the ordinariness, his relationship with Lori? Her job? Domestic scenes?

8. The sign for Rekall? Doug talking about the issue with his friend Harry? Harry warning against it? The worker and his support, urging Doug to go? His entering the building, the security, the staff? The possibilities of memories? His choosing to be a hero? The injection, the attack by the forces, the deaths, his being taken? His heroic reaction? Strength, fighting skills? The irony of his abilities but the revelation about his true self?

9. Cohaagen and his authority, control, the Orwellian supervision of people? The police, human, Robocops? The contrast with Mathias, the glimpse of him, his stand? The planning the invasion?

10. Lori, being an agent for Cohaagen? Her cover, the memories, their not being real, her being a plant? Her pursuit of Doug, her contempt for him, vengeance? Her relationship to Cohaagen and information and secrecy?

11. Melina, her reappearance, the mystery woman, the identifying with the dream? Proving herself to Doug?

12. Colin Farrell as ordinary, heroic, Rekall and his hopes, turning into a hero, becoming Hauser? Skills, the reality of Lori as being a plant, the police, the chases? Melina and his dreams? Her being his companion during the pursuit?

13. The visual effect of the chases, the editing and pace, the buildings, the tunnels, the lifts, eluding the pursuit, especially from Lori?

14. Going to Matthias, meeting him, his role, his character, his being killed? Melina as his deputy?

15. The truth about Hauser, his origins, his skills, his working with Cohaagen, infiltrating the rebels, his being turned, reinserted in the colony? His role to upset the status quo? The planting of memories?

16. His dilemmas, whether to trust Melina, Matthias? Cohaagen, Lori? His decision to trust?

17. The planning of the invasion, the confrontation, the troops, their destruction?

18. The people in the colony, watching the invasion, the media, television, the propaganda, their being saved?

19. Hauser, his final decisions, the confrontation with Lori, her death? Melina?

20. The Philip K. Dick intelligence content? The challenges about emotions, identity? The adrenalin-pumping action – a combination of action and intelligence?