Monday, August 27, 2012

Total Recall


Cast:Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighy; Direction:  Len Wiseman; Story:  based from Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”; Screenplay:Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback; Cinematography:Paul Cameron; Editing:Christian Wagner; Music:HrryGregson-William; Producers:Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Jaffe; Genre: Sci-Fi Action; Running Time:118 minutes;   Location:  United Federation of Britain / Colony; Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Technical:  3
Moral:  3
CINEMA Rating:  V14
 After the 3rd World War by the end of the 21st century, there are only two liveable territories on earth: the upscale cosmopolitan center of politics and economics in the United Federation of Britain (UFB) and the cramped Chinatown-like Colony, believed to be the former Australia. The Colony factory worker who at the UFB must travel to the other side of the world via the “Fall”, a gravity transport at the core of the Earth.  One of the factory workers Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) has been having recurrent nightmares of him escaping with another woman and being caught by the robot soldiers of the UFB.  He does not tell his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) but constantly vents how humdrum his life is turning out to be. He decides to visit Rekall, a company that can implant memories to a person to allow him to live out his fantasies, only the chosen memory should not be in anyway true to the person. Douglas chooses a spy adventure and undergoes a routine test. He fails the test and the entire Rekall is attacked by the SWAT team. Surprisingly, Douglas counter-attacks when he is about to get arrested. He returns home and confesses to Lori what just transpired. When Lori starts attacking him, he realizes he has been living a fantasy life where false memories were implanted to him to erase his true identity as Carl Hausser. As he dodges attempts on his life, he meets Melina (Jessica Biel), the girl in his dreams and his real lover. He attempts to put together pieces of his real life and rejoins Melina’s cause to fight the oppression of the UFB chancellor.
Total Recall is a remake of the Schwarzenegger 1990 movie, although the producers claim it is more of an adaptation of Philip Dick’s short story. Its CGIs and visual effects are impressive and keep the audience glued to the screen. The action sequences are equally captivating. Colin, Beckinsale and Biel have an intrinsically authentic chemistry and rapport.  Their encounters and scenes together or individually are moments to watch for. Total Recall succeeds as an action-packed film but sadly story-wise it falls short. The high-pack chases are over extended that there was really little time to develop the characters and the narrative. (This is quite puzzling since the basic plot has already been laid out both in the short story and the 1990 film.) The filmmakers paid too much attention to the “wow” factors like effects, high impact action sequences and production design and left a more basic component lacking—the storyline.
Sacrifice for the welfare of the underprivileged, fighting for a cause and standing up to oppression—these are some of the socio-political issues that the film addresses. Oppression may succeed for some time, but it is human nature to protect not just the self but life itself.
But more than these, there is an in-your-face message against government’s population control solutions—kill someone less important so that the chosen few can live. The method that the UFB chose was blunt and brutal and can easily be condemned by an ordinary viewer. But analysing what is taking place in our own nation today—this is the same step that the authorities forcing to enact certain laws and bills that are clearly against life are doing. Although they are targeting the unborn and attacking women’s fertility in the guise of a better economics, health and other benefits, the steps being imposed are anti-life, attacks the weak and disadvantaged.
The movie can be a springboard for various socio-political discussions but because it really focuses more on hard core action, you’d have to fish long to get to the better messages it has.  This is better for older audiences with strong caution to parents.