Total Recall [DVD] [2012]

I had a bit of trepidation going into this movie because of all the bad reviews that I'd heard about it but I actually didn't mind this film. The acting isn't bad, the special effects are good, the story is a hell of a lot easier to follow and they do some call backs to the original too.Not a great deal of bonus features to choose from but the ones there are are entertaining... got to be honest, I think it was a waste of a second disk.

I absolutely agree with some of the reviewers that this is nowhere near as good as the original. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall is a definite 5 star and I think if I had just watched that ahead of this one that I would only be rating this remake as a 3 star.But his was a non-stop breathtakingly action packed film with a very good performance by the three main leads. Colin Farrell was every bit the hero and was well supported by Jessica Biel as Melina his co-rebel. I think Kate Beckinsale stole the show though with her rip roaring performance as the main antagonist.In my humble opinion there was a bit less tension in this film, because in the original you were never quite sure if Schwarzenegger was still under the Recall drugs or whether what he was going through was real - until the end. With the Farrell version you are on more solid ground as to where you think he is, which is a shame because it would have added another dimension to it. But the film was good and I really enjoyed it - just advise watching this before the Schwarzenegger version - save the best 'til last.

A science fiction/action movie that was 'inspired' by the short story 'we can remember it for you wholesale' by Philip K. Dick. As usual with movies based on short stories it just takes the basic idea - a man who goes to have false memories implanted but finds he has a whole forgotten identity as a spy - and goes it's own way with things, thus it bears no resemblance to the story beyond that.Said story also inspired the movie  Total Recall [DVD] [1990 ] thus this is also a remake of that.The opening quickly fills us in with the world of the film. A relatively near future Earth where most of the land has been made unliveable. Save for the United Federation of Britain. Plus the colony. The latter being pretty much all of Australia. Under the rule of the former. People travel between the two places via a very long tunnel. And some very interesting science.Douglas Quaid [Colin Farrell] is an assembly line worker, married to a cop [Kate Beckinsale]. Living in a cheap apartment. Having dreams about another lady [Jessica Biel] and being in the middle of gunfights. He feels there's something missing from his life. He yearns for something more.A lot of the police are robots who are also used as soldiers. There are rebels in the colony, and the President [Bryan Cranston] is trying to deal with them.Quaid visits a place called Rekall, who can implant false memories for you. Of anything you want. Memories that won't be real, but will seem better than his dreary existence.But before that can be done, he finds himself in the middle of a gunfight. Running for his life. Learning things about his wife that he never knew. And the best hope for the future of millions.Presenting a near future setting is a tricky thing, because the future will never generally turn out as we expected it would. This though does that very well. Presenting a near future Earth that is a very believable creation. With cityscapes that look convincing and technology that you could easily imagine coming to pass.It never gets off planet, unlike the original version.It toys with the concept of reality and the veracity of memory a little more than the original did. Kate Beckinsale is very good indeed at being ruthless. And for the first half, this is a pretty exciting action movie with some excellent set pieces and a few believable characters.It does homage the original in at least one place.What it lacks though is a sense of humour. It's desire to be believable means it's all played totally straight and serious. The occasional funny line isn't meant to be a merry quip, so none are laugh out loud funny. And once it gets Quaid together with certain characters, it does rather lose it's pace.Jessica Biel's Melina is a very note tough lady character, and you never really get any detail about her. The other rebels and villains who turn up are also very one note, and just doing what they're doing for the sake of it.More action set pieces follow that are pretty good, but they don't grab you as much those in the first half did.Ultimately this is a perfectly decent action film with some good science fiction and some interesting concepts. If you haven't seen the original you might enjoy it for that, but it won't really stick in the memory.If you have seen the original, then this was always going to suffer by comparison to it. Because it doesn't manage to be quite as original and memorable as that was.A capable remake ultimately, but not seemingly a necessary one.Those bothered by flashing lights be aware there's a lot of that right at the start.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options;Languages: English, Hindi.Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish.The disc begins with a short commercial, that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.Extras are as follows;Previews: a short section containing a generic trailer for blu ray and one for a movie. Which can only be watched in a row rather than individually.A flyer giving a link to a website and a code you can use to download a copy of the film from that to a digital device.Three featurettes:A two minute long feature about designing a certain piece of technology seen in the film.Science fiction v science fact: an eight minute long chat with a scientist about more of the technology seen in the film, and how it could become possible. It's fascinating viewing.Gag reel: Seven minutes worth of the cast and crew being silly for the sake of it, with intermittently amusing outtakes. A handful of which are quite funny.

Fast paced well acted and enjoyable remake

Great film on its own that works well alongside another if a similar title.

On the other hand I really disliked the Austrian American Governor's version so I actually found this one quite watchable. It's not high or hard science fiction (and Philip K. Dicks work deserves better TBH) but it passed the time.Colin Farrell does his best rabbit in headlights/remorseless killing machine thing, Kate Beckinsale is suitably nasty as his pursuer and Bill Nighy picks up the cheque and snuffs it without over-acting. I found I could suspend my sense of disbelief easier for this version while the original just left me wanting to scream "WHY??" at the TV. I got it "free" on Amazon Prime which might have helped.

Colin Farrell is all you need to know!