Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Total Recall - DVD Review


Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, Bokeem Woodbine, John Cho and Will Yun Lee. 
Directed by Len Wiseman. 

★½

There were two good things about this movie.  First, the special effects are great. Good job by the tech team, and I imagine it looked good in 3D on the big screen.  Second, there's a scene where Quaid (Farrell) is taking a break from all the chasing, and he rests against a piano, something he wishes he knew how to play. But then he discovers he can play it. It's a nice moment of discovery by Farrell, a good human pause to all the mindless action.

But the rest of it is high-speed junk.  There's turning off your brain, and then there's turning off the laws of physics.  There's a gunfight in zero-G that just took way too many liberties with logic. There's the plot twists you'd see coming a mile away even if you're not familiar with the original.  There's the fact that Jessica Biel's in it, and when's the last time her presence signified a good movie?  There's the deliberate borrowing of the art direction from Minority Report.

Stick to the Arnold version.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The cast and action make this predictable story a whole lot more enjoyable, but it’s still the same, old formula as the original. Except this time, it’s without all of the hilarious Arnie one-liners. Nice review John.