Motivations for characters are painfully simple and underdeveloped. There is a fatal flaw with the bad guy — the film wants you to hate Cohagen like you did in the original but you can’t. He is a greedy jerk in the original, a perfect bad guy for a “hero fantasy” but as I mentioned earlier, this film drops the fantasy element and provides the bad guy a catalyst that’s downright Darwinian and hard to hate, empathize or feel conflicted about. It simply is and that’s boring.

Farrell is a standout and his chops as an actor and the focus the film places on him grant just enough leading man glory to bring a sci-fi ‘shoot-em-up’ to life. The rest of the cast is ultimately forgettable; there just isn’t enough room for them in the script. Beckinsale’s character in particular echoes of wasted potential. Her character is a combination of two characters from the original film and much of their drama was built upon one another and so this merger less than works out.

Visually this film makes a cardinal sin and one that genre buffs are going to be hard pressed to forgive. It’s a complicated sentiment so I’ll try and make it simple.  The film is set in two cities connected by some physically impossible elevator through the Earth. One city is a cut and paste from Blade Runner and the other city is a cut and paste from Minority Report. Each setting is bereft of originality. Both of these films are based on Philip K Dick stories, but in no way are they meant to share a common timeline, context or cinematic architecture. Total Recall needed to distance itself visually from either of those films and it made the mistake of trying to emulate them.

It’s bad enough to try and evoke a better film such as Minority Report, utter suicide to put Blade Runner on the brain. Total Recall can’t compete with either and only pulled me out of my immersion. I found myself comparing every element of the film with its contemporaries. Blade Runner and Minority Report leave me thinking, Total Recall does not. That being said, it’s by no means bad; it has plenty of “cool” action and it will satisfy, even if just to see a sexy woman beat the shit out of Colin Farrell. Total Recall gets a 7/10 and a strong recommendation for anyone who wants to have their questions asked and answered in a single sitting.

Total Recall: Memory & Mind Alteration – The Philip K Dick Legacy

https://myetvmedia.com/feature/total-recall-memory-mind-alteration-%E2%80%93-the-philip-k-dick-legacy/

Max Romano