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Review: Total Recall

By Christine Petralia

Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures

August 5, 2012

*Spoiler Alert



I had wanted to see the original Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I ran out of time and the reboot of it came out this weekend. And the film did not disappoint when it comes to the action aspect.



The premise is very straightforward and simple. The world was destroyed in World War III except for two districts, the United Federation of Britain and The Colony. People travel to both districts via ‘The Fall,’ which protesters view as a way for the UFB to take over both districts. Douglas Quaid (Colin Ferrall) is a factory worker who is married to Lori (Kate Beckinsale). He keeps having a recurring dream where he is trying to escape with another woman (Jessica Biel) and he wakes up with he is trapped.



In an effort to figure out his dream and to escape what he calls a ‘boring’ life, he visits ‘Rekall,’ a company that implants artificial memories. His fantasy is to be a double agent and before he goes under, the technician (John Cho) does a ‘background check’ into his mind, which reveals that he is, in fact, a double agent. The process is quickly ended, but not before government officials burst in. Quaid instinctively kills all of the agents and devises a way to escape. He makes it home, where he explains what happened to his wife, who attempts to kill him, revealing that she works for the UFB and was assigned to ‘watch him.’ Additionally, they have not been married for seven years, but rather just six weeks, when she got the assignment and his mind was altered.



Quaid goes on the run, now wondering who the hell he is. A friend phones him, warns him that the UFB is after him and gives him information on a safe deposit box at a bank. He makes his way over to the bank and goes through the box, still unsure of who he is. Inside the box, is a video of him from the past, warning him of what is happening and giving him an address to go to. It also tells him to ‘find the key.’



As he attempts to head to the address, he gets caught in ‘customs,’ and again, goes on the run, when Melina (Biel) rescues him, saying she’s been looking for him forever. While he only remembers her from his dream, he trusts her and together they run from the government. They reach the address his friend gave him and inside he finds everything wrapped up from the government. He also finds another message from himself in the past, giving him instructions of how to save the world.  His real name is Carl Hauser and he used to work for the UFB and its leader, Cohaagen, however after meeting Melina, he defects to the resistance movement in the Colony and turns on the UFB. He alone has the power to destroy both nations, essentially. His old self gives him instructions of how to save the Colony from a UFB takeover.



After a confrontation from a ‘friend’ from his live as Quaid, Melina and Hauser/Quaid, run to find Matthias, the leader of the resistance movement. But this is all a trap and Cohaagen finds everyone and kills Matthias and then orders an infiltration of the Colony to take it over. He kidnaps Melina and leaves Hauser/Quaid to get his ‘memory’ back of his real life, so that he would essentially work for Cohaagen again. However, once again, Hauser/Quaid escapes and makes his way onto ‘The Fall.’ He rescues Melina and the pair takes down ‘The Fall’ and stops the infiltration.



There were a lot of chase scenes that, in my opinion, ran a little too long each time. However, seeing as this was an action film, I guess they weren’t too bad. Since the plot was pretty simple, it needed all the chase scenes as filler. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as annoyed as I thought I would be at Biel, as I usually don’t like her acting. I honestly don’t know how she gets these big films, but I digress.



A big part of this film was the futuristic devices. A particular favorite of mine was the phones in their hands, literally. It would ring, they would put their hand up to their ear to answer. Then, if they wanted to see the person they were talking to, all they had to do was put their hand up to glass and there they were. Another classic scene was the woman with the third breast. Though from a woman’s perspective, I wouldn’t particularly want a third one. And just the Colony world it self was pretty impressive.

All in all, a good summer action flick.



3 stars.

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