Total Recall
Rent/Purchase
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.
What critics thought
The 2012 Total Recall remake was broadly panned as a slick but hollow exercise — critics agreed the production design and action set-pieces were impressive, but found the film drained of the wit, strangeness, and emotional pull that made the 1990 original worth revisiting. The sharpest disagreement was over whether the first act's worldbuilding redeems the generic chase-thriller the film eventually becomes.
“Total Recall is well-crafted, high energy sci-fi. Like all stories inspired by Philip K. Dick, it deals with intriguing ideas. It never touched me emotionally, though, the way the 1990 film did, and strictly speaking, isn't necessary.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“For all of its dazzlingly rendered cityscapes and nonstop action, this revamped Total Recall is a bland thing—bloodless, airless, humorless, featureless. With or without the triple-bosomed prostitute.”
Amy Biancolli·San Francisco Chronicle
“Crazy new gadgets, vigorous action sequences and a thorough production-design makeover aren't enough to keep Total Recall from feeling like a near-total redundancy.”
Justin Chang·Variety
“The richly constructed first hour is so superior to any feat of sci-fi speculation since Minority Report that the bland aftertaste of the chase finale is quickly forgotten.”
Joe Williams·St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“this one is somberly kinetic and joyless.”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
Genres
Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorLen Wiseman
StarringColin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, John Cho
ComposerHarry Gregson-Williams
Total Recall
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.
What critics thought
The 2012 Total Recall remake was broadly panned as a slick but hollow exercise — critics agreed the production design and action set-pieces were impressive, but found the film drained of the wit, strangeness, and emotional pull that made the 1990 original worth revisiting. The sharpest disagreement was over whether the first act's worldbuilding redeems the generic chase-thriller the film eventually becomes.
“Total Recall is well-crafted, high energy sci-fi. Like all stories inspired by Philip K. Dick, it deals with intriguing ideas. It never touched me emotionally, though, the way the 1990 film did, and strictly speaking, isn't necessary.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“For all of its dazzlingly rendered cityscapes and nonstop action, this revamped Total Recall is a bland thing—bloodless, airless, humorless, featureless. With or without the triple-bosomed prostitute.”
Amy Biancolli·San Francisco Chronicle
“Crazy new gadgets, vigorous action sequences and a thorough production-design makeover aren't enough to keep Total Recall from feeling like a near-total redundancy.”
Justin Chang·Variety
“The richly constructed first hour is so superior to any feat of sci-fi speculation since Minority Report that the bland aftertaste of the chase finale is quickly forgotten.”
Joe Williams·St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“this one is somberly kinetic and joyless.”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
Genres
Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorLen Wiseman
StarringColin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, John Cho
ComposerHarry Gregson-Williams
Rent/Purchase