Another completely useless, uninspired remake that pales in comparison to the original. In other words: it’s Monday.
What Works: It’s always a pleasure to see Bryan Cranston (giving the best performance on television as Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad) getting work but he could still do better than being the generic villain in this. Maybe one day he’ll get the film role he deserves.
What Doesn’t Work: A strong stench of generic is all over this thing, from its rip-off premise (not just of the original Total Recall but of the Jason Bourne movies as well) to the sub-Minority Report action sequences to the presence of Kate Beckinsale as a personality less “action star.” Nothing really works, and I can’t even say that Colin Farrell or Jessica Biel really do much, but that’s no surprise. The original “Total Recall” may be goofy in parts but it blows this one out of the water in fun, in satisfaction, and even intelligence. It had ideas running all the way through it, but Len Wiseman (the total hack that also directed the Underworld movies) doesn’t give a damn about sci-fi ideas so much as he wants to use them as a pretense to get to the next poorly staged action sequence.
What I Would Have Done Differently: This movie was a flop from the jump. From the second they cast Colin Farrell (who has never been the star of a hit movie) as the lead, to when they decided not to go to Mars (a sure sign they didn’t have any imagination), to the surefire miss of getting Len Wiseman to direct. Could a Total Recall work? Maybe, but not when you don’t even try.
That’s a shame the previews did look good
Total what? Why do movie studios have to keep redoing the same ole, same ole?
Lots of new writers that need their work to be done. We want new stuff.