Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Total Recall - A re-make that was actually good!!


by Brian Heissenbuttel

            Most great films are hard to re-make. The Star Trek franchise was massive in the 60’s and 70’s, but the 2009 re-make made long-time trekkies want to club J.J. Abrams with a Vulcan mallet. Letting George Lucas into the Indiana Jones franchise was a fatal mistake, and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was looked upon with shame by fans of the original three movies. Now Total Recall, from 1990, has been given the same makeover. Thankfully, it had better results.
            First of all, let me get one thing clear. Colin Farrell has nothing on Arnold Schwarzenegger. Come to think of it, nobody does. But he still put on a strong showing as Hauser, a spy from Australia. (Known as “The Colony” in the film)       
            Unfortunately, a lot of the characters aren’t defined well, and the movie ends with several characters identified by only their name and whose side they were fighting for. The reason for this is very simple; Hauser’s story is so confusing that a large part of the movie is dedicated to clarifying who Hauser is and what happened to him in the past.
            Despite the problems with the characters, this movie has an excellent storyline. Unlike most movies, this one has few events that severely twist the plot, but if you look down to check a text message, you will have missed something interesting. I guarantee it.
            The one area where the 2012 remake tops the 1990 original is in visual effects (obviously). With the plot taking place in the 22nd century, anybody who didn’t consider flying cars and robot armies shouldn’t be working on the movie.
            Overall, I think this new movie is just as good as the original. That is very rare with films that are re-made. I would recommend this film to people who haven’t seen the original and to people who have. I think this will be popular when it is released on DVD. And thanks to the stunning visual effects and sounds, I would definitely get it on Blu-Ray.

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