Total Recall
One of the best things I can say about Len Wiseman’s new vision of Philip K. Dick’s short story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, is that it wasn’t a carbon copy of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven film from the same material. That would have been painfully boring, and though I still prefer the first film, I will say this for Wiseman and his writers– he kept me guessing where the film was headed.
How the did “Underworld” director pull off such a coup? I mean, after all, the basic story he and writers Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback are telling is the same. This is very true, and admittedly, some of the changes to the narrative (the blonde-brunette tension of Quaid’s women in his life, the Earth-bound action instead of going to Mars) keep the film from achieving the same psychological and visual intrigue of the original movie. And I’ll be honest, I didn’t like Wiseman and production designer Patrick Tatopoulos (who created an iconic look in “Dark City”) basically borrowing the look of the film’s future from “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report,” although it makes it interesting to think of this alongside those great, Dick futures.
But I haven’t answered the question yet: How did Wiseman keep me interested in this story, especially since I’ve established above that several of the film’s changes to the original movie work against it? (At least, in my opinion.) Honestly, it’s because the story, regardless of which version you prefer, is an exciting excursion into speculative sci-fi, as most Dick stories are. The film doesn’t give into the dilemma of fantasy vs. reality the first movie does, but Wiseman keeps it moving, partially because his cast fits the roles they’re cast in perfectly. Colin Farrell lacks the immediate screen presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but his Doug Quaid is just as compelling a lead, and honestly, he fits the everyman quality the role requires. And as the duel women in his life, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel have the athleticism and intelligence to make us enjoy watching the chase they put Quaid in the middle of. And Bryan Cranston continues to be impressive in dramatic roles, this time as the villainous Cohaagen, played so memorably by Ronnie Cox in the first film. As an action thriller, “Total Recall” delivers the goods; however, Verhoeven and the Governator dug deeper into the implications of trying to live out those secret fantasies.
