While the 1990 release was, well, a 90's action flick, with a certain requisite amount of comedy, this version is a more modern action movie with a variety of edge-of-your-seat chase-turned-fight-turned-chase scenes. Basically, once the action starts, you're off and things don't really slow down until the dust settles.
The premise of Total Recall is that in a future where people have the technology to implant memories of events into a person's mind, it becomes impossible to ever know - for sure - whether any given event actually happened or whether it was an implanted memory. When bored factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) wants a little excitement and seeks to buy an implanted experience of having been a spy, things go horrible wrong and a elite security team swarms the Rekall facility to capture him... or do they? The flip side here is that, perhaps, this is merely part of the "trip" he's paying for; what is a more believable, better start for the experience than to discount the Rekall process as not having worked to begin with. Personally, I found that this version felt more slanted to it being real, while the original left me discussing with friends and family whether or not it was supposed to be real. In a special feature, the director, Len Wiseman expresses that he definitely has his own belief on whether it was real or Rekall, but he refuses to go on record as to what his opinion is.
Total Recall follows Douglas Quaid, a factory worker at a robot factory, married to a beautiful E.M.S. technician, Lori (Kate Beckinsale), living in an overcrowded, mega-slum post-apocalyptic Australia, which is now referred to as simply "the Colony" and is one of only two places on the globe that is still inhabitable. The other is comprised of England and some nearby land, which together comprise the United Federation of Britain. Those who have even a passing grasp on geography may immediately assume that these populations don't interact, but, as it turns out, much of the populace of the Colony perform high-risk, low-paying jobs in the UFB, commuting daily via a large elevator / subway train, of sorts, that goes straight through the Earth, in a tube that is curved a bit to avoid the hot, gooey molten core. This "elevator" is known as "The Fall," since it essentially falls down from one station, then comes to a stop when it reaches the station on the other side.
In the world of Total Recall, the UFB is ruled over by a ruthless Chancellor in a political climate where the Colony is highly disfavored and used merely for inexpensive manual labor, with no regard for their quality of life. When humanoid robots prove to be capable of performing these hazardous and menial tasks, he moves to wipe out the Colony and take their most valuable resource - habitable space - for the citizens of the UFB. When Douglas Quaid gets passed over for a promotion and realizes that the simple fact that he's from the Colony means that he's stuck in a dead-end job, he visits Rekall to seek some excitement and experience memories of having been a spy. That goes... poorly... when it turns out his real memories had been suppressed and it turns out that he actually was a spy and winds up taking out a strike force, single-handedly, running on instincts alone. He returns home to his wife who starts by consoling him, then tries to kill him, sharing that she's actually a secret agent, who's been assigned to keep him in control. Quaid or rather, Hauser has to escape his wife (or die trying) and try to find out what's real and what's not... try to find out who he is. Hauser soon gets contacted by resistance operatives who know him on sight, but of whom he has no memory. The prettiest of which is a girl named Melina (Jessica Biel) who, it seems, may have been more than just a friend. Melina and Hauser have to escape Lori and make their way to the secret headquarters of the rebellion to meet with Matthias (Bill Nighy), the leader of the resistance, so that he can unlock much needed information to help turn the tide towards the resistance. However, things don't go as planned, and it turns out that things aren't as they seem... again... in a shell-game of realities.
The post-apocalyptic world realized in Total Recall sees a gritty, dark Colony, with a cleaner UFB, featuring futuristic technology, from elevators that travel in a variety of directions to ground transportation of normal cars (from today and before), modified to run on solar power, while overhead super-interstates are abuzz with mag-lev vehicles floating above and below the road structure. There is a predominance of video-based signage, but shown on normal structural glass and even some form of holographic flat screens, as people occasionally walk through the displays, temporarily disturbing a part. The slums were overgrown with cubic housing that looked like it grew organically in multiple directions, resulting in voluminous clumps of housing that more resemble cancerous growths in structure than they do typical high-rises of today. The sheer amount of illuminated signage and the grit of the Colony gave it a very "Blade Runner" feel, in my opinion. With all the lighting effects, the visuals are quite stunning in high-definition, so the Blu-ray version is a must if picking up this movie.
Special features consist of a fun and insightful commentary with director Len Wiseman, a feature on the scientific probability of the depicted futuristic science hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku (a reknown American theoretical physicist and futurist), and a feature on the science of the intraplanetary transport, "The Fall," as depicted in the film. For those interested in how movies are made, there is a feature on the stunt work which was interesting and another feature that showed computer animated pre-visualizations of several key action scenes in the movie, which simply have some music in the background. Personally, although I am a fan of computer graphics, I typically find these pre-visualizations a bit boring and this time was no exception. The commentary is only available on the Extended Director Version, but the Theatrical Version features a version called "Insight Mode," which has pop-ups of behind-the scenes information about the film and trivia. Finally, there is a short demo of the upcoming PS3 game God of War: Ascension, which is awesome, especially if you are a fan of the series.
If you like futuristic action movies with non-stop action, you may enjoy Total Recall. I did, but it's more of a turn-your-mind-off and enjoy the action sort of thing... a "popcorn" flick, if you will. If you're looking for something deep, as Philip K. Dick's stories often are, or if you think 80's-style action films reign supreme, then you might be disappointed with the 2012 re-imagining.
