TOTAL RECALL - archive from 8th September 2012.

Saw the new 'TOTAL RECALL' this week and enjoyed this Len Wiseman retelling of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven cult classic. There are many similarities to this latest incarnation and nods aplenty to that 1990 Schwarzenegger actioner that any movie geek will relish. 

This time though the action takes place on a dystopian planet Earth of the late 21st Century compared to Mars, and with the Earth almost uninhabitable only two safe havens remain - The United Federation of Britain (UFB) and The Colony (aptly Australia - a case of history repeating itself here methinks!) The two are linked by a tunnel type affair where there is high speed people carrying device that hurtles through the centre of our planet to get from one t'other!

The story principles though are practically identical except the action is ramped up using the latest CGI box of tricks to enhance the visuals and please the kids! Colin Farrell is convincing as Doug Quaid, a factory operative eking out a living working on robotic suits on The Colony and having nightmares about another possible life - but is it real or imagined? There is also Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel to provide the eye candy and add to the action quotient, and, confuse us as to who's who in Dougs mind as the plot twists and turns between northern and southern hemispheres. Bryan Cranston and Bill Nighy also star.

This Philip K. Dick tale has all his usual trademarks as seen in 'Blade Runner', 'Minoriry Report, and 'iRobot'  - which if you liked them you'll like this! Worth the price of your ticket, and watch out for the London landmarks and Sydney harbour!

The film picked up a small handful of awards around the circuit. It took US$26M in its opening weekend Stateside, but the skids were then well & truly applied with a closing global box office haul of US$199M against a budget to make the film at about US$125M. Hardly a resounding success then on that basis, and you could be forgiven for asking that age old question - 'why bother' - a whole new audience who know nothing of the 1990 film, a lack of new original content, and a chance to update with new eye popping technology that didn't exist back in the day . . . that's why!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-