Movie · 2012 · Action, Science Fiction, Thriller · 1h 58m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 0.7/10 (380.1K ratings)
What Is Real?
Overview
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.7/10
IMDb: 6.2/10
Letterboxd: 2.53/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
Metacritic: 43
TMDB: 6.0/10
Director
Len Wiseman
Production
Total Recall, Original Film, Prime Focus, Rekall Productions, Columbia Pictures
Cast
Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, John Cho, Bryan Cranston, Dylan Smith, Cam Clarke, Bokeem Woodbine, Will Yun Lee, Natalie Lisinska, Milton Barnes, Stephen MacDonald, James McGowan, Michael Therriault, Mishael Morgan, Linlyn Lue, Andrew Moodie, Kaitlyn Leeb, Leo Guiyab
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, competently mounted sci-fi action remake with strong production design and a few standout set pieces, but it largely trades the original’s wit, weirdness, and identity-crisis bite for a more generic chase thriller. Worth it if you want polished dystopian spectacle; less so if you want personality or a fresh take on the premise.
Best for
Viewers who like glossy, fast-moving sci-fi action
Fans of dystopian cityscapes and practical-plus-CGI spectacle
People open to a remake judged on its own terms
Viewers who enjoy intense, villain-forward genre performances
Skip if
You want the satirical edge and outrageous imagination of the 1990 film
You dislike remakes that feel over-familiar or emotionally thin
You prefer sci-fi with philosophical ambiguity over straightforward plotting
You are looking for a memorable, quotable action movie
Overview
This version of Total Recall is a sleek, high-budget chase machine that understands how to keep the screen moving. The future-world design is polished, the action is efficient, and the film has enough momentum to stay watchable even when the story feels borrowed from half a dozen better sci-fi thrillers.
Worth noting
Its biggest problem is that it sands off the very oddness that made the premise memorable in the first place. By grounding everything more heavily, it loses the original’s sense of delirium, humor, and destabilized identity, leaving behind a more conventional conspiracy thriller with a futuristic skin.
Bottom line
There are still pleasures here, especially in the physical commitment of the cast and the occasional burst of visual flair. But the movie rarely surprises, and for a story built on uncertainty and memory, that lack of imagination is hard to ignore.
Top Letterboxd reviews
xtini (1.5★) · 1524 likes
I saw this in the cinema when it was released, late 2012. It was a blind date with a guy called Aaron: we had some dinner before and a chat and then went and watched the film. When we were walking out after it had finished, he told me he thought it was better than the original.
I never saw him again.
Grimbo (2★) · 594 likes
Souless remake that ignores all the great things from the original:-
No Mars
No Ricther
No Benny
No Kuato
No one liners
I heard that Kate Beckinsale steals the movie, she doesn't, she's as generic as everything else in this, and to waste Bryan Cranston is a sin!
Joe A (1.5★) · 459 likes
The definitive example of how “make it more grounded” can be a cancerous idea.
Colin Farrell hot though, so there’s that.
David Sims (1★) · 338 likes
ah, another day riding The Fall on my way to my job at The Colony
DirkH (2★) · 319 likes
I went into this chanting the following mantra: "I shall not compare it to Verhoeven's classic film."Let's see how I got on.
Wiseman's film is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's short story "We can remember it for you wholesale". And by loosely I mean it's actually not based on it at all. The only similarities to the story and this film are in the characters' names and the name of the company that alters memories. That's it. No… more
2005 · Action, Thriller, Science Fiction · 2h 16m · PG-13 · Curator 1.6/10 (480.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Another big-budget sci-fi chase film about manufactured lives and a hidden truth beneath a sterile future.