Total Recall (2012)
I’ve always loved imdb.com but their 6.2-out-of-10 rating for the 2012 version of Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell and Bokeem Woodbine, is nothing short of criminal. This brilliantly inventive, supremely high-octane, sci fi film deserves no less than…and I’m being conservative here…an 11. The world-building alone, with the first realistic mag cars I’ve ever seen, is both convincingly accurate and hauntingly surreal. The truly non-stop action achieves that almost impossible combination of lightning speed and instant clarity. (No rewinding to catch things you might have missed.) The characters are compelling; the plot has more twists than Ireland’s “Peace Maze.” What’s not to love?
But…okay…in fairness…an explanation for imdb.com’s ridiculously low rating for the 2012 version of Total Recall could be laid at the door of loyalty to the original, 1990 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone which did, after all, win multiple awards. Still their audience only rated this first version 7.5…not bad but not legendary. Do I detect a public that still minimalizes sci fi here?
You might enjoy watching both versions to see what you think…
