Total Recall (2012 film)

Plot

At the end of the 21st century, Earth is devastated by chemical warfare. What little habitable land remains is divided into two territories, the United Federation of Britain (UFB) and the Colony (Australia). Many residents of the Colony travel to the UFB to work in factories via "the Fall", a gravity elevator running through the Earths core. A Resistance operating in the UFB seeks to improve life in the Colony, which the UFB views as a terrorist movement.

Colony citizen Douglas Quaid has been having dreams of being a secret agent, aided by an unknown woman. Tired of his factory job building police robots with friend Harry, he visits Rekall, a virtual entertainment company that implants artificial memories. Among the choices Rekall salesman Bob McClane offers Quaid are the memories of a secret agent. An emblem of rekall is stamped onto his arm. Just as Quaid is starting to be implanted, McClane discovers that he already has real memories of being a covert operative. As McClane starts to question Quaid about the memories, UFB police officers burst in, killing the Rekall crews and attempt to arrest Quaid. Quaid instinctively reacts and kills the officers before escaping. Upon returning home his wife Lori attempts to kill him, revealing that she is an undercover UFB agent who has been monitoring him for the past six weeks. After Quaid escapes, Charles Hammond, a "friend" Quaid does not recognize, contacts him and directs him to a safe-deposit box. Quaid finds a recorded message from his former self with the address of a UFB apartment.

While being pursued by Lori and other human and robot police, Quaid meets Melina, the woman from his dreams. At the apartment Quaid finds another recording, revealing that his name is actually Carl Hauser, an agent working for UFB Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen. After defecting to the Resistance, Hauser was captured by the UFB and implanted with false memories. The recording reveals that Cohaagen will use robots to invade the Colony so the UFB will have more living space. Hauser, however, has seen a "kill code" that would disable the robots. The code can be recovered from his memory by Resistance leader Matthias. Melina reveals that she was Hausers lover before Hauser was captured; she proves that they knew each other by showing that they have matching scars from a time they were both shot whilst holding hands. The police surround the apartment building and Harry appears. He tries to convince Quaid that he is still in a Rekall-induced dream and that killing Melina is the only way out. Quaid is conflicted, but notices a tear on Melinas cheek and shoots Harry instead. Lori pursues the pair inside the buildings lifts, but fails to capture them.

Quaid and Melina meet with Matthias. While Matthias searches Quaids memories, Lori and Cohaagen storm the Resistance base. Cohaagen reveals that Hauser was in fact working for him without Quaid even knowing it due to the memory alteration, using the kill code as a trap. Cohaagen kills Matthias and arranges to restore Hausers memory before leaving with Melina as a prisoner. As the officers are about to inject Quaid, Hammond (revealed to be one of the police officers involved in the raid) sacrifices himself to help Quaid escape.

Cohaagen begins his invasion of the Colony, loading the Fall with his army of robots. Quaid sneaks on board, setting timed explosives throughout the ship while searching for Melina. After freeing her, they climb atop the Fall as it arrives at the Colony. As they fight the soldiers and Cohaagen, Quaids explosives detonate. Quaid and Melina jump off before the ship plummets back into the tunnel and explodes underground, killing Cohaagen and destroying his army and The Fall itself.

Waking up in an ambulance, Quaid is greeted by Melina. When he notices that she is missing her scar, he realizes that she is Lori using a holographic disguise; they fight and Lori is killed. Quaid finds the real Melina outside the ambulance and they embrace. As the news channels declare the independence of The Colony, Quaid notices that the emblem of Rekall that was stamped on his arm has disappeared. He looks up to find an advertisement of Rekall on an electronic billboard. Just before Quaid can kiss Melina, the screen cuts to black, making it open to interpretation whether Quaid was actually living the memory of a spy at rekall.

Cast

Ethan Hawke appears uncredited as Hausers original appearance in the directors cut. In the script as originally filmed, both Hausers memory and physical appearance were heavily altered by the UFB to turn him into Quaid. This plot point was excised from the theatrical cut, so Hawke appears only in the extended directors cut.

Production

On June 2, 2009, Variety reported that Kurt Wimmer would write the script for the film. Mark Bomback also co-wrote and James Vanderbilt did a "polish" on the script. Over a year later Len Wiseman was hired to direct. Paul Cameron is the films cinematographer and Christian Wagner is the films editor. The soundtrack is a collaboration of Harry Gregson-Williams and Welsh electronica group Hybrid. Although described in the press as a "remake", star Jessica Biel claimed in her August 2, 2012 appearance on The Daily Show that the film is not a remake of the 1990 film, but an adaptation of the original short story by Philip K. Dick. However, Biels own character of "Melina" was not actually present in the original short story by Philip K. Dick and only exists in this film and the original 1990 film. The same goes for the characters of Cohaagen and Harry, along with the leader of the Resistance. This version of the film also uses the names Quaid and Lori for the main character and his wife, like the 1990 film, whereas in the original short story they were Quail and Kirsten. The basic story also follows that of the original 1990 film, albeit with certain changes such as moving the action from Mars to "the Colony".

In August 2010, Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed an interest in reprising his role as Quaid until October 2010, when it was officially reported in The Hollywood Reporter that Colin Farrell was on the top of the short list, which included Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender, to play Quaid. On January 11, 2011, it was announced that Farrell had secured the role. Farrell stated in April that the remake would not be the same as Dicks short story.

Beckinsale and Biel were both confirmed for roles on May 25, after actresses Eva Green, Diane Kruger, and Kate Bosworth had previously been considered for Biels role. Actor Bryan Cranston was cast as the films villain. Ethan Hawke was reportedly cast in a cameo role, and commented that his character had a monologue about five pages long; however, this role was later cut. Though cut from the original film, Ethan Hawke is featured in the extended version of the film. Later cast additions included Bill Nighy and John Cho.

On a reported budget of $125 million, principal photography began in Toronto on May 16, 2011, and ended on September 20, 2011. Scenes were filmed at the Pinewood Toronto Studios, as well as the University of Toronto, Lower Bay Station, CIBC Commerce Court, the University of Toronto Scarborough, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and Guelph. The film was shot with Red Epic digital cameras and Panavision anamorphic lenses. After securing the film rights from Miramax Films, Columbia Pictures distributed the film.

Box office performance

Total Recall was released on August 3, 2012, and opened in 3,601 theaters in the United States, grossing $9,092,341 on its opening day and $25,577,758 on its opening weekend, ranking #2 with a per theater average of $7,220. The film performed poorly domestically with only $58,877,969 but made a strong $139,589,199 outside of the United States for a total of $198,467,168 against a $125 million budget.

Critical response

The film has received mixed to negative reviews from critics. It has a 30% "rotten" rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 217 reviews, with the consensus stating: "While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, dry humor and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 43, based on 41 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews." Critics cited Total Recall???s action sequences as "visually impressive". The film earned a Razzie Award nomination for Biel as Worst Supporting Actress.

Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film a positive review, stating: "The richly constructed first hour is so superior to any feat of sci-fi speculation since "Minority Report" that the bland aftertaste of the chase finale is quickly forgotten." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four; praising its details, he stated: "Total Recall is well-crafted, high energy sci-fi. Like all stories inspired by Philip K. Dick, it deals with intriguing ideas. It never touched me emotionally, though, the way the 1990 film did, and strictly speaking, isnt necessary." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film a positive review, stating that "the movie marches in predictable formations as well. But when Biels rebel pulls over in her hover car and asks Farrell if hed like a ride, your heart may sing as mine did."

Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, saying that "the outcome is engaging enough, although not entirely satisfying from either a genre or narrative standpoint, lacking both substance and a degree of imagination." Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave the film a mixed review, stating: "For all of its dazzlingly rendered cityscapes and nonstop action, this revamped Total Recall is a bland thing—bloodless, airless, humorless, featureless. With or without the triple-bosomed prostitute." Jen Chaney of The Washington Post gave the film two-stars-out-of-four, saying: "So what makes this 2012 Total Recall superior to the Arnie model? For starters, theres an actual actor in the starring role.... Still, this Recall has more than its share of flaws." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film "C", stating that "this one is somberly kinetic and joyless." Justin Chang of Variety gave the film a mixed review: "Crazy new gadgets, vigorous action sequences and a thorough production-design makeover arent enough to keep Total Recall from feeling like a near-total redundancy."

Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film a negative review, stating: "As for a villain, you could do worse than Bryan Cranston as the evil political overlord who is trying to stamp out the resistance... But... When he goes mano a mano with Farrell, its not spine-tingling. Its embarrassing, like watching a dude beat up his dad." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film a negative review, stating that "since the new Recall is totally witless, dont expect laughs. Originality and coherence are also notably MIA."

Video game

A 3D first-person shooter video game of the same name for iPhone, iPad and Android was released as a tie-in to the film.

Possible sequel

In July 2012, Farrell mentioned the possibility of doing another film. Producer Neal Moritz said "if audience likes it, we’ll make a sequel".