Total Recall (2012)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 215
Fresh: 66 | Rotten: 149
While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, wry humor, and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic.
Average Rating: 4.8/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 31
While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, wry humor, and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 99,681
My Rating
Movie Info
Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen
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Cast
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Colin Farrell
Douglas Quaid, Douglas ... -
Kate Beckinsale
Lori Quaid -
Jessica Biel
Melina -
Bryan Cranston
Cohaagen, Vilos Cohaage... -
Bokeem Woodbine
Harry -
Bill Nighy
Kuato, Matthias, Quatto -
John Cho
McClane -
Will Yun Lee
Marek -
Milton Barnes
Resistance Fighter -
James McGowan
Military Adjutant -
Natalie Lisinska
Bohemian Nurse -
Michael Therriault
Bank Clerk -
Stephen MacDonald
Slacker -
Mishael Morgan
Rekall Receptionist -
Linlyn Lue
Resistance Woman -
Dylan Scott Smith
Hammond -
Andrew Moodie
Factory Foreman -
Kaitlyn Leeb
Three-Breasted Woman -
Leo Guiyab
Hauser Cover Identity -
Nykeem Provo
Hauser Cover Identity -
Steve Byers
Hauser Cover Identity -
Danny Waugh
Officer -
Geoffrey Pounsett
Sentry Lieutenant -
Jesse Bond
Lead Sentry -
Warren Belle
Security Sentry -
Vincent Rother
Sentry -
Matthew Nette
Sentry -
Brooks Darnell
Sentry -
Brett Donahue
Sentry Trooper -
James Downing
Synth Captain -
Simon Sinn
Murray -
Lisa Chandler
Prostitute -
Miranda Jade Fratton
Girl on Balcony -
Shereen J. Airth
Red-Headed Lady -
Phillip Moran
Immigration Officer -
Clive Ashborn
Newscaster -
Emily C. Chang
Newscaster -
Bill Coulter
Newscaster -
Merella Fernandez
Newscaster -
Alicia-Kay Markson
Newscaster -
Brian C. Rodriguez
Newscaster -
Leigh Folsom
The Fall Announcer Voic... -
Brian T. Delaney
ATC Dispatcher Voice -
Cam Clarke
Terminal Announcer Voic... -
Bridget Hoffman
Chopper Voice
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Total Recall Trailer & Photos
All Critics (215) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (150) | DVD (3)
'Total Recall' is Hollywood at its worst: pointless, witless, and so very unnecessary.
Top Critic"Total Recall" is a toned-down, smoothed-out version of an amped-up, bug-eyed classic.
This is a taut, serviceable sci-fi thriller with a couple of neat visual ideas, and if you're not familiar with either the Schwarzenegger version or the original story, the brain-bending twists alone will take you a reasonably long way.
Casting and visuals are an upgrade, but we get far too many action sequences and not enough of the mind games.
I was no particular fan of the first Total Recall, but I confess that this flat, by-the-numbers remake made me a tad nostalgic for its bombastic preposterousness.
Whatever tug Total Recall has on the imagination comes from the vague sense we've seen it all before. And seen it better: from Christopher Nolan's Inception to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.
More or less serviceable action thriller with some nice ideas for visual set pieces, but did it really have to be as long as it is?
Messing with memories is how you forget that a better version of Total Recall happened 22 years ago.
If there had never been an 'original' Total Recall, the reaction to Wiseman's version would surely have been a lot less frosty. Because in and of itself, it's a decent enough sci-fi action flick - severely flawed, but a lot of fun.
Visually, the 2012 remake is better than the original, with interesting set and background designs, decent enough futuristic vehicles, and superb special effects. The plot is another story.
This chance to update the original Total Recall merely becomes a missed opportunity, with the filmmakers opting to make a special effects extravaganza that largely ignores the story instead.
Like Farrell, we're left guessing as to whether what's going on is fantasy or reality.
Wiseman makes mildly pretty films, full of blues and grays and lens flares, but they're the definition of bland.
[D]irector Len Underworld Wiseman's least hacktackular movie yet, which isn't to say that it's quality entertainment, but it is some solid B-grade processed-cheese-product movie junk food.
While far from terrible, this retread forgoes any qualities to justify its existence in the first place. It will be justly forgotten before long.
A remake that's well-worth missing.
This new version of Total Recall is the cinematic equivalent of a vibrator: it is whirling, sleek, shiny and utterly artificial, yet it gets you where you need to go.
A bright and shiny slice of blockbuster sci-fi that's so dazzling it makes tender love to your retinas but so underwhelming it practically wipes itself from your memory the instant it's over.
Delivers a serviceable piece of updated movie product.
Enough visual spectacle to make viewers wish they had three eyeballs but thin characters and a convoluted story ultimately undermine Wiseman's successes.
Total Recall is it's own beast - one that needs to be caged off and held at arm's length. It is a mess, a wasteful rethink that was never needed and lousy movie at worst.
"Total Recall" is a totally unnecessary remake of a moderately amusing sci-fi thriller from 1990. The 2012 version starring Colin Farrell is about as memorable as yesterday's lunch.
Engaging visual effects don't make up for a banal script and paper-thin characters.
Total Recall is nothing more than a lazy, dull, soulless studio effort wrapped up in an enticing sci-fi landscape.
What we end up with is a forgettable, monotonous reimagining that was wholly unnecessary.
A sci-fi action movie that wears its influences loudly, what Total Recall lacks in originality it makes up in its brooding tech-world action noir spectacle.
Audience Reviews for Total Recall
Super Reviewer
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- Lori Quaid: Get some sleep.
- Douglas Quaid: Sleep scares me.
- Lori Quaid: Well, dream of me.
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- Melina: That's your wife!?
- Douglas Quaid/Hauser: I think we're separated.
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- Melina: I've been looking for you everywhere.
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- Lori Quaid: By the way, you haven't even begun to to see me try to kill you.
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- Douglas Quaid: What the hell are you doing?
- Lori Quaid: My job!
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- Harry: They chemically transfused me into your mind.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Ewww.. | 43 days ago | 1 |
| ZZZZZZzzzzzzz | 43 days ago | 3 |
| What exactly...was this? | 2 months ago | 1 |
| Even my lack of expectations couldn't spare my disappointment.. | 3 months ago | 0 |
| People who rated this low didn't understand the ending | 3 months ago | 0 |
Latest News on Total Recall
December 18, 2012:
RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Total Recall, Pitch Perfect, and Lots MoreWith Christmas just a week away, it's not surprising that so many films found their way into home...
August 3, 2012:
Critics Consensus: Total Recall Isn't An Affair To RememberThis week at the movies, we've got artificial memories (Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell and...
August 2, 2012:
Total Recall: Partial RecallAfter many months of examining cinematic history under the Total Recall banner, our column meets its...
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Foreign Titles
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Writer Kurt Wimmer's take on a Philip K. Dick's source material is certainly much better than Dan O'Bannon's and Ronald Shusett's adaptation for the 1990 film with same name. Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall was just silly and abysmally dumb action film which was made into something closer to an pure Arnold Schwarzenegger action-vehicle than sci-fi with true ideas behinfd it. With Schwarzenegger it was very hard to take serious and was something closer to an pure camp than hard sci-fi. Len Wiseman instead injects more interesting themes into his version and turns it into visually spectacular chase film with even some dreamlike moments.
There is no denying that visually Wiseman borrows a lot from Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. It even has Colin Farrell, this time a fugitive himself, in it. There is also some clear references to Ridley Scott's unique Blade Runner and the world it portrays. Wiseman clealry ain't no Spielberg, Scott or even Verhoeven when it comes to taking risks and style. He often fails to create anything that would have a clear visual stamp of his own. It is too often more focused on all the fancy cadgets than actual plot and to be honest this is quite a hollow film when it comes to characters and their motives.
Total Recall works best as an pure non-stop entertainment and if you are willing to go along with it, you will most certainly be thrilled. Don't expect this to be anything more than a great fun and you wil possibly enjoy it a lot. Check your brains out and enjoy the chase.