Re-recall

1990's Total Recall isn't a top 100 movie for me, but it comes surprisingly close. Clever action sequences, a fun reality/fantasy conceit, some just-barely-shy-of-over-the-top performances, and a kick-ass Jerry Goldsmith score make it a thoroughly enjoyable little romp.

I was thus a bit nervous to see how they'd put together the remake of the film. In my mind, there was basically nowhere to go but down. And yet, I just couldn't keep myself away. Once the remake became available through Netflix, I threw it in the queue.

Where the original movie allowed things to be just a touch campy at times (as it had to, being an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie), the new version takes itself quite seriously. Too seriously, in my opinion, because the oh-so-earnest treatment of the material only highlights the fact that the world in which it takes place isn't really logical. The remake goes back to the Philip K. Dick short story, in that the planet Mars has nothing to do with it. But the Mars of the original film at least had a tenuous internal logic for the crazy things you saw on screen -- bad radiation protection leading to human mutations, domed cities connected by underground mining tunnels, and so forth.

The new film tells us that living space is at a premium in this version of the future, yet the main character lives in an enormous apartment. The city isn't laid out in a way that would maximize space, but rather in a way that allows for Bourne-esque rooftop chases. And a bizarre, Wonkavator-like mass transit system is really just a labyrinthine series of ways to get body parts severed, calling to mind the (deliberately) insane engineering systems of the ship in Galaxy Quest. Nothing in the film exists for a logical reason; it's just there to be the setting of an action sequence.

All these trappings are delivered with every bit of breathtaking fidelity that modern CG techniques can render. (And with enough lens flare to make even J.J. Abrams say, "I think that's a bit much.") And yet despite how different it all appears, it's rather shocking how much the original movie is made to fit. The dialogue is often different, the particulars a bit tweaked, but the story of the new Total Recall follows the old one too closely. If you were to make a one-page outline of the first film, spending one sentence to describe the main point of each scene in order, the new Total Recall is what you'd get if you handed that outline to someone else who'd never seen the original. About the only significant change is that the characters played in the original by Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside are fused into one here.

I will say that at least the remake has a solid cast, probably better across the board than anyone in the original. Colin Farrell is more relatable than Arnold Schwarzenegger; Kate Beckinsale more menacing than Sharon Stone; Jessica Biel more authentic than Rachel Ticotin. (And apologies to the wonderful Ronny Cox, but Bryan Cranston is the man.) Still, some great actors are woefully underused. John Cho is the most engaging personality in the film, but he's barely there for two minnutes. Bill Nighy only gets slightly more screen time. (And going back to Bryan Cranston, he doesn't appear in any significant way until the final act, and his charater's pure mustache twirling wouldn't work at all in a lesser actor's hands.)

Having mentioned Jerry Goldsmith's great score for the original at the beginning of this review, I'd be remiss not to say at least a little about the music for the new incarnation. It comes from Henry Gregson-Williams, and is of a very different character. It's far less melodic, and avoids the majestic sweep of the horns and strings of Goldsmith's score. But it does boost the percussion to an insane degree, as though competing with the visuals for your attention. Some won't like that (nor will they like some tenuous connections here and there to the new Inception-esque style of composing for movies), but I actually found the music to be one of the most successful elements of the new film, even if it wasn't a match for one of Goldsmith's career best.

The truth is, the remake of Total Recall is a long way from being a "bad" film. But it's also a long way from being a "good" one, and it come out unfavorably in almost every comparison with the original. I give it a C-.