I think I will make this a regular thing. I'll watch a movie and post a review, spoiler free, and you folks can make of it what you will.
Going to qualify this by saying that I have no critical experience, I am not a writer and it is all just my own opinion. When I review a movie I will do it based on it's genre, it's acting, it's script (how well it was written) and wether a fan of the genre would likely enjoy it. So it will have a few ratings and one overall rating. If you like it let me know, I quite literally have a theatre down the street from me and if you enjoy my reviews I will see more movies than those that I plan to see regardless.
Total Recall
Having been alive for the first Total Recall movie I made a very specific point NOT to watch the original before going to see the reboot. Still I remember enough though that it coloured my judgement a little more than I liked. Setting that aside as best as I can here is my review of the acting.
Colin Farrell, wasn't bad overall. I would hate to say that Arnold played the role better, but it was close. Now I have really enjoyed Farrell's acting before, he was great in Heart's War, Minority Report, and really in Phone Booth, which could not have been an easy job, but since that performance he's really just waned. Taken bad roles, mailed it in or just doesn't seem to care. From Daredevil until about In Bruges he just didn't seem to care. His performance in Total Recall wasn't a total mail in he was convincing but many of his scenes his emotions seemed really forced. Over all he was good enough but not great. If you really want to see him at his best watch Phone Booth, it was an amazing movie.
Kate Beckinsale. Wow, now she has had a good deal of practice, but she plays Lori Quaid perfectly, a femme fatale, with a serious sadistic streak Kate brought a level a believability to her character that did justice to her as an actress. I did not see any of her previous roles in her when I watched her beat the crap out of fictional husband, and I really believed her when she said "I haven't even tried to kill you yet." Lot's of practice playing a femme fatale as Selene in the Underworld series of movies, but you don't see Selene, I saw an excellent rendition of the role that Sharon Stone did a good job of the first time around.
Jessica Biel, Now she was disappointing. Not for how she played the role, she really wasn't given much to work with. Her character lacked depth that the original Melina played by Rachel Ticotin had, and it seemed that there was no attempt to develop her at all. What was originally the catalyst for the Quaid/Hauser change of heart, turn around wasn't explored it just was. You felt no attachment to her nor did you really even notice she was there. It was a shame, that role deserved better.
Bryan Cranston played the main antagonist, and all I could see was the fumbling father from Malcolm in the Middle. His acting did little to dispel that image, his lines seemed forced, there was little emotion when he was trying to be evil, and you just couldn't believe that he would be a decent fighter against someone like Colin Farrell, ultimately he failed to deliver a believable performance, he had no menace, not even subtle menace, Bruce Greenwood would have been better suited to this character if they wanted someone older but menacing.
Acting rating gets 3/5 mostly due to the strength of Kate Beckinsale she did her best to carry the rest of the cast.
The story, well it was almost a complete departure from the original, which was a good thing; to a point. It takes place in the near future where chemical warfare has left only England and Australia as habitable. England is the boss and Australia the oppressed Colony where all the workers live. They commute back and forth between the two locations using a tunnel through the centre of the earth.
Doug Quaid is an assembly line worker making synthetic cops/soldiers who isn't happy and goes to Recall to have a vacation. Things go horribly wrong, and he becomes a fugitive on the run.
They stick to the original plot of Total Recall from the 90's, but no space travel, the rebels aren't mutants just Australians and fight for freedom and economic fairness.
It ends up being a pretty big departure from the original and tries to be it's own movie but fails. What the SEVEN writers forgot was that this movie had already been made, and wasn't that bad. Their attempt to insert more modern themes of economic strife were half assed and mostly unexplored. Quaid/Hauser's motivation wasn't explored at all, how Melina came to turn him around was tacked on so poorly it fell off the second it was explored.
The only relationship that made any sense at all was between Lori and Doug Quaid. It fit perfectly to the movie, original and remake and was well acted during the conflict by both Beckinsale and Farrell; in fact those were his best scenes, showing once again that if you put a good actor with him, he can perform really well.
Story rating 2/5
As a genre film (Science Fiction) it doesn't totally fail. If you haven't seen the original it may even work well for you, just don't go expecting an earth shattering film. If you are a sifi fan you will enjoy the movie as it isn't really horrible but it almost fails as a genre film as well.
Genre rating 3/5
So the overall rating is a 3/5 what the movie lacks in acting and story it makes up for in genre and general good time. My honest recommendation if your theatre has a cheap night see it then if you have to see it in the theatre, if not wait for it to hit pay per view or netflix, it is a little disappointing.
Also since I haven't posted any in a while some Nerd Humour!!!!!
Going to qualify this by saying that I have no critical experience, I am not a writer and it is all just my own opinion. When I review a movie I will do it based on it's genre, it's acting, it's script (how well it was written) and wether a fan of the genre would likely enjoy it. So it will have a few ratings and one overall rating. If you like it let me know, I quite literally have a theatre down the street from me and if you enjoy my reviews I will see more movies than those that I plan to see regardless.
Total Recall
Having been alive for the first Total Recall movie I made a very specific point NOT to watch the original before going to see the reboot. Still I remember enough though that it coloured my judgement a little more than I liked. Setting that aside as best as I can here is my review of the acting.
Colin Farrell, wasn't bad overall. I would hate to say that Arnold played the role better, but it was close. Now I have really enjoyed Farrell's acting before, he was great in Heart's War, Minority Report, and really in Phone Booth, which could not have been an easy job, but since that performance he's really just waned. Taken bad roles, mailed it in or just doesn't seem to care. From Daredevil until about In Bruges he just didn't seem to care. His performance in Total Recall wasn't a total mail in he was convincing but many of his scenes his emotions seemed really forced. Over all he was good enough but not great. If you really want to see him at his best watch Phone Booth, it was an amazing movie.
Kate Beckinsale. Wow, now she has had a good deal of practice, but she plays Lori Quaid perfectly, a femme fatale, with a serious sadistic streak Kate brought a level a believability to her character that did justice to her as an actress. I did not see any of her previous roles in her when I watched her beat the crap out of fictional husband, and I really believed her when she said "I haven't even tried to kill you yet." Lot's of practice playing a femme fatale as Selene in the Underworld series of movies, but you don't see Selene, I saw an excellent rendition of the role that Sharon Stone did a good job of the first time around.
Jessica Biel, Now she was disappointing. Not for how she played the role, she really wasn't given much to work with. Her character lacked depth that the original Melina played by Rachel Ticotin had, and it seemed that there was no attempt to develop her at all. What was originally the catalyst for the Quaid/Hauser change of heart, turn around wasn't explored it just was. You felt no attachment to her nor did you really even notice she was there. It was a shame, that role deserved better.
Bryan Cranston played the main antagonist, and all I could see was the fumbling father from Malcolm in the Middle. His acting did little to dispel that image, his lines seemed forced, there was little emotion when he was trying to be evil, and you just couldn't believe that he would be a decent fighter against someone like Colin Farrell, ultimately he failed to deliver a believable performance, he had no menace, not even subtle menace, Bruce Greenwood would have been better suited to this character if they wanted someone older but menacing.
Acting rating gets 3/5 mostly due to the strength of Kate Beckinsale she did her best to carry the rest of the cast.
The story, well it was almost a complete departure from the original, which was a good thing; to a point. It takes place in the near future where chemical warfare has left only England and Australia as habitable. England is the boss and Australia the oppressed Colony where all the workers live. They commute back and forth between the two locations using a tunnel through the centre of the earth.
Doug Quaid is an assembly line worker making synthetic cops/soldiers who isn't happy and goes to Recall to have a vacation. Things go horribly wrong, and he becomes a fugitive on the run.
They stick to the original plot of Total Recall from the 90's, but no space travel, the rebels aren't mutants just Australians and fight for freedom and economic fairness.
It ends up being a pretty big departure from the original and tries to be it's own movie but fails. What the SEVEN writers forgot was that this movie had already been made, and wasn't that bad. Their attempt to insert more modern themes of economic strife were half assed and mostly unexplored. Quaid/Hauser's motivation wasn't explored at all, how Melina came to turn him around was tacked on so poorly it fell off the second it was explored.
The only relationship that made any sense at all was between Lori and Doug Quaid. It fit perfectly to the movie, original and remake and was well acted during the conflict by both Beckinsale and Farrell; in fact those were his best scenes, showing once again that if you put a good actor with him, he can perform really well.
Story rating 2/5
As a genre film (Science Fiction) it doesn't totally fail. If you haven't seen the original it may even work well for you, just don't go expecting an earth shattering film. If you are a sifi fan you will enjoy the movie as it isn't really horrible but it almost fails as a genre film as well.
Genre rating 3/5
So the overall rating is a 3/5 what the movie lacks in acting and story it makes up for in genre and general good time. My honest recommendation if your theatre has a cheap night see it then if you have to see it in the theatre, if not wait for it to hit pay per view or netflix, it is a little disappointing.
Also since I haven't posted any in a while some Nerd Humour!!!!!
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
I'd ask you if they show the three-boobed alien chick, but let's keep that one a surprise.