Total Recall

Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel
Star rating: ***

As i wasn't familiar with the older version of Total Recall, i really didn't know what to expect when it came to this film. The trailers promised some amazing CGI reconstruction of the world of Total Recall with the typical gritty Hollywood hero in Colin Farrell and the sexy actresses in Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel.

Colin Farrell plays the ordinary guy Doug Quaid who works a boring construction job making robot policemen in a futuristic world where the deteriorating society becomes cramped and living space has become a commodity. Chemical warfare has meant that most of the world has become hazardous to live in and only two areas remain, the United Federation of Britain and the colony which is what we know as Australia. Both the areas are linked by the 'fall' a tunnel that goes through the core of the Earth which is a means of resource for both 'countries'. Doug has dreams that he is something more than who he is and quickly finds out that is a special agent for the government who has gone rogue. That is when all the chaos begins as Doug works to find out who he really is.

Colin Farrell does do a good job playing the lead as the ordinary man who is thrown into total chaos as his identity is revealed bit by bit. Kate Beckinsale is brilliant with her relentless drive to hunt down Doug as he escapes and tries to find where he is going. The CGI is brilliant in this film and the chases are well orchestrated in world that could otherwise feel too far away from our norm. The actresses don't have much of a role in a film that is meant to be a 'guy's film' but they do play their all but minimal roles well. 

Watch it if you are not looking to question the storyline much. I think fans of the older film will find it is a darker version of its predecessor but if you are someone like me, very new to the franchise, take it with  a pinch of salt. It finishes leaving a lot of questions unanswered and that for me was frustrating.