Saturday, August 25, 2012

I was meant to see Hope Springs this week but after waiting for it to start for 25 minutes they told us there were technical issues that couldn't be fixed. Went back two hours later to see this.

Total Recall (2012)

CREATING memories from advancements in technology could well be the pinnacle of existence for many living in centuries to come. The concept of being able to live the life you want, however you want, would surely fascinate even those most sceptical. Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale has already been explored once on film with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990, but a new generation and shifting economy called for an updated recall.

There are stark differences between the two, Len Wiseman’s version claiming to be more true to the original story. That statement begs to differ as Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) doesn’t make his way to Mars as he previously has but instead stays on Earth, which speaks much more about the society of Generation Y with a political overtone. At the end of the 21st century there’s been a third World War, destroying all inhabitable space except for the United Federation of Britain (UFB) and The Colony (formerly Australia).
Quaid and wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) live in The Colony, where Quaid questions his existence after having strange dreams and decides to go to Rekall, a company that can provide fantastical memories. But he is found out to be a spy; without any memory of who he is claimed to be, Quaid manages to escape to the UFB and finds Melina (Jessica Biel). She gets him to rebel fighter Matthias (Bill Nighy), rival to Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), who Quaid/Carl Hauser worked for and wants to create a large synthetic police force to wipe out The Colony’s overcrowded population.
An overall apocalyptic feel remains present as only a few remnants exist of the world we know now; London Tube lines abandoned, Big Ben and the clock tower standing alone. The Colony is the new Asia with an overwhelming Eastern influence. The growing threat of terrorism looms even more in a world becoming increasingly unsustainable, and questions about existence seem to be more relevant then in a broken world then they do now.
 
It is not primarily based on either Dick’s story or Paul Verhoeven’s adaptation, Wiseman and screenwriters Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback taking elements loved from both and blending them. While the key plot point of visiting Mars is abandoned, characters like the three-breasted woman make a return – and their futuristic world is still just that, where boundaries can be stretched.

Also executive producer, Wiseman has worked closely with wife Beckinsale on the Underworld series. He gets a total bitch out of her as Lori, complete with switching accents to scare the daylights out of Farrell. He holds his ground as Quaid, going along with the requirements as the film increases its action quota. Cranston as baddie Cohaagen gives us more proof that he is one worth watching.
Like Verhoeven before him, Wiseman plays the film as straight out sci-fi action, but here there isn’t any room for laughter. The potential end of the world brings a much more serious tone to it and a lack of cheer from the protagonists. It’s a chilling thought that conflict could go so far as to destroy our world, but maybe if Mars was an option they wouldn’t be so worried.
Rating: 3/5

*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 25/8/2012

***
Don't Look Now (1972)
 
Many of Daphne du Maurier’s novels have been adapted for the big screen and most famously so by Alfred Hitchcock. But this short story brought to cinema by English director Nicholas Roeg holds just as big an appeal to audiences with a different style of filmmaking and a cast not part of the Hitchcock clan.

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie were both at a high in their careers when taking on the roles of John and Laura Baxter. The couple deals with the drowning of daughter Christine (Sharon Williams) by moving to Venice and forging a new life among the canals.

Meeting a pair of elderly sisters, one a psychic, they are swept into believing Christine is spiritually present but terrible things are about to befall them. Amid the dark, winding alleys and canals their paranoia increases to create high tension and general uncertainty.
 
The now-famous sex scene, the duo’s first scene together, still has to be denied as real by those there. But interest also comes from the general creepiness of the film, and Sutherland and Christie’s great performances. It doesn't bring many scares throughout, but with some smart flashbacks the film sets the audience up for a very unexpected outcome.


*Published in the Mailbox Shopper (Dubbo) from Wednesday 22/8/2012

MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEW? See what I thought of The Bourne Legacy and Midnight Cowboy.

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