Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.
29 Jul Total Recall (2012)
Women and Buildings
I was distracted in the decade when this was made, so was not watching films at the pace I had before. In fact, I would likely have avoided it anyway based on the initial press.
The recent watching was of the Director’s Cut. It reminds me of a few things. One is that if you let a decade pass before watching a special effects film, you get the benefit of a few generations of design and theories of immersion. This is at a peak where more is more: more vertical depth in pretty much everything. Everything looks as if the same designer was behind it: all frames are uniformly filled. Every minute or two you get a fake anamorphic lens flare to fool you into accepting what you are seeing is real.
So, I think this got marked down because the effects were derivative, busy, and were presented without rhythm. Probably also because it was humourless, following Arnie’s fourth wall breaking and snickers.
But the thing I will remember are the women. Is this the first where the two main characters are young, fit, sexy women, from the same mould who are always fighting? I seem to recall almost every Fast and Furious sneaking in a woman/woman fight, but was this the first science fiction film that featured two superwomen opposed for the whole movie? It is hard to criticise the acting if that’s all they are there to do.
I knew Phil briefly late in life, after encountering his works including this one. This idea of not knowing who you were and inventing a self was more than just a common theme. When I come to movies supposedly ‘inspired by’ his work, I assume it will have a few plot points but focus on this notion of invented identity and effect. It has been some time since I saw the 1990 film, but it offended me with its humour. Phil was not a joker. I’ll forgive the silly action, the relatively wooden acting, and the (to my mind) gratuitous woman competition, wife and girlfriend, senior agents of opposing forces — I’ll forgive all that because this movie is suitably dark. It isn’t authentically dark. I do not suppose any commercial adaption would be. But I will prefer it when rating his film adaptations.
Last night I rewatched ‘Minority Report’. Slicker filmmaker, less resort to sex. Same lack of understanding of the power of PKD.
Posted in 2024
Ted’s Evaluation — 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
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