(Newser)
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Critics aren't much impressed with Total Recall, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller about fake memories. While the 1990 original has become a classic of sorts, this version, starring Colin Farrell, has inspired some pretty harsh reviews.
- "The ambitions of the filmmakers lie in the direction of maximum noise and minimum sense," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "So much information is thrown at you in such a haphazard fashion that your ability to care dwindles along with your willingness to enjoy any of it."
- In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers keeps it simple: The movie is "totally witless," with no "originality" or "coherence." All in all, it's a "futuristic fiasco."
- In the original, "the central pleasure of the movie was its twists, and as the same twists got rolled out in the remake, I kept thinking: 'Yes, that was surprising to me in 1990,'" writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post. Director Len Wiseman is "bewildered, or maybe just bored, when the to-do list contains items called 'story' and 'character' and 'dialogue.'"
- But at Salon, Andrew O'Hehir approves of the film as an August action flick. It's "a doggone good time, with a bunch of nifty technical and visual flourishes, competently managed plot twists, and elegant, Wachowski-esque action choreography."
