This film is an action fans wet dream. It steams from action scene to action scene with a small pause for dialogue and plot. There's many will say this is a bad thing but not me. I hate long drawn out rhetoric in an action film. So if you like action in your action films you will love this.
If your looking for an up dated version of Arnie's Total Recall then you will be disappointed, but then what would be the point of seeing the exact same film again just with new characters? It needed to pay homage, but also be a little bit unique and new. This managers that with ease.
There's no Mars in this one. Its set in a future where much of the world is uninhabitable and there's really just the United Kingdom and Australia (The colony's) left. Travel between the two just takes 17 minutes by falling through a hole that travels through the centre of the earth. Which features as a major plot point.
The acting's OK by Farrell and Beil and they both give a good strong action performance, however the true star is Kate Beckinsale's role as his fake wife then ardent nemesis. Kate show's she's best in the full on action roles and is totally believable as a hard as nails kick ass ruthless pursuer. She's absolutely brilliant in every scene she's in. From the ambiguous but memorable line "I give good wife", to her die hard relentless attempts to kill Farrell she is definitely the true star of this movie. I definitely want to see her in more action movies.
From the point of keeping you thrilled, this film scores 10 out of ten, from an acting view point I give Beckinsale 10/10 and the others 8/10. The CGI is definitely 10/10 even if the first scenes are so very reminiscent of blade runner. The action, stunts and fight scenes are well above a 10/10 rating. In short this would be a perfect film if not for some silly plot holes.
Now here's where the plot gets a bit silly. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) lives in the UK travels by "the fall" to work in the colonies, where he's building synthetic soldiers that will be transported back to the UK to eventually use to invade the colonies, via the fall. There are terrorists who feel the fall generates second class citizens but no explanation why. UK owns the colonies, who are trying for independence, but are still owned by the UK, so why does the UK need to invade it? Quaid as Hauser has supposedly seen a kill code for the synthetic soldiers, if so why when he was first turned didn't he give it too the resistance. In this version he wasn't a pretend double agent he genuinely changed sides so why didn't he give it then? And as everyone seems to have recall technology why can only the leader of the resistance Matthias (Bill Nighy) get at it? Why endanger him? If anything Matthais roles seems to have been forced into the script from the original, but doesn't actually fit in this versions plot or premise. The the final annoying glaringly obvious plot hole. When the UK invades the colonies they load all their troops into the fall device and fall through the earth. The colonies know the invasion is coming through the fall we see news casts and alerts to the citizens warning them of the imminent invasion. So if they know its coming via the fall why not simply drop a bomb down the hole? Instantly kill the complete army and even block the only means of invasion ensuring their safety? Its so obvious its ridiculous.
Its this plot failure that makes me mark the overall film down to just 7/10. But if you don't care about that and just want an all action fun movie then this is definitely a must see film.
If your looking for an up dated version of Arnie's Total Recall then you will be disappointed, but then what would be the point of seeing the exact same film again just with new characters? It needed to pay homage, but also be a little bit unique and new. This managers that with ease.
There's no Mars in this one. Its set in a future where much of the world is uninhabitable and there's really just the United Kingdom and Australia (The colony's) left. Travel between the two just takes 17 minutes by falling through a hole that travels through the centre of the earth. Which features as a major plot point.
The acting's OK by Farrell and Beil and they both give a good strong action performance, however the true star is Kate Beckinsale's role as his fake wife then ardent nemesis. Kate show's she's best in the full on action roles and is totally believable as a hard as nails kick ass ruthless pursuer. She's absolutely brilliant in every scene she's in. From the ambiguous but memorable line "I give good wife", to her die hard relentless attempts to kill Farrell she is definitely the true star of this movie. I definitely want to see her in more action movies.
From the point of keeping you thrilled, this film scores 10 out of ten, from an acting view point I give Beckinsale 10/10 and the others 8/10. The CGI is definitely 10/10 even if the first scenes are so very reminiscent of blade runner. The action, stunts and fight scenes are well above a 10/10 rating. In short this would be a perfect film if not for some silly plot holes.
Now here's where the plot gets a bit silly. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) lives in the UK travels by "the fall" to work in the colonies, where he's building synthetic soldiers that will be transported back to the UK to eventually use to invade the colonies, via the fall. There are terrorists who feel the fall generates second class citizens but no explanation why. UK owns the colonies, who are trying for independence, but are still owned by the UK, so why does the UK need to invade it? Quaid as Hauser has supposedly seen a kill code for the synthetic soldiers, if so why when he was first turned didn't he give it too the resistance. In this version he wasn't a pretend double agent he genuinely changed sides so why didn't he give it then? And as everyone seems to have recall technology why can only the leader of the resistance Matthias (Bill Nighy) get at it? Why endanger him? If anything Matthais roles seems to have been forced into the script from the original, but doesn't actually fit in this versions plot or premise. The the final annoying glaringly obvious plot hole. When the UK invades the colonies they load all their troops into the fall device and fall through the earth. The colonies know the invasion is coming through the fall we see news casts and alerts to the citizens warning them of the imminent invasion. So if they know its coming via the fall why not simply drop a bomb down the hole? Instantly kill the complete army and even block the only means of invasion ensuring their safety? Its so obvious its ridiculous.
Its this plot failure that makes me mark the overall film down to just 7/10. But if you don't care about that and just want an all action fun movie then this is definitely a must see film.