The Director Is In

"ROBERT MITCHUM PLAYED THE DRUNK IN EL DORADO, DEAN MARTIN PLAYED THE DRUNK IN RIO BRAVO. BASICALLY IT WAS THE SAME PART. NOW JOHN WAYNE PLAYED THE SAME PART IN BOTH MOVIES, HE PLAYED JOHN WAYNE." ~ GET SHORTY

The movies Megan watches...when she gets around to posting about them. Sometimes it's a review. Sometimes it's a photo. Sometimes it's a quote. And sometimes she forgets. But she watches a lot...and you should watch some of these films too. ••• See more of her work on hitrecord or at The Director's Narrative. Feel Free: directormegan@gmail.com
  • ask me anything
  • rss
  • archive
  • Total Recall • director Len Wiseman Growing up with the Arnold original I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mr. Wiseman’s remake.  However, the cast and promotional campaign was strong enough that I knew I needed to check it out. While this version of Total Recall follows the same basic principal of the original, there is no Mars - which alters the plot line in a huge manner and allows it to be a movie on its own.  The rest of the basic concept stands Douglas Quaid is bored laborer with a beautiful wife doesn’t feel fulfilled and he decides to go to the somewhat shady Rekall, a business that implants vivid, life-like memories into your brain so you get the experience of a lifetime without the expense, stress or any of the downsides.  Quaid opts for the spy experience, and things go awry just as he’s hooked into the rekall machine and the technician realizes something - Quaid has already been implanted with something from rekall.  Quaid’s life quickly goes down the rabbit hole as he is pursued by a police force going all out to take him in and he discovers something he has no memory of - until a few weeks earlier he was a spy.  His wife, his home, his life are all a lie. The hands down best part of this film is Colin Farrell.  As Douglas Quaid he blends together the elements of the everyman with just enough lethality that everything could be true.  Mr. Farrell is a natural for action and plays the character in a way that no one could ever compare his Douglas Quaid to Arnold’s. I did really enjoy this film for what it was, a fun, hyper, adrenalized, science-fiction action film.  However, this is the first film in a long time that I’ve watched thinking that they sacrificed character development for action set-pieces.  One could argue that this could be said about many action films, but this felt like it - character was never fully developed, but it felt like it was at one point, on the page or on the cutting room floor, and instead more chase sequences were added.  These characters could have been deeper, and it felt like they almost were.

    Total Recall • director Len Wiseman

    Growing up with the Arnold original I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mr. Wiseman’s remake.  However, the cast and promotional campaign was strong enough that I knew I needed to check it out.

    While this version of Total Recall follows the same basic principal of the original, there is no Mars - which alters the plot line in a huge manner and allows it to be a movie on its own.  The rest of the basic concept stands Douglas Quaid is bored laborer with a beautiful wife doesn’t feel fulfilled and he decides to go to the somewhat shady Rekall, a business that implants vivid, life-like memories into your brain so you get the experience of a lifetime without the expense, stress or any of the downsides.  Quaid opts for the spy experience, and things go awry just as he’s hooked into the rekall machine and the technician realizes something - Quaid has already been implanted with something from rekall.  Quaid’s life quickly goes down the rabbit hole as he is pursued by a police force going all out to take him in and he discovers something he has no memory of - until a few weeks earlier he was a spy.  His wife, his home, his life are all a lie.

    The hands down best part of this film is Colin Farrell.  As Douglas Quaid he blends together the elements of the everyman with just enough lethality that everything could be true.  Mr. Farrell is a natural for action and plays the character in a way that no one could ever compare his Douglas Quaid to Arnold’s.

    I did really enjoy this film for what it was, a fun, hyper, adrenalized, science-fiction action film.  However, this is the first film in a long time that I’ve watched thinking that they sacrificed character development for action set-pieces.  One could argue that this could be said about many action films, but this felt like it - character was never fully developed, but it felt like it was at one point, on the page or on the cutting room floor, and instead more chase sequences were added.  These characters could have been deeper, and it felt like they almost were.

    • 9 months ago
    • 2 notes
    • #total recall
    • #len wiseman
© 2011–2013 The Director Is In