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This time around we aren’t going to mars, which I was a little disappointed. I wanted to see Len Wiseman’s interpretation of mars seeing what he’s done with Underworld. Instead the world is ravaged and now only two factions remain habitable. The United Federation of Britain and The Colony in which the lower class from the Colony work at factories for the UFB and the only mode of transportation is an underground gravity powered elevator called “The Fall” which “falls through the center of the earth. Collin Ferrell plays Douglas Quaid a factory worker wanting more from his dual life decides to visit Rekall, a company that will implant memories of your greatest fantasies. Before they proceed they do a “background” check on Quaid’s memories and find out he already has the Secret double agent memories, now the UFB is now on the hunt for Quaid as he holds the only key to stopping an invasion of the UFB against The Colony with the same robotic police that the workers built.

Pros:

The movie is a great action movie with car chases, foot chases, elevator chases, and plenty of hand-to-hand combat. If you’re looking for interesting plots points and heart don’t go see this movie. What this movie does best is action. The fights between Beckinsale and Ferrell are so fun to watch and the one-liners between them make you giggle. What I also liked is how this movie paid homage to the original with a few scenes. One for example is in the original Quaidhas to remove the tracking device that is in he brain and he must use a self guided claw to travel up his nose and pull it out. It was horrifying and painful to watch. In this movie he has a phone implanted in his hand, pretty cool, but has to be removed so he can’t be tracked. Removing this device with no tools or advice on how to do so makes this scene just as horrifying and painful to watch him pull it out. There is another scene that made me smile when he is going through “The Falls” Security that I won’t ruin for you.

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Collin Ferrell is the best attribute going for this movie. He brings a charm and dynamic to the uncertainty of Quaid and skill of his secret agent training. He is the only one to not be on dimensional and every new trait he learns about himself leaves him in wonder and glee. Not to mention he has some great actions scenes, the first time you see him use his skills is fantastic.

Kate Beckinsale is as sexy as ever in this movie playing Quaid’s lovely and caring wife, but once she is revealed to be an agent herself she becomes the complete opposite with terrifying athleticism and flightily no remorse for the common people’s lives. At times she can be kind of psychotic and scary.

Cons:

I am more of a Jessica Biel guy than I am Kate Beckinsale. Her beauty and athleticism is fantastic but unfortunately I think she got dealt a bad role. She plays Melina the girl from Quaid’s dream and member of the resistance. Unfortunately her acting just was up to par with Ferrell or even Beckinsale her feelings for Quaid never truly come forth and it’s hard to believe she has been searching all this time for him. She fought more like a frightful street punk than member of the resistance. Sure she goes toe to toe with Beckinsale at one moment but nothing else during the movie justified her skill to do so.

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Lens flares OMG are there lens flares! I know it’s supposed to be the future but why does the future need to have some many lens flares. I think every scene had a lens flares and sometimes takes you out of the movie. It’s more of a distraction than anything.

Heart, I know I keep mentioning this but one thing the original movie had over this remake is heart. To explain this, in the original you hade the mutants from mars and members of the resistance fighting a long side with Quaid sacrificing lives and actually having humans fighting one another. In this movie you never see the resistance until about 80% into the movie and they don’t make any kind of relationship with Quaid and quickly are dispersed without a fight. Also the UFB uses Robots to fight their battle so that literally took away the human eliminate out of the fight. It would have been nice to see the people from The Colony rise up and fight along side Quaid.

Conclusion:

This movie is a great action popcorn flick. Don’t come expecting the same feelings you got from the first one or a detailed plot, but if you like watching hot girls fighting and high-octane chases you’ll enjoy this. If you’re ever in the Las Vegas Area and you want to come to a private screening look up L to the 5th via Facebook for times. I enjoyed this movie but I think I’ll go back and watch the original for its 90s charm.

I give this movie 3 out of 5

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