Iain Gray Freelance Writer
Total Recall - Review
Based (very, very loosely) on Philip K Dick’s short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, this has Arnold Schwarzenegger on an interplanetary romp to Mars after a memory implant goes horribly wrong and shadowy assassins inexplicably start to hunt him down.
Playing on Dick’s favourite obsessions of dubious reality and identity, the obvious surprise here is that any action movie starring “The Governator” could have such a delicate touch behind the countless explosions and eviscerations.
Yet it succeeds with a canny, likeable performance from the Austrian Oak, and a marvellously duplicitous plot that demands a second viewing.
And Paul “Robocop” Verhoeven proves yet again that there is no better director out there for disguising elegant, complex satire as big, dumb, violent entertainment.
Article archive
2012
July
- 27.07.12 Dr Seuss’ The Lorax - Review
June
- 12.06.12 Rock of Ages - Review
May
- 11.05.12 Charlie Casanova - Review
- 04.05.12 Being Elmo - Review
2009
April
- 19.04.09 LA Confidential - Review
- 05.04.09 Ran - Review
March
- 29.03.09 Sherman’s March - Review
- 22.03.09 A Man Escaped - Review
- 15.03.09 Raging Bull - Review
- 08.03.09 8 Women - Review
- 08.03.09 The Terror by Dan Simmons - Review
- 01.03.09 King Kong - Review
February
- 22.02.09 Taxi To The Dark Side - Review
- 15.02.09 Audition - Review
- 08.02.09 When Harry Met Sally - Review
- 01.02.09 Vanishing Point - Review
January
- 25.01.09 Black Narcissus - Review
- 18.01.09 Dracula - Review
- 11.01.09 Brazil - Review
- 04.01.09 Lantana - Review
2008
December
- 28.12.08 The Edge - Review
- 14.12.08 The French Connection - Review
- 07.12.08 Annie Hall - Review
November
- 30.11.08 Rescue Dawn - Review
- 23.11.08 Million Dollar Baby - Review
- 16.11.08 Baraka - Review
- 09.11.08 The Searchers - Review
- 08.11.08 Far Cry 2 - Review
- 02.11.08 Great Expectations - Review
October
- 26.10.08 Jacob’s Ladder - Review
- 19.10.08 The Last Waltz - Review
- 12.10.08 Mulholland Drive - Review
- 05.10.08 Bringing Up Baby - Review
September
- 28.09.08 The Killing - Review
- 21.09.08 The Man Who Wasn’t There - Review
- 14.09.08 Big Night - Review
- 07.09.08 Total Recall - Review
August
- 31.08.08 The Exterminating Angel - Review
- 24.08.08 Dark City - Review
- 17.08.08 Chinatown - Review
- 10.08.08 Escape From New York - Review
- 03.08.08 Best in Show - Review
July
- 27.07.08 The Cider House Rules - Review
- 20.07.08 The Prestige - Review
- 13.07.08 La Reine Margot - Review
- 06.07.08 The Remains of the Day - Review
June
- 29.06.08 The Station Agent - Review
- 22.06.08 Duck Soup - Review
- 15.06.08 Dirty Harry - Review
- 08.06.08 Dancer in the Dark - Review
- 01.06.08 A Matter of Life and Death - Review
May
- 18.05.08 Days of Heaven - Review
- 11.05.08 Assembly - Review
- 04.05.08 Vertigo - Review
April
- 27.04.08 My Neighbour Totoro - Review
- 20.04.08 A Simple Plan - Review
- 13.04.08 True Lies - Review
- 06.04.08 Excalibur - Review
March
- 30.03.08 Rendition - Review
- 23.03.08 After Life - Review
- 16.03.08 Les Diaboliques - Review
- 09.03.08 2001: A Space Odyssey - Review
- 02.03.08 Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Review
February
- 24.02.08 Blood Simple - Review
- 17.02.08 Ratatouille - Review
- 12.02.08 Terrible film - great tagline
- 10.02.08 Atonement - Review
- 03.02.08 3:10 to Yuma - Review
January
- 20.01.08 Arsenic and Old Lace - Review
- 13.01.08 Stranger Than Fiction - Review
- 06.01.08 Half Ton Mom - Review
2007
December
- 30.12.07 1408 - Review
- 16.12.07 The Bourne Ultimatum - Review
- 02.12.07 Prepare the perfect Christmas #1
- 02.12.07 Prepare the perfect Christmas #2
- 02.12.07 Prepare the perfect Christmas #3
- 02.12.07 Shrek the Third- Review
November
- 25.11.07 Property Ladder - Review
- 18.11.07 Deja-vu or Re-record?
- 17.11.07 Warhawk - Review
- 04.11.07 Die Hard 4.0 - Review
October
- 31.10.07 Some day your prints will come