Total recall, the remake is a fantastic SciFi feature film

Don't listen to the movie critics who are trashing the new remake film "Total Recall" starring Colin Farrell. The movie critics are much like the journalists and media types who have been trashing the HBO TV series "The Newsroom." People in creative industries often don't like the successes of others because they didn't do them. It's the downside of creativity. Envy. HBO's "The Newsroom" is a realistic look at the hypocrisies of today's media and "Total Recall" is a reflection of how a great idea can be converted into another great idea.
There are three ways to make a movie that has already been made. The first is to remake it precisely to the story line, adding only the advancements of our new technologies. The second is to make a sequel, which is what I always prefer, a follow through of a great movie. The third one is to take a great movie, use the same concept and story line and adapt it and the story and that is exactly what Producer Toby Jaffe has done. 
Total Recall with Colin Farrell is a different version of the 1990 Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. 
The story lines are similar but the facts of the story have changed dramatically. The digital technology advances have made this new version a spectacular film worth seeing. Kate Beckinsale plays Lori Quaid the "wife" of unsuspecting secret agent Douglas Quaid whose memories and skills come alive after visiting Total Rekall (spelled with a K), a place where people of the future can go to get the "memories" of an exciting vacation, past life or experience they have never had but always wanted. Jessica Biel plays his partner who is working with the resistance. Beckinsale plays a much tighter sinister role than Sharon Stone, although Biel is easily matched by Rachel Ticotin's original 1990 role.
Missing is the exploding "fat" woman, the talking robot Johnny Cab, and the mini-Siamese little face that is conjoined and comes out of the revolutionary's stomach. The three-breasted woman is there and they made her far better looking than the old role. 
But Doug Quaid is already a secret agent with a mind control plant suppressing his memories and his visit to Total Rekall brings out his secret agent skills through 118 minutes of non-stop excitement and film energy.
You know where the film is going if you saw the original Schwarzenegger film of 1990, but the details are as different as night and day. Even the story location between the Federation and the "Colony" are significantly different. 
This is a far better film than "The Dark Knight Rises," the Batman follow-through.
I know you will enjoy it.
-- Ray Hanania www.hanania.com