Total Recall (2012)
Metascore
43 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 41
  3. Negative: 7 out of 41
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  1. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    Aug 2, 2012
    25
    Since the new Recall is totally witless, don't expect laughs. Originality and coherence are also notably MIA.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Aug 2, 2012
    30
    The remake has no grace notes, or grace, no nuance, no humanity, no character quirks, no surprises in the dialogue and no humor.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Aug 3, 2012
    38
    As for a villain, you could do worse than Bryan Cranston as the evil political overlord who is trying to stamp out the resistance -- When he goes mano a mano with Farrell, it's not spine-tingling. It's embarrassing, like watching a dude beat up his dad.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Aug 2, 2012
    20
    There's something sadly poetic about a movie dealing with disappearing memories that vanishes from your mind while you watch it.
  5. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    Aug 2, 2012
    25
    The new Total Recall fails on the most basic levels: Its characters are dull, and its action is duller.
  6. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Chris Packham
    Aug 5, 2012
    30
    Where Paul Verhoeven's original was testosterone-stupid and, therefore, fun, Wiseman's film is just boring-stupid.
  7. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: John Semley
    Aug 1, 2012
    38
    Len Wiseman's Total Recall's a trifling mess, as superfluous as a third breast.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 281 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 98
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 98
  3. Negative: 23 out of 98
  1. funenthusiast
    3
    Total Failure - the first third of the movie is OK (I really liked the gadgets!). Just when the story started to get interesting, suddenly the visual effects guy got in the way and the video editor decided to do his/her job while smoking pot. The story line is filled with inconsistencies to the point that it is annoying. Suddenly you will be twisting in your seat watching all the goofs throughout the last two thirds of the movie. Save you trip to the theater for this one and watch it on TV once it hits Netflix (wait, with the poor quality of content in Netflix these days you may need to watch it on cable TV - which either way is just fine).… Full Review »
  2. Corvin
    8
    Before I launch into some gleeful pointing out of this movie's plentiful plot holes, I want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Total Recall. Possibly because it borrowed from some of my favorite movies. Not just Total Recall, but also hints of The Matrix, Fifth Element, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith found their way in, with perhaps a dash of Terminator and a sprinkle of Johnny Mnemonic, to name a few.

    Also, the special effects were excellent, and the protagonist and his love interest were relentlessly appealing, not to mention almost supernaturally attractive. The final five minutes might have viewers grown weary of climatic fist fight scenes rolling their eyes, but other than that, it was well paced and extremely enjoyable.

    Now, on to pointing out plot holes. Warning, spoilers ahead!

    If you have the technology to send your wage slaves through the core of the Earth to build your robot army for you, you would have the technology to create radiation proof housing, with proper ventilation and tasteful decoration, to ease overcrowding. If you have the technology to create robot forces, you have the technology to create robots to make your robots, so you don't need wage slaves traveling through the core of the Earth (however cool and essential to the plot that mode of transportation might be), to make your robot army for you.

    One also wonders why the only way to travel from what was once Australia to what was once Europe is through the core of the Earth. Sure, it's fast, but it was really the only way post-apocalyptic blue collar workers could commute? But then again, because it was made clear that this mode of transportation is the only mode of transportation, it really helped wrap the plot up neatly.

    It also seems that humanity, while creating a robot army, a subway tunnel through the Earth, and a cellphone implant, failed to create a way to subdue a civilian population that didn't involve a troop transport of soldiers marching in, however robotic the rank and file of those soldiers might be. Of course, they wouldn't want to simply blow the civilian population up, seeing as how, for some bizarre reason, they still needed human workers.

    And clearly the human workers needed subduing by the robot forces, because even though the evil overlords in Europe had the technology to completely wipe a person's memory, they must not be able to create Stepford Aussies to do their work for them.    … Full Review »
  3. VidsRule
    3
    Wow. I'm gonna give a general spoiler here: there is a little twist at the beginning that seems to set up a cool movie, and then the rest of the movie is one giant chase scene without a single moment of story. I couldn't believe how many times the heroes are backed into a corner when at the last minute they pull out their guns and start shooting and then comes the getaway. This is nearly the entire movie. A pointless experience.… Full Review »
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