Thursday, August 9, 2012

How many mini-homages does the new Total Recall contain?

The new Total Recall isn't very good; it's mostly hyper-frenetic fights and chases, mixed in with some terrible science.

(E.G. There's a transit system called "The Fall" that connects Australia and England via a tunnel that skirts the Earth's core. No, that's not the bad science part --- that type of transit has actually been proposed, using evacuated tunnels so the vehicles could free fall without air resistance. The bad science in the movie is that trip takes 17 minutes --- that's most of the 8000 mile diameter of the Earth in 17 minutes, which would require a speed of 28,000 MPH/45,000 KPH. And: these tunnels are air-filled. And: the protagonists open a door and climb outside the capsule at one point. It's head-slappingly stupid. D'oh.)

But it was fun to see all the visual references to famous science-fiction movies. The writers, director and set design people must have had a blast.

I hadn't realized there'd be so many, so I wasn't taking notes. But from memory, and in no particular order, I saw homages to:

blade runner
minority report
terminator
2001
cube
avatar
matrix
star wars

And, of course, the original total recall (including a few sly jokes)

Can you add to the list?

(PS: I saw the movie at a midday show today --- the theater is literally across the street from where I live. I was literally the only person in the theater. A private screening!)

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