You have to laugh a little when Total Recall (2012) begins.  I should stay more committed to being charitable, but the irony is not lost on this reviewer, Catholic or otherwise.  One of the companies behind the making of this movie is called Original Film Productions.  If you read that and say to yourself, “So what?” let me remind you that this is a remake of the original from 1990, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Hence, despite their best attempt, I am not sure how “original” this can be.  They do get an “A” for effort from this Catholic, mainly because it asks some questions that every member of the Church should ask themselves.  I will get to those later.  For now, particularly if you are familiar with the source material, let me take you back into the 2012 version of the world created by renowned science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick.

I guess one could say that the opening crawl about how Earth is in some chemically induced, post-apocalyptic future is meant to give the audience a form of Total Recall.  At least this is relevant information for Douglas “Doug” Quaid (Colin Farrell), who lives in one of the two areas of the planet still inhabitable.  He makes his home, with his wife, Lori Quaid (Kate Beckinsale), somewhere on the continent of Australia, now called the Colony.  Appropriately, historically speaking, he works in the other part of the world where people still live, which is called the United Federation of Britain (UFB).  This includes the United Kingdom and much of Europe.  To get to his job, which he works at with his friend Harry (Bokeem Woodbine), they take a transport system called the “Fall.”  It is a tube going through the Earth’s core on which a giant, train-like vehicle takes people from one side of the globe to the other.  Doug and Harry labor building androids for the UFB police force, while Lori is an officer for those same authorities.  Thus far, it is the kind of vocational bliss that any Catholic could support.  However, like so many in today’s society, Doug is wondering if there is more to his life, which is fueled by a recurring dream we have seen him have where he is trying to escape a government facility while in the company of another woman.  If I were Harry’s friend, I would suggest to Doug that what is missing is God, but, predictably, that does not enter into the plot.  Instead, after coming home from work and seeing Lori already asleep, Doug decides to meet up with Harry for a beer at a bar.  After having a few drinks, rather than going home, Doug opts for checking out an establishment known as “Rekall.”  It is a business that can implant fantasies into your brain, creating pleasant memories to help you deal with the drudgery of day-to-day life.  As he is preparing for his “mind trip,” if you will, he is warned that he cannot choose a fictitious scenario that matches too closely with what he does in real life.  Given that he monotonously bolts robots together, he opts for the secret agent simulation.  Yet, before it can begin, those scanning his brain claim that he is already an operative and pull a gun on him.  Before he can let out too many confused protests, the police burst into the room and kill all the employees.  Doug is about to give himself up, but instinctively reacts when they go to put handcuffs on him, taking out everyone in the room before making his escape.  Dodging a number of other armed guards, android and human, he somehow makes it back to Lori.  She is watching the news, the story claiming that rebel terrorists led by Matthias (Bill Nighy), are behind the attack.  That is the name of one of the Apostles, by the way, but I digress.  Doug starts babbling about he being the one responsible.  Her hug of comfort turns into an attempt at smothering him, which escalates into a brawl.  As they fight, she reveals that their marriage is a sham, implanted into him six weeks ago.  He does not stick around to reason with her, but is once more on the run.  Along the way, he gets a call from Agent Hammond (Dylan Scott Smith), a person claiming to be a friend of Carl Hauser, Doug’s real identity.  Agent Hammond directs Carl to a safety deposit box.  Inside it, Carl is confronted with a video of himself telling him to go to his apartment located in the UFB.  The disguise he uses to try to get there is uncovered as he passes through security, and once more he is being hounded by the police.  This time, he is aided by Melina (Jessica Biel), the woman he has been seeing in his dreams.  She is hurt when he is forced to crash their car as they make their getaway, allowing him to view the final message he had left for himself alone while she is unconscious.  Carl had been an intelligence officer tasked by Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) to infiltrate the resistance and find Matthias.  Before this could happen, Carl met Melina and fell in love.  It is remarkable the good love can do for us, as Christianity will attest.  The interactive video instructs Carl to find Matthias so that Carl can deliver a kill code to defeat the army of robots being assembled by the UFB to invade the Colony.  There is another drawn out action sequence in here, which includes Harry showing up to suggest that this has been all part of Rekall’s fantasy.  Still, they could have come up with something better to convince Carl than to have him shoot Melina.  As it is, he chooses to run again, eventually making his way to Matthias.  This is when we find that the kill code had all been a ruse to get close to Matthias.  Chancellor Cohaagen arrives with a small horde of police, along with Lori, murders Matthias, and takes everyone else prisoner.  They are about to return Carl to his former self using a Rekall machine when he is busted loose by Agent Hammond, who dies in the process.  Anyway, more shooting and explosions, and Carl makes it onto the Fall, blowing it up and getting off in the Colony with Melina in the nick of time.  Chancellor Cohaagen perishes, but Lori manages to jump off to so that she can have one last fight with Carl, but he triumphs.  Kissy-kissy with Melina, and the end.

If there is one thing you can say about this version of Total Recall, as clichéd as it is to do so, it is that it is almost non-stop action.  It is rather exhausting, actually, and I am surprised I got as much out of my synopsis as I did.  To be fair, the original is certainly thrilling.  Nonetheless, I think this one was made because whoever it is that owns the rights felt that the special effects in the first are a little cheesy.  This one is the best modern computers can devise, though I have to say I am not mad at the final result.  My appreciation stems less from how the movie looks and more in the philosophical aspects that appeal to this Catholic.  At the heart of the story are questions that are intrinsic to how God made us.  The first of these, as hinted at in the synopsis, relates to wondering if there is something more to life.  We can get so caught up in our routines sometimes, even among the most ordered female and male religious, that we begin to think that something is missing.  I am willing to bet that the majority of us are not secret agents with altered memories, but regular people looking for their place in the world.  Unfortunately, our modern culture and society has taken us so far away from the obvious answer that it seems almost too simple to be true.  The answer, of course, is God, the infinite God who love us infinitely.  That love is what created us and gives us our identity.  I would argue that it is love, regrettably shorn of any intentional attachment to God, that motivates Carl.  By all appearances, Carl Hauser had a comfortable life.  It is seeing a nobler cause, and experiencing the affections of a woman, that changed him for the better.  Thankfully, we do not have to go through the dangerous situations he does to have a similar revelation.  Instead, open yourself to God.  If you give your heart to Him, your life will never be the same.

If it is nearly exploding faces and women with three boobs you are after, well, this Total Recall has one of those.  I will not say which one, though my desire to maintain chastity as much as possible should give it away.  Otherwise, it is not a bad movie, though let what I just wrote be a warning to you.  It is about the most objectionable thing in the movie, aside from a healthy dose of violence.