We'll Forget Arnold, Wholesale

I'm posting a review of the new "Total Recall" film. I was pleasantly surprised.

In the 1st, 1990 film,

there was a great, campy feeling to whole thing. I'm no fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially since he was always a shill for government power.

I'd heard the negative reviews from friends, and read the mixed reviews from critics. The film deserves no Oscars, nor will it be remembered for it's achievements even three years from now, not to mention a few of the lines which are just not well written. But, for an action film, it is both visually stunning and excellently paced.

Colin Ferral, whose previous disasters at the theater almost made me stay away, gave a believable performance as both an ordinary Joe, and super-spy/action hero.

The best performance, however, goes to the beautiful Kate Beckinsale who has mercifully transitioned from some really, really bad romantic movies into an ass-kciking, sci-fi heroine. But, for the first time, she emerges as a villainess and the main antagonist of the film.

What many fans of both films probably don't know (unless they watched Jessica Biel's interview with John Stewart--which I apparently missed) is that both films are (very loosely) based on an old, Philip K. Dick short story that involves traveling to Mars, and the main character being tracked because of his role (unbeknownst to him) in the spy-world.

For better or worse, the 1990 film is slightly closer to Dick's original story. Although, in that version, Hollywood made a corporation the evil villain. (And in other news...No one is surprised!)

I'd like to focus on the Libertarian aspects of the new film.

The film begins by informing us that the whole world has been destroyed except most of Northern Europe (the United Federation of Britain--UFB) and "The Colony" (Australia).

In this film, the colonists are portrayed as seeking independence from UFB, but they employ violence, and are labeled "terrorists" by the ruling government. I don't know if it was intentional, but there are some parallels between this aspect of the film and the American Revolution. For whatever reason, the people of the colony speak with an American accent, while the UFB citizens sound very British. (Except for the evil Prime Minister.)

Themes about  secession and the right to govern oneself play a role. The enemy is the State--a theme all Libertarians should be happy about. Violence and war don't come out looking too great, either. The revolutionaries are the good guys, and the military/police come off looking like crazed fanatics.

On a politically-unrelated note: The big theme seems to be "We are what we choose." In a kind of Deus-ex-machina,  we know the whole film could be a dream given to the main character at ReKall. However, that doesn't matter because whoever we are in the past can be altered by who we choose to be now. Thus, even the main characters sins as a spy and government killer can be forgotten if he does the right thing in the here and now.

While far from perfect, Total Recall is worth seeing; Libertarians will not be disappointed.