The Recall (2017)

Fresh and Exciting

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Five friends decide to take a vacation at a remote lake house hoping to have lots of carefree fun. However, the fun times they have become rather limited after they are stalked by a seemingly disturbed loner and the imminent threat of an alien attack...The Recall or First Recall as it is otherwise known is not a very good film, but it's perhaps the director who should shoulder some of the blame for the film's failings. It's a nonsensical film with a rather silly plot yet the director seems to play the material pretty much straight making the film feel heavy and dull -it's almost like he believed in his own nonsense which gives the film no sense of irony. Snipes is clearly the make or break aspect in this film and with a different director and writer he may have been up to the task, but in this film he simply makes no real impression at all; the serious tone really works against him here. On the other hand perhaps his recent legal troubles have meant that he isn't quite the bankable star that he once was and maybe he now has to 'get work where he can.' If that's the case maybe he knew that this was a bad film and maybe he didn't care about putting in a good performance and just decided to phone it in. Who knows?Anyway, after a really dull first hour the film becomes a little more interesting when the kids get abducted by the aliens (there's a sense of intrigue in trying to discover what they're doing to the earthlings up there). The end result is rather disappointing when you learn that their time on the ship consists of 3 of them having a bath, whilst one of them is suspended on god knows what and the other is able to freely roam round the ship and find all of his friends. The only interesting part of this film is when Charlie speaks to what he believes to be his dead girlfriend only it isn't his dead girlfriend speaking it is in fact the aliens merely manipulating him. Still I'll give the film some credit for trying to inject some depth to at least one of the characters.There was quite a serious flaw with this film and that relates to how Kara ended up on the ship in the first place? The other 4 were clearly abducted, but Kara was killed before the abduction took place so how did she end up there? The finale goes a bit weird where it seems to become a cross between Close Encounters and the Fantastic Four - they all seem to have varying powers after their alien encounter (better hearing, healing powers, mind control and so on), but the cynic in me seemed to think that merely existed both as a cool twist and as a way to wrap the film up.Perhaps one of the biggest strengths with this film is in the numerous ways it can be interpreted; was Snipes crazy and was this all his fantasy? Was the whole thing a dream? The ending could have suggested that there was a natural storm coming and that all of the alien stuff was made up. Truth be told I really didn't know and had the film been more fun I really couldn't have cared. However, despite it turning out to be something of a mild curiosity piece by the end it is far too dull and boring for me to be able to recommend it.

The overall premise of the movie was good, which you didn't find out until the end.It had a reasonably good pace to the movie itself, and was tried to create suspense throughout by leaving us guessing what would happen next. It was poorly executed though, and by the end of the movie you realise that there was no point to half of the scenes in the movie, and a lot of random elements that don't seem to add up in the scheme of things. Also many plot holes.The storyline by the end of the film has potential, but I highly doubt anyone would choose to see a sequel even if they funded one.

The premise seemed okay to me at first. Red Dawn or Tomorrow, When the War Began; but with Aliens. It was nowhere near either of those films. The alien (singular) was nothing special. The special effects were amateur looking. The acting was abysmal. Wesley Snipes who used to be a king of the screen, was trying too hard to be a troubled bad***, while the rest of the cast weren't believable as real people. The story line and acting were flat.I saw this for free and still want a refund. I was hoping something would happen to pay off for the time watching, but it did not. 90 minutes lost :(

Five friends leave L.A. to hit the wilderness for a fun, relaxing vacation. Little do they know that Earth is the subject of an alien abduction and a target of mass destruction. That's the essence of The Recall, my latest review.Damaging the reputation of Canadian productions to a fault, "Recall" contains an Uber-twist and readily shortcuts its overall premise. It pastes some of its out of place scenes right from the get-go. One involves an unconnected, storm discovery at an Alaskan weather station. The other has to do with unknown astronauts getting their ears blown out in outer space. These clips vaguely connect to the overall plot and I do mean vaguely. A 1990 offering with a similar title (Total Recall), is ten times more exciting.Of all people, The Recall is produced by and co-stars Wesley Snipes. You wonder if Snipes was better off staying in prison for failing to file tax returns as opposed to appearing in the swipe that is "Recall". It's good to see that he's trying to be relevant again but his raspy, Snipes-like demeanor feels like it's coming from another flick altogether.Wesley gives a decent performance in The Recall as a renegade, extraterrestrial hunter. However, he is the only compelling thing in it. "Recall" is one of the cheesiest, most low budget offerings to ever enter the science fiction, horror canon. In jest, it's the equivalent of Predator, Cabin Fever, The 5th Wave, The Forgotten, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind committing a solitary gang bang. The cinematic toddler emerges and you could truly call it illegitimate. Hollywood may be germane but with "Recall", it reeks of assembly line fodder.All in all, it takes a good forty-five minutes for The Recall to get going. Added to that, the actors are all good-looking yet stereotypical with the ET taking element appearing customary and fairly outdated. There are times when you actually laugh at this movie calling it a special effects parody (the alien species look like red, tacky jellyfish). Other times, you roll your eyes at how "Recall's" twenty-something characters can be so run-of-the-mill and so wonted. Bottom line: With The Recall, Redbox fails anew for trying to be a credible way to rent something. No need to "recall" this thing after you see it. Rating: 1 and a half stars.