After an apocalyptic chemical war, only two habitable places remain: The Federation of Britain and The Colony (Down Under!).
Ordinary Colony citizen Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) dreams of being a secret agent to escape his factory job. He visits Rekall, a shop allowing people to pay for thrilling experiences by using special chemical injections.
Customers are not supposed to ask for memories of their real lives. So when Quaid asks to "become" an agent, a lie-detector signals that he is, indeed, an agent. Police suddenly raid the shop, but Quaid escapes, and arrives home to find his wife (Wiseman's own spouse,Kate Beckinsale) has been lying to him about all sorts of things.
The action is OK, but the movie lacks originality; the robots resemble the Star Wars clone troopers. And Christopher Nolan's wittily executed Inception explained the confusion between reality and dreams far better.
It's only been 20 years since the Arnold Schwarzenegger original - hardly long enough for it to become a classic and warrant a remake.
What's worse, Wiseman fails to give us anything memorable. The original took us to Mars years before Curiosity; this one fakes up two imaginary nations - that actually exist. Uninspired, much?
YP Rating: 2/5