In one of my undergraduate composition classes we frequently had to construct 3-5 page papers around ridiculous and unscholarly topics. This is reminiscent of those days.
The 2012 remake of Total Recall is serviceable and sufficiently entertaining as a rental, with significant but reasonable departures from the original. The plot is absurd, but plausibly so within the context of its story which is true of most science fiction/action films.
One memorable scene (especially for guys) is an epic hand-to-hand combat fight between the two lead females: Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale. Here are two alternate views on how to interpret this scene in a broader context:
View 1: This was yet another depiction of the centuries-old male fantasy of a catfight, pitting two certified smokeshows brawling over a guy, albeit one that makes use of non-girly special ops training and high-incendiary explosives. This gratuitious scene exists solely to serve the prurient interests of mouth-breathing men. (Note to film-makers: Please, give me more.)
Or
View 2: This scene presages the emerging dominance of women in society, as documented by Hanna Rosin and others. Here we have two athletic women advancing their own agendas and the male lead, Colin Farrell, is marginalized to the sidelines to scrap with a droid soldier. Farrell's character dimishes as a lead and becomes merely a pawn in the larger, movie-long struggle between the two women. (In support of this view, but regrettably from my standpoint, Colin Farrell is the only one of the three to appear topless in this film.) The actresses were completely, if snugly, dressed, no baby oil was involved, and jiggle was at a premium. One could boldly say this fight symbolizes the real-world societal ascension of women relative to men and is a post-feminist statement on the on-going shift in the gender power structure from males to females.
Or maybe it's just an entertaining scene in an action movie. Complicating the analysis is the knowledge that Beckinsale's husband was the film's director. Was he exploiting her, or helping her career? Likely the two had considerations to advance her bona fides as an action star, already established in the Underworld films. Film critics and observers have argued for years as to whether women can carry action films; in my view they can if done credibly. In real life I doubt that Kate Beckinsale cracks 100 lbs by much and would struggle to push around my 5' 9" 8th grade daughter, much less an ex-military adult male. But she is clearly athletic -- as shown in this film and the Underworld series -- and this is about acting and show, not real ass-kicking. (Another attractive, underfed woman convincingly opening up multiple cans of whup-ass on people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qna_1BEB4fY)
On film Ms. Beckinsale is convincing even if CGI and other movie magic is along for the ride to help. There is always a suspension of disbelief in these films, in the same way I don't believe Sylvester Stallone is really doing all those things in The Expendables at his age (even with that much HGH running through his system), and in the same way I don't believe Orlando Bloom is really that proficient and accurate with a bow and arrow. I'm temporarily but consciously buying into the fact that Kate Beckinsale can seriously smack someone around. As for Jessica Biel, she's got some guns to go with her looks and can probably shove folks around without the assistance of Hollywood trickery.
So, to summarize: more babe fights, please. Everybody wins.
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