I watched Total Recall (2012) because I was deeply in love with Sharon Stone’s Lori character in Total Recall (1990). That was 22 years ago. When Arnold Schwarzenegger in his character Douglas Quaid shot Sharon Stone in the head over Melina, it saddens many people. At that time, Sharon Stone was not even a well known actress. Lori’s character was killed way too early in the film. Nobody understands why a man would kill Lori over Melina.
Today, we’ve got Kate Beckinsale as Lori Quaid and Jessica Biel as Melina. Thanks to Sharon Stone, Lori’s character has become the most important character in the remake. Lori is now a main character instead of Melina. The reason that I watch this movie is to enjoy Lori’s character so I did pay extra attention every time she appears. My heart pumps every time when Lori appears because I know she died in the last one and I hope she can survive longer in this one.
Ok, Lori still wakes up in bed with Quaid when he has his usual nightmare about Melina. That is when I get my first look at Kate Beckinsale’s Lori. First of all, I think Kate Beckinsale looks gorgeous as Lori, but physical appearance wise, I still prefer Sharon Stone’s version. Sharon Stone was just too perfect for any actress to replace. It is just near impossible. To be fair, Sharon Stone did this in her prime at 32 and Kate Beckinsale is doing this at 39. I remember watching Pearl Harbor when Kate Beckinsale was 28 and I did think she could be a perfect actress for Lori. Don’t get me wrong, Kate Beckinsale is still an amazing actress as Lori.
Character wise Kate’s Lori is very different. She is stronger, and she’s very confident. She knows she’s the hottest woman in the planet and she has no problem admitting it. She was visibly upset when Quaid told her about his dream with Melina. She was surprised that he didn’t dream about her. She questions “I wasn’t in it?”. This time it was Lori going to work while Quaid still stays in bed. When Quaid complains about the mess in the world, she told him to think about her by saying “think about me, but not in that pants”. She’s in control over everything.
So, Quaid went to Rekall and mess things up. He came back home and have an expected hand to hand fight with Lori just like the original version. The difference here is Kate is much stronger, faster and more deadly. She didn’t sell her gorgeous looks to Quaid like Sharon Stone did. She is a real fighter machine. Kate did tell him she was implanted and even told him straight didn’t he find it unbelievable that such a low life factory worker like him had such a hot wife like her.
After Quaid’s escape, Lori with her guards tracks him down with a mobile tracker phone embedded at his palm. This time, it is different. Cohaagen calls Lori directly using video calls. There is no Richter. Lori is fully in charge in the whole organization. Everybody reports to Lori and she only reports to Cohaagen. In the original movie, Lori was only an undercover operative and the girlfriend of Richter. Richter works for Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) and he was being treated like a dog with no rights to think, to access to secret information and only follow orders. Kate Beckinsale’s role is much higher. She is Cohaagen’s (Bryan Cranston) right-hand person. The boss trusts no one but her. He tells her everything. He has secured line communication between them that no others can hear. Plus, Kate Beckinsale gets to be a little more impolite when speaking to him. When Lori dies in the original version Cohaagen didn’t say a word. I bet if she dies in this one, Cohaagen will react very furiously.
When Melina discovers Quaid’s new wife is the gorgeous Lori, she reacted very differently from the original movie. When Rachel Ticotin acted as Melina, she said “That was your wife? What a bitch” to the dead Lori played by Sharon Stone. Movie goers mostly sympathize and sides with the drop dead gorgeous dead corpse. In the new movie, Jessica Biel who acted as Melina simply said “She was your wife?”. Her silence simply acknowledge the fact that Kate Beckinsale as Lori is many times juicer than her and no wonders Quaid falls for this woman.
The lobotomize scene where the doctor is supposed to convince Quaid to return to “reality’ was done very differently. In the original movie, Roy Brocksmith as Dr. Edgemar appears in Quaid’s hotel to convince him to return to reality. Sharon Stone as Lori was brought to the scene for added incentive. There was constant extremely close up shots of Sharon Stone’s flawless face and the mention of “beautiful wife” to persuade Quaid. The choice was clear for Quaid. Take the pill and return to your perfect wife or start screwing things up all over again.
In 2012, this scenario was made up again. This could be a potential end scene for Lori as Quaid is known to have made odd and bad choices all the time. But, the director is smart enough to keep Lori out of the danger zone this time. Instead of having Lori very close to the undecided Quaid with a gun on his hand, Lori is now far away outside the building with many armed guards and police protecting her. Instead of Dr. Edgemar, we now have Bokeem Woodbine as Harry convincing Quaid to return to reality with the condition of killing Melina himself. Of course, the “beautiful wife” statement was being used again but this time, she is far away from danger.
Quaid’s choice and decision is less intense this time. There is no Lori right in front of his face. It was only between shooting Jessica Biel as Melina or his friend Harry. It really doesn’t matter who he choose to shot. Of course Melina was freak out. She almost cried. She is really not that important at all to Quaid. I’m glad that Lori did not present herself in this scene. It would have been messy. Quaid might have more reason to shoot Melina. But, then he was a bit unstable. Melina would know she has no match with Lori so she could have shot herself or shoot Lori. I’m glad the director didn’t put Lori in this scene. If she dies right here, the movie is not worth continuing watching anymore. Just like the original movie. Nobody was interested in watching Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rachel Ticotin running around after the death of Lori. Thanks to Len Wiseman and Bryan Cranston as Cohaagen for deciding to keep Lori in a safe distance.
So, Quaid and Melina escaped this one with Lori and guys giving chase. Now, this is going to be a very dangerous and deadly scene for Kate Beckinsale. We know what happen to Sharon Stone right after the lobotomized scene. Lori died after a famous cat being shot by the “unreasonable” Arnold. We know Lori is dead before Melina brings Quaid to find Kuato or Matthias in this case.
My hearts pump very fast from here. I was hoping that Lori survives this one without needing to follow the original plot. Lori is very well protected this time around. She’s always being surrounded by troops by human and robots. These guards have no problems scarifying themselves as long as they protect Lori. The cat fight with Melina wasn’t exactly that great comparing to Sharon Stone. Lori can potentially die here, but she didn’t. The situation in the elevator is also extremely dangerous considering Michael Ironside as Richter died there. She didn’t. The explosive Quaid puts on the elevator is very deadly for Lori. We see Lori facing massive explosion right in front of her in the trailer. She also survived that. Thanks! I am so happy. This is the Lori Extended that I have been longing for so long.
Now that all the danger points have passed, we know Lori is going to be disposed off very soon from here before Cohaagen who is the big boss. Quaid has now unintentionally brought Cohaagen, Lori and their troops to Matthias’s hideout. As like before, this is all part of the plan, except this time, Lori didn’t need to die to make Melina believe in Quaid. Cohaagen said Lori didn’t follow his order when she tried to kill Quaid which he actually wanted him alive. He promised to deal with her later, but the gesture truly shows Cohaagen was merely flirting with Lori and she knows that.
They are now strapping Quaid and Melina for memory implant leaving a few guys watching them. Cohaagen is going away and looks like Lori is going to stay. This is another very deadly scene for Lori. There were just several soldiers there. Quaid will free himself, then Melina, killed all the doctors, soldiers and disposed of Lori before Cohaagen finds her not returning to base. But, Cohaagen stopped and said “Lori, lets go!”. Oh thank god. I mean thank Cohaagen. He is not leaving his favourite Lori any chance of getting hurt with these nutcase people. Lori will only go for a mission with many troops guarding her.
Quaid and Melina have escaped and back to hunt them when Cohaagen and Lori were planning for their military strike. Reports were in that they are back. Cohaagen calls Lori to deal with it. Oh god! Lori will die in this one for sure. Fcuk Cohaagen! There are so many soldiers! Just leave Lori alone. So Lori and troops are eager to hunt them down.
In the process, Quaid and Melina have accidental face off with several troops while Lori was on her way. There were all in the anti-gravity chamber where things floated and everything slow down. Quaid took this opportunity to kill all the troops. I was thinking, this is going to be a slow-motion way for Lori to die. It will be very exciting and extremely heart breaking imaging Lori trying to reach her gun but slowed down by the gravity force and Quaid picks up and gun and fires the bullet slowly flying towards Lori’s head while she tried to flee but couldn’t. The few seconds of waiting time looking at the bullet coming over to her head. Oh my god, it is killing me.
But no, Quaid and Melina escaped again by crawling out the dangerously high tall building with a blasted hole in it. Lori called Cohaagen, tells him what happen and report that she is going to crawl out the building to continuing hunting for them. I know this will spells and end for Lori. Richter died falling hundreds meters. Lori will die in the same way. As Lori was getting ready to climb out the dangerous building, Cohaagen shouted “No! I will deal with him; you get back to the base and activate the soldiers!” You can see a smile in Lori’s face. See, Cohaagen really wants to protect Lori. He cannot afford to lose her. He knows how dangerous it could be for Lori to climb out that building to hunt for them. It is just too much risk to Lori to take. He would rather face Quaid himself and let her handle the army at the office. No boss will ever do that for a henchwoman, but for Lori it is all important that she stays safe.
Cohaagen went upstairs to face Quaid while Lori sits pretty in the office with tons of troops surrounding her. I like how loyal the robotic troops are towards Lori. They are always at the side of Lori, not Cohaagen. Cohaagen must have programmed them to protect Lori at all cost, do whatever she says and never ever hurt her in anyway. It would be fun to watch if Quaid screws up the program and make them hunt for Lori since he was the military robots factory worker. I’m sure Lori will shout back like damn it, it’s me!
When Cohaagen was being defeated, Lori was still safe and sound at the command centre with her robot troops. Quaid’s implanted explosive blows up the whole building. If Lori dies in such a manner, it is a pity. Lori’s death scene is so classical that it cannot be done off screen. She survived. I don’t know how, but most probably the robot troop’s automatic response to protect Lori kicked in.
The final death scene of Lori is lame. Seriously, I don’t think she’s dead at all. I think that was a decoy considering they have the technology to change face pretty effectively. Total Recall 2012 is all about keeping Lori alive as long as possible so that we can enjoy her more and thus enjoy the movie. Did anyone realize Cohaagen saved Lori twice? Lori is definitely Cohaagen’s favourite. Lori is the director’s favourite. Lori is also the audience’s favourite. How can they kill her off in such a simplistic manner after all the effort in keeping her alive? I think Lori is away taking over Cohaagen’s organization. It would be nice to see Lori in an undisclosed location working up her soldiers.
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