The most suspenseful thing here is waiting for someone to explain what the hell is going on.
Stop me if you’ve heard this plot before. A group of teenagers heads out to a remote cabin in the woods for what’s supposed to be a fun weekend. They encounter a crazy man at a gas station. After they arrive at the cabin, they discover that someone’s disabled their vehicle. There’s no way out of the woods. Spaceships begin to emerge from storm clouds all around the globe. Wait. What? That’s how The Recall, a 2017 horror/science fiction film directed by Mauro Borrelli, begins.
Wesley Snipes plays the aforementioned crazy man. Billed as “The Hunter,” Snipes’ character isn’t actually crazy but ultra-paranoid and preparing for the alien invasion that appears to be happening. He’s very interested in the teenagers who have intruded into his neck of the woods. So much so that they believe he’s out to get them.
The Recall has an interesting premise but Borrelli doesn’t know what to do with it. Snipes is far and away the highlight of the movie, but despite a top-billing, he only appears in a handful of scenes. The other characters are bland and uninteresting. The group of teenagers — RJ Mitte (Breaking Bad), Jedidiah Goodacre (Descendants), Laura Bilgeri, Hannah Rose May, and Niko Pepaj — aren’t terrible actors but the script gives them nothing consistent to work with. One of the characters is mourning an ex-girlfriend who died in a car accident who proceeds to bring it up at the most inappropriate times. Another character shifts abruptly from a fun-loving kid to gun-wielding maniac with predictably dire consequences.
Once the story manages to find its footing, it’s mere minutes before the credits roll. The first hour and 25 minutes could have (and probably should have) been condensed into a prologue. The last five minutes should have been expanded into a much better movie. As it stands, The Recall barely makes any sense.
It’s disappointing because the production seems to be well-funded — or at least efficiently so. The special effects are better than average and the camerawork, lighting, and cinematography are top notch. The Recall suffers from someone’s bungled concept of what makes a science fiction/horror mashup interesting. The most suspenseful thing here is waiting for someone to explain what the hell is going on.
1.5 out of 5.0 stars
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