Total Reality

TOTAL REALITY is a very low budget science fiction flick that marked one of the last screen performances for the short-lived martial artist David Bradley, who started out by appearing in AMERICAN NINJA 3. This one involves a totalitarian future where a couple of bad guys travel back in time to the present day to change history and are pursued by a ragtag team of prisoners who have to stop them. Bradley stars as the chief prisoner and is adequate enough in the role, playing against screen favourite Thomas Kretschmann as the villain of the hour. The sci-fi elements are acceptable and the present day storyline works well to a degree, although it's never quite as interesting or indeed suspenseful as it perhaps should be.

Loved this b-grade movie...

I never laughed so hard at a time travel sci-fi flick...from the moment the bald-headed baddie hopped in the back of a Ford pick-up and yelled "Hey, it's a Turk!" and his lead henchman sneered at him and said "Truck. It's a *truck*."

Funny stuff all the way through what would otherwise be a standard fare time travel flick.

Film-makers and movie-goers should see this film. It high-lights major problems with this genre. If we start with the use of studios and the penchant for special effects. This means that the sets are always, dark, and more than often that they are in derelict buildings. The models used are constructed by similar thinking people. The film itself is constructed on stereotypical binaries. The German accented villain - is unfortunate, it is built on I think a less than subliminated version of the Second World War. Brunettes, blondes, Germans, Jews, dirty faced children, clean children, war, peace, black, white. They are cliches.The dialogue could have been written on a beer mat. The acting was deplorable. Wooden. Why do people waste money on such a production? Yet there are so many like this.Given the same material and same budget I could have made a much better movie. I think Philip Roth should hang his head in shame. But as I said before. Watch it and study the formulaic, the stereotypes, the cliches --indeed this film should be put on the viewing list of film courses. A must to see.

Total Reality is not entirely bad. The idea was intriguing, the opening sequence was great, Missa Koprova is beautiful and appealing and David Bradley is a commanding physical actor and his acting is reasonable. Apart from these Total Reality is pretty poor and doesn't have things to recommend beyond what was mentioned above. The special effects do look as though they were rushed through, the way the film is shot is choppy and the setting suffers from a lack of authenticity and too many scenes where it is over-lit. The score is generic and overbearing, while the dialogue is cheesy and repetitive and the story obvious- to the point of guessing what's going to happen next and being correct every time- and mind-numbingly dull. The action shows Bradley trying very hard with what he has(the movie shows little of his physical acting) but one is always wishing that he had more inspired and lively choreography to work with. The characters and their situations are one cliché after another with nothing done to make them particularly memorable or interesting, while the direction is pedestrian and the rest of the acting shows the actors unable(or is it not willing?) to do anything with the writing or characters. In conclusion, there is far worse out there but Total Reality on the whole was pretty poor with a few redeeming merits. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This film is striking only in its banality and use of cliches. Sadly it was obvious throughout up until the ending. But don't be mistaken into thinking that it ended strongly. Only a little unexpectedly, though nothing worth watching the thing through for.

From the taciturn and wronged hero, to the Germanic baddy, to the expendable team, the characters were entirely wooden and obvious. The two FBI agents Smith and Wesson (geddit?) gave some hope of humour, but that came to nothing.

I am a big science fiction fan but it is hard to find any redeeming quality in this film. A turkey!