This is neat-o and random. It s supposed to be post-apocalyptic London and obviously there s a bunch

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.
It is, however, the biggest film ever shot in Toronto (at least until Pacific Rim is released) and we confess we went in thinking there would be a lot of green-screen studio sets and not much local scenery to see. But we were pleasantly surprised.
One of the film s cooler ideas is that there s a huge transit system called The Fall that takes people under the earth, through the core, allowing them to travel between Asia and Europe. The Asian station is actually the Meeting Place at the University of Toronto s Scarborough Campus .
Similarly, there s a huge scene at this office building with a distinctive, semi-circular front. It was actually shot at the south entrance of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, right beside the CN Tower and the dome.
The European scenes are supposed to be in futuristic London, and a bunch of our popular quasi-European streetscapes make appearances. This is Melinda Street, looking east to where it jogs at Yonge Street, and becomes Colborne Street.
This is neat-o and random. It s supposed to be post-apocalyptic London and obviously there s a bunch of CGI going on. The street itself, however, is actually in downtown Guelph discovery cruises to the bahamas . If you look, you can recognize McCabe s Pub on the right.
Back to that Guelph scene—the building they re approaching is the hideout of the terrorist leader, Matthias. As much as we love Bill Nighy, come on, he s no Kuato . (And while we re happy it gave a local actress a gig , if the logic of dropping Kuato comes from dropping the mutant storyline, how do you explain the three-breasted hooker?) Anyway, despite the special-effects destruction, you might recognize this
You probably remember the biggest scene they shot publicly was a car chase under the Gardiner (no, Jessica Biel was not hit by falling concrete [rim shot!]), but don t expect to recognize it. They basically used real vehicles discovery cruises to the bahamas to get the motion and then replaced the exteriors discovery cruises to the bahamas for this chase scene.
For all the money it cost them, it s hard not to watch Total Recall and wonder, Why? every now and then. But it s a decently made film as far as it goes, and after watching other locally shot movies with less than spectacular production values , we hope that this is the start of bigger and better, more blockbuster-y things for our town.
Filed under: Convocation Hall , Knox College , Metro Toronto Convention Centre , Pinewood Studios Toronto , Pinewood Studios , Roy Thomson Hall , total recall , university of toronto scarborough , cfb borden , culture , guelph , lower b , one king west , reel toronto
This movie may hold the record for most utter bullcrap thrown at the audience within the first two minutes. An ecological disaster that for no reason stops at city limits. A tunnel through the Earth going RIGHT PAST THE MOLTEN CORE which despite being as hot as the Sun suddenly cannot melt or burn anything. discovery cruises to the bahamas A society so cramped for space that they leave huge gaps between apartment towers.
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