Total Recall remake...why?

[Dynaman]

Is this a rumor or fact??

It is a fact, but since the movie is not very far along in production that doesn't make it much more then rumor...

http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/new-starship-troopers-movie-to-be-less-violent/272555

[wm cheng]

If anyone gets DiY Network, tune on starting August 1st to see a making of episode for the construction of Total Recall (hopefully I will be on TV!)

http://www.diynetwor...call/index.html

I'm not sure the DiY Network in Canada will be airing the same thing (can't get an answer out of them). Is there anyone in the States that gets this channel and is willing to record it onto some AVI or MP4 file for me to see? I would really appreciate it.

[PetarB]

YouTube would be even more dandy, that way we could all see it....

[Lobizon]

[Omegablue]

Strange on the lack of collectables for this film...

[Vile]

Well, I've seen it. I gave it a fair shake, but the original is better in every way except SFX (and even there you can't really fault it, especially for the time). Colin Farrell should have kept his Irish accent, too. I had to go home afterwards and re-watch the Arnie version right away.

[wolfx]

Just saw it yesterday. I kinda like it. Plot twist was paper thin..... but SFX and acting was pretty good. A good remake to the original. Kate was badass but her motivations were lame. Jealousy or something.

[areaseven]

Not looking good with the critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 31%

[slaginpit]

I saw the movie and it was pretty good I like the cameo with the old fat women at airport security. And the major theme was a little weaker than the original but I generally liked it

[CaptRico]

Just got finished seeing the remake, and all I can say is while the special effects are topic notch, the story, as with any remake, sucks. The original was a million times better. Hell, even the synopsis for the original book was better than this.

1 out of 5 stars.

[Negotiator]

Plot was weaker, yes, but Kate saved that whole movie for me and made me like it. Also I liked the sets and fx.

[southpaw]

Was the three breasted girl who didnt show her breast atleast looked better than the original that did show her 3breast.

[renegadeleader1]

What? So many of you have seen it, but no comment on the three boobed girl?

[slaginpit]

Was the three breasted girl who didnt show her breast atleast looked better than the original that did show her 3breast.

Meh Fake tits always look fake no matter how many you have

[VF-2SS-BloodPhoenix]

When the 3 breasted mutant flashed the screen, I immediately said "those are totally fake."

The only thing I like about the remake are the visual designs. The movie had no reason to be remade.

Like everyone here mentioned, the plot was just produced horribly.

Characters were not fleshed out well enough.

The entire movie just feels like your typical generic hollywood action movie.

The ending was rather uninspiring even with that extra bit at the end. It was just so awkward. After a supposedly climiatic ending, we get a one last punch that didn't do anything.

I don't know if anyone felt that the ending was well done even. I don't get it, I don't like it.

I swear, almost all of the movies I walk out of, I could make a better movie than what I just saw.

[EXO]

Total Rebourne! That's what I'm calling it.

Aside from the weird lens flares (Len Wiseman... or... Wise Lensman?) that came from no where on set, the set design and props were pretty good. I also like the wide shots of the action.

The rest of it is like everyone says. Story was predictable... the first quarter of the movie was straight out of Bourne Identity... He unknowingly knows gun fu, then goes to a mysterious safe deposit box and finds money, passports, spy crap. And then he has to go to his apartment that he doesn't remember owning. The characters weren't developed or developed really poorly where you don't really care about the fact he just lost his life as he knows it, his wife who thinks he loves, and he kills his friend, who was never really clearly part of the conspiracy. I mean he could have been paid or manipulated. And if you're gonna have MissTriptits, then you gotta have Quato... right?

Oh and I like the lady that was reminiscent of the big lady from the first movie.

BTW. I'm ashamed to say that I'm on the fence of liking the movie just based on the fact that Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Beal was in it. And Kate kicked major ass. Derivative fight choreography aside, she moved really well!

[Wasabi-san]

We saw it last night.

Seeing the cityscape, we immediately thought Blade Runner.

Then...

The Core for The Fall,

I Robot for the robot sentries,

Star Wars Clone Wars for the "Imperial" police invasion force,

Minority Report for the Fiat/Chrysler/Dodge maglev chase.

The Matrix and Johnny Neumonic came to mind a couple of times when they were in the wastelands.

When he had to go back to rescue the girl, I made an Aliens Ripley-saving-Newt comment just as he turned the corner in the corridor with the guns and lights flashing..we both laughed.

When they had the pod on the top of the Fall, I was thinking about AI.

We sat through the credits to see if there would be any last shot of the Recall logo or him waking up...nothing.

The soundtrack was good, and we liked it for the popcorn value and visual effects eye candy, but the original...it was not.

"I give good wife." Funny line.

[wm cheng]

I'm sorry here, but I gotta chime in. I admit I am biased, but HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY SEEN THE ORIGINAL recently?! I had to watch it last year when I was working on it and seeing it as an adult now was very different than I remembered!! There is all this talk of the original being the "Pantheon" of Sci-fi - it wasn't that great objectively! It was fun when I was a "kid" in school to see that movie and within the sarcastic 80's context, the "one liners" were funny (but how many reviews have I read about people lambasting the recent "Lockout" for its sarcastic one-liners - when Guy was intentionally channeling Kurt Russel of the 80s - you're criticized if you do and damned if you don't!) The original is just plain silly, it had the color pallet of the original series Star Trek, the sets and lighting setups of bad TV, really cheese special effects and totally cartoon characters. I dare any of you guys to watch it again, there isn't even Verhoeven's ultra-violent corporate commentary in Robocop or the political satire of Starship Troopers.

Yes, we all know Hollywood is now run by accountants, there's too much risk in originality - but that applies to every film released in the last 5yrs! Really, everything is derivative - its the essence of Modernity. I feel it got a really bad rap and now its easier for everyone to just jump on that bandwagon. I know I am in the minority here, but after watching it twice already, trying to ignore my sets and designwork, the movie works - it's no academy award winner (however I tend to disagree with most of their nominations anyways - too much politics!) but its no worst than most action films today. In fact there is really very little acting in action films - its mostly "reacting" to the explosions - just see Bruce in Die Hard (I've asked him, and that's what he told me!). Of course Kate Beckinsale might have something to do with how much I liked the film. ;-)

Half the reviews I've read by the critics obviously hadn't actually seen the movie itself (being intimately familiar with the script) and made blunders that was obviously copied from press releases. Basically movie reviews by critics today seem to have gone the same way product reviews are online - basically someone regurgitating the spec sheet without actually using the product.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now - back to your regularly scheduled TR bashing...

[EXO]

Hey wm cheng. I thought you got mad at me for bashing the original here:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=30227&view=findpost&p=966340

I'm one that don't consider it a classic. This version to me was superior. I stand by my thoughts on the movie and yes, you can say all those things I said about most other movies. But a little more characterization on this movie could have gone a long way because the visuals were there IMO.

[bigkid24]

I saw it last Friday and I fell asleep during it so I probably missed some big plot points but I enjoyed it. Yeah it reminds me of a lot of other movies but there were enough bad ass Kate Beckinsale moments to save it for me. If nothing else it was a pretty movie.

[wm cheng]

No I didn't get mad at you for bashing the original - I totally agree - I thought you were referring to this remake. ;-)

Yes, as always, the story/script/dialog/acting could have been better. If you see it from my side of the desk, its a wonder these films even ever get made! I just wished that for once, I get onto a film and they actually finished the script or at least have some idea for an ending!

I'm not mad, I'm just so sick and tired of everyone going on and on about how it doesn't hold up to this amazing original 22yrs ago - memory just has a great way of coloring the past. I just don't think most of these people have seen the original lately.

[PetarB]

I'm a big Verhoeven fan. Only recently did I discover a friend of mine was a lead on one of his early movies!

Robocop, rewatched recently, confirmed to me that it was still a classic. I feel absolutely no need to rewatch Total Recall however, because I never felt that it was.

It's a real shame that Verhoeven gave up directing for awhile. Black Book (be sure it watch it if you haven't seen it, subbed) was his last 'big' movie and showed he really still had the magic.

What bugs me about the marketing of Total Recall is some commentators saying it is a reboot of the story 'We can remember if for you wholesale.' As a PKD fan who has read everything he ever wrote I can say quite clearly that Verhoeven made his own movie out of this seed of a short story. And from what I've read this movie takes it's inspiration from that movie, rather than the short story.

Actually, I really don't get the Hollywood obsession with PKD. To be honest, his oevre was very particular, very paranoid and internal, and certainly not the top tier of SF authors I'd be looking at for movie IPs. There were plenty of other twentieth century authors - and more importantly twenty first century authors who have a lot more interesting, and more importantly exciting things to say that could translate amazingly well to movies. Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series would translate brilliantly to the big screen, for example.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one. As an SF fan, I take what I can get. I LOVE so called 'b-grade' and genre movies, so I'll probably enjoy the hell out of this one. I just hope there's another District 9, Moon, or The Matrix coming my way again soon.

[wm cheng]

Agreed!

I'm now on the RoboCop remake... I guess we're stuck in the Verhoeven 80's here in Toronto!

[PetarB]

At least you've got a good cast to work with. And I like what I've seen so far on the viral marketing.

[EXO]

Robin Sparkles says that Canada is just the 80's USA but in HD...

[VF-2SS-BloodPhoenix]

I've seen the original Total Recall, not when it originally released in theatres, but when my brother bought the DVD. Some of the tech in the original were crap looking, but that's par for that time, compared to today.

The story felt more grandiose - it held a purpose and had a mission, the question of "is this real or not" was done rather well at the very end of the movie and closed it perfectly.

This re-imagining of Total Recall, just didn't feel like much of anything.

The beginning synopsis of the movie world, felt exactly like a video game intro video. If you don't want to insult your viewers, don't show that scene, just put us in the movie right away, and let us decipher it as it moves along.

I felt nothing from Doug Quaid's character.

Jessica Biel's character (don't remember if she even had a name) had almost no character development. She barely had any lines, she needed more lines like the one on the train ride.

Chancellor Cohaagen felt rushed, literally, and if he was such a tyrant, why would he even bother going to Australia for the invasion? That's what his henchman (or woman) is there for.

Kate Beckinsale's character probably had the better screen time, but her character was more of a berserker. It made almost no sense, to me anyway. I was expecting her to kill that punk who had Quaid's hand phone.

I thought the meeting with the rebel leader was going to be something special, and it fell flat, meant nothing, did nothing.

Edited August 9, 2012 by VF-2SS-BloodPhoenix

[Uxi]

I just watched the original on Blu-ray and gotta say it holds up pretty well. Arnold has so many great one liners in it in between getting punched and kicked in the balls all the time. Me and my friends still regularly use "See at the Party Richter!" and "get your ass to Mars."

Have no interest at all in seeing this one, though am not as offended by it's concept as I am for say... the Robocop remake. I hate reboots/remakes in general, though. Why not a sequel in the same imaginary universe instead? Not like they have to directly or even indirectly reference the original at all... just seems like a waste.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I agree with wm cheng ( i believe its why the new conan movie didn't do well). Haven't seen it yet wan tot try and read the original short story.

[myk]

I'm not mad, I'm just so sick and tired of everyone going on and on about how it doesn't hold up to this amazing original 22yrs ago - memory just has a great way of coloring the past. I just don't think most of these people have seen the original lately.

I did, and I couldn't even finish it. Again, some things are best left in the past. Well, except for the part where Sharon Stone offers to let herself be tied up...

[anime52k8]

I agree with wm cheng ( i believe its why the new conan movie didn't do well). Haven't seen it yet wan tot try and read the original short story.

I liked the Conan remake, it was fun. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale is great, the ending is utterly ridiculous and amazing.

[Dynaman]

the Robocop remake. I hate reboots/remakes in general, though. Why not a sequel in the same imaginary universe instead? Not like they have to directly or even indirectly reference the original at all... just seems like a waste.

I generally hate reboots, but Robocop I'll make an exception for - the sequals hosed it up so completely that a reboot is the only way to go.

As for TR, the original was one of the great Arnold movies, but an Arnold movie it was - with everything that implies (great cinema NOT being one of them). I'd happily watch it again and again. This new one, I'll wait for the DVD and rent it most likely.

[renegadeleader1]

I did, and I couldn't even finish it. Again, some things are best left in the past. Well, except for the part where Sharon Stone offers to let herself be tied up...

Mmmmmmm Sharon Stone aerobics bondage :drool:

[Fly4victory]

I guess we're stuck in the Verhoeven 80's here in Toronto!

Now I know why I like Toronto more as time goes on. You are litterly winding back the clock and doing it so well that Winnipeg has the Jets again.

Have yet to see the new movie. Some shows are put on the buy DVD list right from the start.

[myk]

Mmmmmmm Sharon Stone aerobics bondage :drool:

Lol, yeah she was actually kinda cute, back-in-the-day...

[renegadeleader1]

Lol, yeah she was actually kinda cute, back-in-the-day...

Kinda cute? Drop dead gorgeous is more like it! Well before that dumb idiot who ever it was told her she needed botoxwhen she didn't and the plastic surgeon botched that up.