4.07.2012

Total Recall (2012) trailer hits the net! What do you think?


I know this is a week old, but thought I'd start a dialogue here in regards to Len Wiseman's remake of the Paul Verhoeven directed Arnie classic Total Recall. I recently posted this new trailer of the remake that hit the internet last Sunday on my Facebook page and got a "lot" of response, with the majority of the opinion swinging towards indifference. What do you think?


VS. 


I'm actually really curious to see the remake. In a lot of respects, you just can't touch Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1990 original. In that films case it seems like all the right talent came together at just the right time. You have director Verhoeven at the height of his career after knocking our socks off with Robocop. Then you also have Schwarzenegger reigning supreme at the box office with one monster hit after another. He hadn't made Last Action Hero (which I actually like, to some degree) or Junior yet. But wait! There's also makeup wiz Rob Bottin handling the physical makeup effects and it being 1990, the minimal use of CGI and an awesome amount of old fashioned model and effects work. In the writing department you have a couple of my favorite old school pro's in Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

But Philip K. Dicks "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"  is such an interesting story and I'm curious to see someone else's interpretation, even if that person "is" Len Wiseman who didn't impress me at all with his entry in the Die Hard series. Don't even get me started with that one. I can go on and on. I just might have to do an entirely separate post one day on Live Free or Die Hard on all the things I find wrong with it. But who knows? Maybe he can make something out of this story, something fresh. In any case, Total Recall (1990) will always be an awesome untouchable piece of 90's Sci-Fi Cinema. 

7 comments:

  1. Hit and miss for me rG, I like some of the ideas but hate the look of the CGI, it looks like a series of video game cut scenes for the most part. I'll watch it no doubt, it's a great story after all but I'm really not sure about Farrell as the lead. How do you feel about the casting?

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    1. I actually feel sorry for Farrell. Even though it's a different take on that story, he's just gonna be compared to Schwarzenegger plain and simple. And how the hell does "anyone" stack up against that guy?! lol. But the casting of him doesn't really bother me too much. He can be pretty great in certain roles and found him quite likable in the lame-ass Fright Night remake. And you're right about the quick cut edit of the trailer. I'm curious to see it as a whole. Maybe it won't look as bad with the overuse of CGI as we think? I'm always down for a good Sci-Fi flick, even if it's an unwanted remake. I'm "hoping" for a decent one with this.

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  2. Ingo-Hellford667 Movie ReviewsApril 7, 2012 at 12:17 PM

    I think Farrell as the big hero never really worked, he si better in supporting roles, or smaller films in general. His face just doesnt work for a hero, in my humble opinion... He is like a teddybear bad-ass,lol.
    As far as the remake goes-i know the story and i doubt there will be much left to impress or suprise me. I dont even like Schwarenegger in Total Recall, dunno..sometimes the actor-like in this case-is already a walking parody,and somehow another actor and maybe a bit less humour wouldve been better. The CGI alone wont be able to make the remake worthwhile, and since the story isnt new to most of us, I dont see something that could possibly impress me. Probably just another one time watch and then---forget,forget , forget...lol.

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    1. Possibly. And I think you are right, Farrell seems to do much better in supporting roles. But hey, there's always a first for everything! I actually really love the original for so many reasons. Having the larger than life Schwarzenegger at the height of his career for one, and the over the top insaneness that only Paul Verhoeven can deliver for another. For me, it's just an awesome 90's ultra-violent sci-fi piece of Badass Cinema.

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  3. Pass. Another 80s property that's been remade purely because it's a recognizable title. Before they started filming the director and producer said that they would be starting from scratch and going back to the original Philip K Dick short story but the trailer confirms exactly what I thought it would be.

    Shot with excessive (and unnecessary) amounts of CGI, muted depressing grey palette, PG-13 violence. Hollywood is way to interested in the bottom line nowadays. They play everything so safe.

    It's shame because I actually quite like Farrell. I'm one of the few people who thought he was great in Miami Vice (yes, I note the oxymoron of trashing this remake while holding up another as great - what can I say, I'm complex).

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    1. I agree about the excessive CGI. And I'm not really digging the mix of Asian and futuristic design when Hauser goes into Recall in trailers. Looks like kind of an odd mix to me. And PG-13. Psssh! They're all PG-13 these days and it's so sad. I guess since it costs so much more to make them, they need to make as much as possible at the theater, which means watering down the film to meet PG-13 requirements, which means more butts in the theater seats. The days of hard R action films are long gone I'm afraid. I don't know, I'm still curious about this one though. Not excited in the least, but curious.

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  4. Yeah, I think when Ridley Scott mixed Asian and futuristic designs in Blade Runner it was something new and exciting but that was 30 years ago. This doesn't feel like much of an innovative vision of the future (bar the flying cars - but even they seem very similar to The Fifth Element).

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