There’s no reason to remake Total Recall. The film, like many of Verhoeven’s best, still feels fresh and contemporary. It’s a crazy, over the top blast of greatness that’s just as good today as it was upon original release. But that doesn’t stop Hollywood, so Sony is remaking the film.
A remake of Total Recall, while stunningly unneeded, could actually be good. You get the right team on it and allow them to go as wet and weird as Verhoeven did and you might end up with something. Instead Sony is bringing on Len Wiseman, who is not a particularly good director, not a particularly interesting director, and certainly not a reasonable match for this material.
On top of that the remake is being produced by Neil Moritz, which means that the whole thing is just going to be meatheaded. Moritz needs filmmakers who battle against his base, crass, moronic urges, not ones who share them.
Give the people air, Cohagen. Or at least a good director.
22 comments
They should just dig out Cronenberg's screenplay and film that, like they should have done in the first place.
If Wiseman gets a hold of the franchise, expect such ridiculous things as Quaid traveling to just WAY too many planets in a day than is humanly possible. Yippie-ki-yay mother-*BLAMBLAMBLAM*"
A "Total Recall" remake is one thing, though since that movie was so flexible with the Phillip K. Dick story I think there are a lot of ways they can go with it if they want to be creative.
If by fresh, you mean dated and clear product of it's time, then I agree. Another time-capsule release will not improve matters.
Len Wiseman is a complete hack. A props guy who got lucky. This project is doomed with him at the helm.
This doesn't even make financial sense to me. The people who are familiar enough with Total Recall to say "Oh a Total Recall remake" are the same people who would go see an interesting, original science fiction film. Despair is right.
Echo the Cronenberg script sentiment.
Yeah, this sounds completely awful. But if it means we get a triple-breasted Kate Beckinsale then I will certainly be purchasing a ticket.
However great the Philip K. Dick source material was and however cool whatever Cronenburg came up with would have been, Total Recall is an Arnold movie. And, proven by the recent middle-of-the-road Predators, you really can't replace Arnold's stage presence. He's a beast. He's also funny as hell. Basically, he – with a few others, most appearing together in a little flick ripping throats in a few weeks – is the ideal action hero. So you can't replace him in an action movie called Total Recall. If you make this some trippy, mind-warp existential fantasy about the mind… still probably not. Hollywood needs to learn it's lesson the hard way clearly, but you can't clone Mr. Universe (because he already did that in another movie)
this movie is in GOOD HANDS. Wiseman is the right guy for this. I guarantee he'll have a total understanding of the material, what makes the short story great and what made Arnold's version great. This genre should be right in his wheelhouse. So get the hell off his ass.
We demand a four-tittied whore!
get your ass to Mars.
"Len Wiseman is a complete hack. A props guy who got lucky. This project is doomed with him at the helm."
He got lucky all right. He's banging Kate Beckinsale.
And jjoel007, you're being sarcastic, right?
I echo #4's statements. TR is extemely dated, and the "we really couldn't think of a good ending" ending that sucked back then hasn't gotten any better.
I never knew Cronenberg had a script for TR; is this available online?
Friends don't let friends watch remakes. And since none of you are my friends, I really don't give a rat's ass if any of you watch the remake "Total Recall" or not.
If this is Cronenberg, Aronofski, Nolan, hell I'll take the Primer guy, then this is a film that should be made. I disagree (again) with Devin – this is not a film that has aged well, and I thought that ten years ago. It reeks of 80s action (yes, I know it came out in 1990), and Arnold is just not the guy you want as the centerpiece of a mindfuck movie, because he is incapable of being confused (at the slightest moment of bewilderment, he cracks a joke and kills everyone in the room). Verhoven as a director isn't any better. His mainstream films (RoboCop, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct), whatever their entertainment value (and that can be high), have all the nuance of an After School Special.
Wiseman directing means that there will be no question on whether it's all a dream in Quaid's head or not. It'll be very dumbed down so that the general audience doesn't have to work their brain. Although, with the buzz of Inception, the studio could push the "What if it's a dream" angle. After I watched Inception, I put Total Recall on. A great flick to watch after Nolan's film.
I love Verhoevens movie, but there is room for a remake. I still think Arnie may have been perfect casting for everything on Mars, but that a more nebbish, ordinary lead would have been a better choice, to really add some weight to the whole "omg, I'm a Bourne like super spy!?" concept. I mean, did anyone really find it shocking when Arnie went, well, all Arnie on those guys at the mall?
Also, you could play it more directly on a mind fuckery level, like Inception.
But, hey. Len Wiseman. Oh well…Maybe they will get Brett Ratner on Robocop? Or Friedberg and Seltzer?
Paul Verhoeven's authorial stamp is too strong. You just can't remake his films, the result will always feel watered down. I guarantee that every scene will have been faster, funnier, smarter, more surprising and more violent in the original. 'Screwwwww Youuuuuuu!!!!!' Two veeks…Two Veeeeeks….. TWOOO VVVEEEEEEKKKKSSSS!!!!!' etc
Ditto with #20 and all those who say it shouldn't be remade. More than likely the remake will blow and we can just forget about it anyway.
jjoel007, I am not sure what you have seen to make you think Wiseman has "Good Hands". Everything the guy has done has been at best dull, but mostly awful. I think he can make a pretty picture. All his movies have looked great. He certainly has a handle on F/X, but he is not a storyteller. Wiseman's movies are emotionally and cerebrally empty.
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