Total Recall

[Freya]

This was actually a really good movie/remake/reimagining/whatever.

Discuss

[Sephex]

It wasn't bad for me exactly, but I left it feeling very underwhelmed. I actually like to see Colin Farrel in movies too, so I was actually hoping it would be really good since it has been awhile since he was the lead. I knew that it would be vastly different than the original film in terms of looks and feel, too. I did my best to try to view the movie in its own light, but then they kept on throwing random references and direct lines that was intended to remind you of the original. I felt that held the movie back from any greatness it could have achieved if they approached the project differently.

Also, I felt that they really didn't handle the question of if what the main character experienced was real or not very well. It came off as very forced.

Farrel did a good job with the character, and all other main characters showed up and did their jobs alright as well. However, the more I think about it the more I feel that the remake is largely forgettable. In another 20 years people will still be thinking of the 1990 version when they hear the words "Total Recall."

[charliepanayi]

Does this film have a line one tenth as good as 'consider that a divorce' or 'screw you!'? If not, I'm out.

[NorthernChaosGod]

All I know is the three-breasted hooker looked hot from what I was online.

[Del Murder]

This movie has gotten my interest but so far I have not heard great things.

[Freya]

Sephex, it wasn't a remake it was just based off the same short story. That's why some things are the same but this one is closer to the original.

[Sephex]

Sephex, it wasn't a remake it was just based off the same short story. That's why some things are the same but this one is closer to the original.

I know it was based of a short story. "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Phillip K. Dick. I know that they leaning more towards the book, which is why I found all the nods to the movie so weird. I understand that there was bound to be a couple, but still.

[edczxcvbnm]

The references to the original were minimal and really there were only 2 or 3 and those were all in the first third. Other references and scenes had more to do with the actual story being similar as it should.

My problem with the movie is that the action was too much and too long but that is also a consequence of their plot framework. Instead of being on Mars where so much is undeveloped and Quaid can hide, it is in a futuristic world where everything is monitored. That caused the action to go on for a long time because once they found him, it is hard to get away.

But because we are always running, I don't really feel the like the story comes off all that well. It is too straight forward for a story that is suppose to make the audience question whether what we are seeing is real or in his mind. I never really questioned it the whole way through as they always felt the need to get to the action too fast.

I guess maybe a lot of this could have been solved with a slightly different setting and longer scenes. I guess the movie just has a very unnatural flow. Information BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM, Information BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. I don't know. It just felt disjointed and didn't work together.

That said, everyone did a fantastic job with what they were given.

[Bubba]

I'm looking forward to seeing this but I'm pretty sure I won't have the same attachment as I had with the original.

Aha ha ha ha!!! You think this is the real Quaid?

IT IS!!

[Sephex]

I'm looking forward to seeing this but I'm pretty sure I won't have the same attachment as I had with the original.

Aha ha ha ha!!! You think this is the real Quaid?

IT IS!!

Arnold actually had a working version of that holgraphic wrist watch. It's how he was able to hide his affair with his maid for so many years.

[Raistlin]

It was ok. Definitely a different feel from the original, which isn't necessarily bad (and in fact was better in some ways). But the more serious-feeling plot did not get the development it deserved with the main focus being on the action scenes. I found myself getting bored in the latter parts of some fight or chase scene. The last fight scene with his "wife" was incredibly random and basically parodied itself.

I was bugged to see it by friends, but otherwise I would say it's not worth paying to see in theaters.

[Freya]

You didn't like action scenes? Do you also hate America?

[Depression Moon]

Sephex, it wasn't a remake it was just based off the same short story. That's why some things are the same but this one is closer to the original.

So do they mention the blue breasted woman?

[Psychotic]

It wasn't bad. The action scenes were cool and the setting was interesting. The whole "is it real?" aspect was kind of :| though. It's worth a watch if you want a night out though.

[Sephex]

Sephex, it wasn't a remake it was just based off the same short story. That's why some things are the same but this one is closer to the original.

So do they mention the blue breasted woman?

Blue breasted? No. They had the triple breasted woman, though!


It wasn't bad. The action scenes were cool and the setting was interesting. The whole "is it real?" aspect was kind of :| though. It's worth a watch if you want a night out though.

This is exactly why my friends and I saw it last weekend.

[CimminyCricket]

My girlfriend and I saw it last over the weekend and we really enjoyed it. Neither of us have really sat down to watch the original all the way through and I've only seen various snippets here and there and didn't have a clue about what the story was about until I saw the new take on it. I like Colin Farrel and wish he would do more action movies and Kate Beckensale made me hate and envy her the whole movie. I also found myself laughing at a multitude of inappropriate moments, specifically when Colin slammed/threw Kate into the ceiling. Overall, I feel like it was worth paying to see the movie in the theater with all the fun I had watching it.

[Mercen-X]

Colin Farrel as Quaid I found a bit odd ever since the trailers... hell, casting Arnold as Quaid seems odd, Quaid being an Irish name and Hauser being German. On some level Farrel is probably somewhat better suited to play Quaid, whereas I may expect Arnold's accent for someone named Hauser. If we consider that this is FUTURE, then most accents are probably dead anyway (of course, there's no killing Arnold's accent no matter what you do).

:eep: eep.

Henry... raw deal. They couldn't have injected a fight scene for that dude..? He yell's at Quaid once and gets shot in the head. Quaid is officially a douchebag.

I've been inclined to agree with the concept of magnetic vehicles since Minority Report. I loved the point of the chase at which the vehicle dropped to the streets below, crushing a modern vehicle with its hover power. Lucky or hopefully, no one was in there. I miss the part from the original where Richter is dangling off the elevator and gets his arms ripped off as a second elevator crushes down atop him. This time, they replaced signature douche with actual machine drones we felt no emotion toward, whether sympathetic or visceral.
There are few stories been told hoping to replace humanity (or at least its "dregs") with machines (Surrogates, I-Robot, AI, The Matrix, Stepford Wives), this was not one of the best. Cohaagen in this just seemed like an idiot douche. One of the best bits of dialogue in the original was Cohaagen stating how desperately he wanted Hauser back. What? Was he his boyfriend? What about offering Melina as Hauser's "bitch"?

Personally, I was not as amazed by the tri-breasted chick in this flick as I was by the one in the original. It was one thing for the concept to be of a potential mutation causing a natural growth of a third breast. But here, somehow the realization that she had obviously had the breast surgically attached in some unnecessary augmentation just really disgusted me.
The trip through the core was a little lame and the fight in anti-grav wasn't all that great. I think it was the first I've observed of someone using the force of bullet discharge as a means to direct movement without gravity. I liked some of the tech a lot though. I wish they had given the lead robot some more significance. IT made me think of Rinzler from Tron Legacy. My dad says he personally missed the Johnny Cab but he loved the concept of the "floating" middle-class condos.

[Arizona Lively]

(there's no killing Arnold's accent no matter what you do).Agreed. And you're right, Quaid is a douche for killing Henry like that.


somehow the realization that she had obviously had the breast surgically attached in some unnecessary augmentation just really disgusted me.
you're kind of odd

[Mercen-X]

I presented the following in a classroom discussion about history and subjectivity.
I recently viewed Total Recall and Colin Farrel says once that the past shows us where we've been. While that remains true and it is certainly a fact to learn from, history is not the deciding factor of where we will go. You look back and decide whether you approve of what you see and you move forward aspiring to what you assume will meet your approval. That's all any individual or society can really do with history. But to rightfully decide if that history is "good" or "bad" you must be willing to view it from many perspectives as any single perspective is nearly guaranteed to be corrupted by bias.

[Christmas]

3 breast lady? :bigsmile:

One each for the family