TOTAL RECALL (2012)

SciFi Japan has posted the production notes, images and trailer for the new TOTAL RECALL...

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012/07...oduction-notes/

I'm still trying to get my head around the boast that this one is "darker" than the original.

I remember the first version being pretty damn dark & violent.

Yeah, a "darker" PG-13. And Len Wiseman is SUCH a hack. That said, and for all the trailer borrows from Verhoeven's, I'm still very mildly curious. If it stinks Colin Farrell should demand that his agent get him out of remakes; FRIGHT NIGHT was truly awful.

I think "darker" for them means they removed the Schwarzenegger one-liners.

I actually see some potential for this film since I didn't care for the cartoonish tone of the original. Other than Michael Ironside, I won't miss anyone from the original cast. Farrell is a lot closer to the PKD ideal for Quaid than Schwartzenegger was.

I'd be more inclined to see this if they did something different, like maybe doing the book. But this and the proposed redo of STARSHIP TROOPERS supposedly are based on the previous movies only. If so, then I don't think it's too early to call FAIL on this.

The new Blu-ray of the 90 one is, by the way, stellar. Color and detail has returned to the image, and the supplements (including the Verhoeven/Schwarzenegger commentary) retained. Costs $10 at Amazon; streets next week.

Yeah, even if the new TOTAL RECALL is bad (which I'm expecting), it at least gave Lionsgate an excuse to upgrade the Blu-ray. I'm all over this new one. A friend of mine has the the first Lionsgate Blu-ray and says it looks terrible ("I don't care what the packaging says, it's not 1080p...it doesn't even look like a good DVD upconvert").

Like OUTLAND it's one of those movies that's had a checkered home video history (I think my LD was full-frame). Two mistakes corrected in one summer.

I don't suppose they restored the brief cuts that were made for the R rating.
Still, that's a tough to resist deal.

The ads make it look terribly dull. And the one shot of the three-breasted woman I saw had a red strip of cloth around them.

Well, it is PG-13.

Saw this today and it was surprisingly pretty good. And yes, you see the three breasts, uncovered.

TOTAL RECALL (2012)

I was pretty surprised to see that three breasts shot, in there. Between that, an F bomb, and the action, this is a pretty hard PG-13. I'm interested in revisiting this when the 17 min. longer cut hits Blu Ray.

The movie's not bad. It borrows a LOT from BLADE RUNNER, the cityscape and rundown areas are just missing the off world colony ads, and some from MINORITY REPORT's big chase scene, which now makes them and this seem like part of a Phillip K. Dick like "movieverse". And, as Mark points out, STAR
WARS as well.
It's beautifully done, with plenty of eye candy both dystopian and of the flesh and blood kind. And it's smarter then the fun but really over the top Verhoeven/Schwarzenegger actioner.
But it all just sits there at the top and never really gets to that mind bending level it seems to want to.

TOTAL RECALL (1990)—Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside. Verhoeven (ROBOCOP) and writers Ronald Shusett (ABOVE THE LAW), Dan O’Bannon (BLUE THUNDER), Gary Goldman (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA), and Jon Povill (SLIDERS) were unfaithful to Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” but still laid the foundation for a fun and fast-paced mixture of action, science fiction, and black humor. Arnold is unusually cast as Doug Quaid (originally intended for Richard Dreyfuss and William Hurt, among others), an ordinary Joe construction worker with a beautiful wife, Lori (Stone). He has nightmares about Mars, a planet he has never visited, but always wanted to. He visits a company called Recall that sells virtual vacations to tourists who want a good time without travel hassles or bad weather. Cut to the chase: Quaid discovers his entire life is a lie, that he’s really a secret agent named Hauser, and he was banished to Earth and brainwashed by corrupt Mars governor Cohaagen (Cox) to keep him from spilling secrets to a mysterious freedom fighter named Kuato. Basically a long chase with Quaid/Hauser and “demure, sleazy brunette” Melina (Ticotin) on the run from Cohaagen’s assassin Richter (Ironside) and his goons, TOTAL RECALL offers up some real oddball ideas (some of which were created by original director David Cronenberg), including the revelation of Kuato, which initially seems too weird for a summer blockbuster. Rob Bottin’s special makeup effects won a Special Achievement Oscar, though the early CGI shots stand out as inferior. Bloody squibs and clever social satire pinpoint TOTAL RECALL as a Verhoeven film, and it’s a blast. Also with Marshall Bell, Michael Champion, Mel Johnson Jr., Marc Alaimo, Dean Norris, and Lycia Naff as a physically gifted mutant hooker. Score by Jerry Goldsmith is wonderful, though parts of it ape Basil Poledouris.

Here are some pretty interesting looks at Cronenberg's preparation for TOTAL RECALL:

http://io9.com/5909647/the-strange-creatur...d-have-included

http://io9.com/5907260/never+before+seen-c...ecall/gallery/1

Some pretty amazing stuff there. It should also be noted that after he left, director Bruce Beresford also spent over a year preparing the project. His choice for the lead at the time was Patrick Swayze.

Jaunty John Charles and I (and my friend Matt Toler) discuss TOTAL RECALL old and new (and other topics, including the careers of Schwarzeneggar and Seagal) on the new Demolition Men podcast.

Highlights from a Q&A session that Paul Verhoeven did recently at a screening of his TOTAL RECALL:

http://movieline.com/2012/08/27/colin-farr...schwarzenegger/