Total Recall (2012)

[Roger Godpleton]

BWWWAAAAARRRRRM

[klute]

I'm wondering if they will have any of arnies one liners in there as a homage......

[TordelBack]

The original is incredibly bad but with a lot of redeeming amusement value (not least the HO Scale train set standing in for aerial shots of Mars) , so I'm not remotely concerned by a remake.  However, the look of this is atrocious.  The foreground lighting in that scene of Biel's butt in front of an explosion would have stood out as shoddy in an episode of Bablylon 5 (maybe I did spend too long on the freezeframe), and the cityscapes look like they're from a PS2 cutscene.  What are they up to?

[Mardroid]

Liking the original as I do, (it's cheesy, but I just love that twisty plot) I'm not keen on the idea of a remake.

I do like the visuals on that trailer though.

[Goaty]

How anyone not like the original film's twist ending?

And it was good violent film as well!

[Professor Bear]

There wasn't a twist at the end of Total Recall - he wasn't dreaming.


BWARRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNN.

[JOE SOAP]

Not exactly a twist but a revelation.

The worst aspect in a lot of these 80's sci-fi action fests is Arnie, he's just awful.

[JamesC]

Not exactly a twist but a revelation.

The worst aspect in a lot of these 80's sci-fi action fests is Arnie, he's just awful.

Fuck you man! Arnie's awesome!

Arnie made loads of classics in the 80's - Terminator, Commando (my favourite), Total Recall, The Running Man, Predator.

The man has star quality!

[Goaty]

Not exactly a twist but a revelation.

The worst aspect in a lot of these 80's sci-fi action fests is Arnie, he's just awful.

Fuck you man! Arnie's awesome!

Arnie made loads of classics in the 80's - Terminator, Commando (my favourite), Total Recall, The Running Man, Predator.

The man has star quality!

And classic lines! "Stick around"

[radiator]

There wasn't a twist at the end of Total Recall - he wasn't dreaming.

It doesn't definitively come down on either side, does it? Much like the ending of Inception, you can decide for yourself what really happened, what was 'real' and what was just a dream.

The man has star quality!

Strongly agree - he's a terrible actor, but is such a star that he transcends acting ability.

Couldn't give a monkeys about the remake - not with the godawful Len Wiseman directing and what appears to be some seriously generic art direction.

[TordelBack]

The man has star quality!

Strongly agree - he's a terrible actor, but is such a star that he transcends acting ability.

It defies all reason, but yes, whatever 'it' is Ahnuld has plenty.

[JOE SOAP]

There wasn't a twist at the end of Total Recall - he wasn't dreaming.

It doesn't definitively come down on either side, does it? Much like the ending of Inception, you can decide for yourself what really happened, what was 'real' and what was just a dream.

TR doesn't really push this aspect of the story -more a plot device rather than a thematic- whereas Inception always teetered on the edge of waking-up. TR feels more about Martian civics than the 'dreaming' and the story gains little in the end if there's a question of whether it all turns out to be a dream or not, so it's a bit of a moot point I feel.

Fuck you man! Arnie's awesome!
The man has star quality!

Star quantity, maybe, and only when his mouth's shut, but if he stood still long enough he'd get wood-worm.

[Professor Bear]

Arnie is a brand rather than an actor - you know what you're getting going in.

There wasn't a twist at the end of Total Recall - he wasn't dreaming.

It doesn't definitively come down on either side, does it? Much like the ending of Inception, you can decide for yourself what really happened, what was 'real' and what was just a dream.

If it's a dream, why does so much happen outside the experience/POV of the main character?  Some of it even happens while he's unconscious, and at no point in the film does he ever discover what happened when he was out cold even though it informs how events unfold, like the bit in Recall HQ where the techs twig that he's been implanted with false memories and then wipe his recent memory and bung him in a taxi.  The dream angle doesn't actually hold up to logical examination, the only real argument in its favour being that the rest of TR is so dumb it makes as much sense as anything else, though by this rationale every action film is the dream of the central protagonist.

BWARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMM

[JOE SOAP]

That Zimmer-Horn needs tuning.


If Cronenberg had made Total Recall it would have been a dream.

[TordelBack]

If Cronenberg had made Total Recall it would have been a dream.

....Or would it?