Click here for the review of Total Recall

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This reads more like a **1/2 star review then a 2 star review, aside from the film not being as compelling as the original, it didn't sound all that negative. Colin Farell wasn't my first choice for the lead(I would've gone with Jason Statham) but i'm willing to give him a shot, and then there's of course the chance to see Biel and Beckinsale duke it out, that was what really grabbed my attention in the trailer. I don't expect this film to live up to the original, but as long as it's entertaining, that's more then enough for me.

P.S. How is Biel's performance? Also what video games came to mind when watching the film? I got a Deus Ex vibe from the trailer myself.

I hold the first Total Recall in ALMOST the same category I hold Logan's Run, which is high praise in my circle of obsessiveness.

Would have been nice for them to update this EXACTLY the way James says. Why even bother doing a redo if you are not going to at least TRY to make it better.

Did they completely lose the air-making reactor?

I'm sure Biel put on a masterful performance as usual. I mean, did anybody else see her breathtaking performance in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry? I'll never truly understand why she wasn't given an Academy award for that.

Seems to me like it's mostly a "remake in name only" type of thing. I mean if it followed the 1990 version to a T then it would truly be a remake. I don't know why this needed to be remade in the first place. The 1990 version is still popular (dated elements aside) and has its fans. Why can't people just watch that? I wasn't that impressed by the trailer for this film nor the resumes of the director and the writers so I doubt I'll check this out.

I hear Verhoeven's "RoboCop" is getting the remake treatment too. You have to wonder if that will likely (I'm sure it will) be neutered down to a PG-13 rating.

I'm wondering exactly what James is talking about in regards to the climax and how he feels it's anti-climactic.

The original (which wasn't from the '80s, BTW, James, since it came out in 1990 -- though I suppose the majority of it was shot while it was still the '80s... ) was a good Arnie vehicle but a bit on the campy side. I'm assuming this version is trying to be more serious but obviously Wiseman just doesn't have the chops to successfully pull it off (I'm sure casting Biel in the Rachel Ticotin role certainly didn't help ). Too bad David Cronenberg ended up not making the original.

This is probably the first movie I'm aware of that's a remake of a movie that was based on material from another medium, as opposed to an 'alternate adaptation,' a la "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or "True Grit." Otherwise it would be called "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," no?

My understanding is that beyond the core concept, it’s pretty different to the first Total Recall. It sounds like its both closer to the novel, but also different in a lot of ways. But let’s face it; Total Recall is a better known name and it’s a catchier too, so they aren’t going to be using the book’s title. I doubt we’ll ever see Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep on our screens any time soon either.

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, directed by David Cronenberg...

I'M IN!!!!!

No, it's pretty clearly a remake of the Verhoeven film. The storyline is essentially the same; the details are largely cosmetic. It might sound like the setting change from Mars to Earth would be a big thing, but it's not.

TOTAL RECALL was based on a short story, not a novel. It has been a long time since I read "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" but, based on that memory, the 1990 film is closer to the source material than this one. (There's a lot of stuff about Mars in the short story and the 1990 movie, but only a throw-away line in this one.)

Case closed? That implied there was a 'correct' answer, yes?

I don't want to sound like 'that guy' but I've never troubled myself to buy the original movie in any form since buying it for a couple of quid on VHS as a teenager. It's not that I dislike it... much... I just don't find it as 'classic' as people make it out to be. I think it's a great deal like 'The Big Lebowski'. Pretty good movie to which people give undeserved "best movie evar" status, most likely to appear cool in front of peers.

I'm beyond certain that a remake of an imperfect movie can only really be, at worst, about on the same level if not better in the tech department (one of my gripes about the original is how people pass off the set pieces as being camp etc when really, they're just shit).

Well color me surprise, Ebert actually liked this film:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120801/REVIEWS/120739999

Quote from JB: "History will probably not repeat itself with the somewhat prudish Beckinsale. "

Somehow, I don't think Kate Beckinsale is really that prudish, given that she had no problems with the nudity in the film "Haunted" (1995).

But she hated that experience and hasn't done a nude scene since.

And most of the nudity (if not all of it) was a body double.

Like I said before: I'd go see this in the theater if it was the original version that David Cronenberg wrote and was going to direct.

This one I will see...when it comes to Netflix that is. There are a few movies I plan to see and Total Recall is not anywhere near the top of the list.

But, it seems that like JB, he liked the original better.

FWIW, I liked the original, but don't really view it as anything but an enjoyable action flick. I won't seek out the remake.

Not a fan of implanted memories and planet colonization, huh?

Funny, since in some ways these are the directions technology has been pointed in for 50 years...

Really? I would have thought that given the modest budget for that film, plus the fact that Kate Beckinsale was a relative unknown at that time, that the director would not have been able to indulge her to use a body double -- and thus the nudity was all hers.

Not to mention that "Haunted" is a British film, and I've always thought that body doubles are more characteristic of American films.

Sorry, what makes her a prude exactly?