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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    Reviews    Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  ›  Total Recall 2012 Moderators: Nixon
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  Author    Total Recall 2012  (currently 2921 views)
jwent6688
Posted: August 4th, 2012, 7:13am Report to Moderator
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Saw this last night. Decided not to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I'm on the fence. This is not a scene for scene remake at all, they changed a great deal, but it doesn't even touch the original IMO.

So the world got into chemical warfare and left 90 percent of earth uninhabitable. Yet, for some reason, Britain and Australia have breathable air still. the UFB (United Federation of Britain) are the haves, The Colony (Australia) are the have-nots. They're connected through an inner-earth tunnel called The Fall. People from the colony take the trip to UFB everyday to do the grunt/factory work. Quaid falls into this category. Mind you, when The Fall transport passes the earth's core the gravity reverses which makes for a pretty cool shoot out scene later in the film.

You know what happens when Quaid goes to Rekall. He's unleashed and hunted. One major change here is that Kate Beckinsale is not only his fake wife, but she takes Michael Ironside's character over from the original too. She's the one hunting Quaid the entire time and is surprisingly pretty bad ass too.

The major dilemma in this one isn't lack of oxygen like the original, but the fact that the UFB is running out of real estate. The Chancellor is building a huge robotic army with intentions of liquidating the colony for the UFB. They fake terrorist attacks by the resistance in order to gain public favor for the forth coming invasion.

Btw, there are no mutants in this version so the three-titted hooker seemed way out of place here. And, sadly, no Quato popping out of anyones Tshirt. Actually can see why they gave that the axe after so many spoofs.

Not gonna spoil too much, really don't think I can, but the last 20 minutes or so of this are a pretty fun ride. After Quaid leads the UFB to Methias, leader of the resistance, He learns who Hauser was and he volunteered for this project. After they fail to re-implant hausers memory, Quaid jumps on The Fall transport now heading to the colony with a huge army of robots. He's got 17 minutes to stop it before it gets there.

So overall I liked it. I'm glad they didn't remake it bit for bit and took a fresh take on it. There's no way they would touch the original in my mind. Kate Beckinsale is delicious. She just made my laminated list...

James



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Pale Yellow
Posted: August 4th, 2012, 7:27am Report to Moderator
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Going to see this Monday...so is it worth  the bucks to see it on the big screen??
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Grandma Bear
Posted: August 4th, 2012, 7:44am Report to Moderator
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From what I've read this has nothing to do with the earlier film other than that they are both based on the same short story.  Therefore, it is not a remake of the earlier film but rather a new film from the same story.  


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CoopBazinga
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Quoted from Grandma Bear
From what I've read this has nothing to do with the earlier film other than that they are both based on the same short story.


And the three-breasted-woman.

I did love the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and will be sure to check this one out.
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jwent6688
Posted: August 4th, 2012, 10:15am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Pale Yellow
Going to see this Monday...so is it worth  the bucks to see it on the big screen??


I think it is for the action alone. Then again I hate to be the first one to review a new release. Seldom to people agree with me. Am interested to hear what others think.

James


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Electric Dreamer
Posted: August 4th, 2012, 10:34am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Grandma Bear
From what I've read this has nothing to do with the earlier film other than that they are both based on the same short story.  Therefore, it is not a remake of the earlier film but rather a new film from the same story.  


Yeah, when Verhoeven decided to take the short story and go feature...
They added the entire Mars portion to fill out the running time.

I think both films have a pretty similar first act, but that's it.
I thought the Mars jump the shark stuff made for a pretty vivid film.
This one looks fairly run of the mill... and that PG-13 rating will keep me away.

E.D.


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Dreamscale
Posted: August 13th, 2012, 1:40pm Report to Moderator
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Yep, the PG13 rating will also keep me away, as well.

I haven't and won't see it until it's on Netflix or a movie station, but wanted to make a point here.

Another pointless remake, dumbed down to a PG13 rating, so "they" can cash in on all the dumbass "kids" who can't legally get into an R rated movie.  Give me a frickin' break...

Shockingly, "they" threw a $125 Million budget at this.  Current NABO is at $44 Million with Foreign BO at another $27.5 Million, making a WWBO just under $72 Million.  Good...glad to see another flop and waste of major dollars.  No cashing in here!

Arnold's 1990 original had a $65 Million budget, and grossed an impressive $119 Million NABO, and a WWBO of $261 Million.  Good job...way to go!  The truly impressive thing here is the foreign BO, because back in 90, most movies were not making anywhere near this kind of money overseas.

Obviously, the world has changed drastically and so has the film industry.  Foreign BO's are frequently surpassing the NABO and the inclusion of Foreign BO's often makes or breaks a movie's success.

I just wonder how the returns work against the budget and how much studios bank on success overseas.

But, the point of my post is the downright stupid investments in movies that aren't going to have a chance to recoup their budgets.  I just don't get it.  Sure, there are many, many films/projects/etc. that are pretty much guaranteed to make a shitload of money.  God Bless those involved, "knowing" that even if they make a crappy movie, it's pretty much presold to double, triple, and quadruple their investment.

Say whatever you want about all the comic book movies of late (I say they suck, but I'm obviously not in the majority), but 1 thing is perfectly clear and obvious - they make a shitload of money for all involved.

I think the problem comes down to studios and the like "thinking" they have to continually bombard the public with high profile, high budget movies to "compete" with these guaranteed blockbusters, and IMO, that's a huge mistake.

It's not an apples to apples comparison and never will be.  We all know and understand that a great looking, good movie can be made for under $10 Million.  For $20 Million, you can put together a very solid production.  And, tell me this, on average, how many wide screen releases do under $10 or $20 Million?  Not many.

Bottom line, Hollywood needs to end their greed and understand that a good movie is a good movie and any profitable movie means profit for all involved, when it's all said and done.

Damn, I wish we could go back to the time when peeps understood this.
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rc1107
Posted: August 13th, 2012, 1:54pm Report to Moderator
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As long as the 3 tittied chick is in it, I'm glad they remade it.  That was the only staple of the movie I remember when I watched it as a kid anyway.  (Before my mom jumped up and hit the 'FF' button on the VCR.)  So that'll probably be the only part I watch again now.  (By the way, VCR is short for Video Cassette Recorder, in case anybody doesn't remember.)

When it hits Netflix, can somebody PM me with a time marker when the 3 tittied chick is in it?  And they better show it, too.  I don't care if it is paper mache.


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alffy
Posted: August 29th, 2012, 2:54pm Report to Moderator
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Saw this today and thought it was pretty good.  It was quite different to Arnie's version too.

SPOILERS!!!!!

The 3 titted woman was in it, Mark, and fairly early on too.

The idea of setting this on Earth rather than Mars worked well.  Also the secret agent turned double agent turned triple agent but not knowing it was a bit crazy but was okay.  And the end....was it real or just Rekall?


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Andrew
Posted: August 29th, 2012, 4:42pm Report to Moderator
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I just want to know what Paul Verhoeven has made of this, if he's seen it.


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Dreamscale
Posted: August 29th, 2012, 11:00pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Andrew
I just want to know what Paul Verhoeven has made of this, if he's seen it.


He's very unhappy, I'm sure.  It's shit...like he should be, because most of these remakes SUCK ASS.
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Grandma Bear
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As I've said earlier, this is not a remake of the other film. It's another vision of the short story written a long time ago...


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Dreamscale
Posted: August 29th, 2012, 11:18pm Report to Moderator
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Well, there we go, then.

$125 Million budget, which was shockingly made back, based on overseas BO.  A wonderful $55 Million here, at the NABO.

God bless the overseas BO for these fuckin' clunkers...
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Andrew
Posted: September 1st, 2012, 9:18am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Dreamscale


He's very unhappy, I'm sure.  It's shit...like he should be, because most of these remakes SUCK ASS.


I'm sure he wouldn't buy this for a dollar.


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jwent6688
Posted: September 1st, 2012, 9:21am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Dreamscale
$125 Million budget, which was shockingly made back, based on overseas BO.  


I've heard this more than once, but I was always under the impression that a film needs to triple its production budget on average just to break even. I may be wrong, but if that's the case, this sucker is still way into the red.

James


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CoopBazinga
Posted: September 15th, 2012, 9:20pm Report to Moderator
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A question that always pops up in a film like this is “why can’t the bad guys shoot straight?” I found out why the stormtroopers couldn’t in Star Wars.



But otherwise I’m lost to an answer on this one?

The movie was enjoyable enough and kept me interested but by the end I just couldn’t get past these stupid bad guys and their poor decisions.  The action came off slightly repetitive until the cool zero-gravity shoot-out towards the end.  

The future world in which this was set is visually stunning and the Colony had a Blade Runner feel to it which I liked. A lot of that 125 million went into this area and it showed.

Bryan Cranston was underused while I guess Kate Beckinsale was the best here combining both the Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside roles.  Although for me, she was basically doing her Selene “Underworld” impression.  Not surprising given the director. Colin Farrell was okay but he’s no Arnie, that’s a fact!
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XL
Posted: September 16th, 2012, 1:05pm Report to Moderator
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Saw the first one and liked the story, so I went to see the 2012 Remake.

Has anyone every seen a remake they liked? For me, there was too much gymnastics, gratuitous violence and way too much digital graphics offered as a substitute for a good story.  

Yes, the first one was low budget with Arnold at his cheesy best, but the story was original and it had continuity.

I give the 2012 Remake two ho-hums and one "Did I paid for this?'  
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Scar Tissue Films
Posted: September 16th, 2012, 2:35pm Report to Moderator
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Not seen the film, but I happened to read the short story the other night.

Pretty good...like most of Philip K. Dick's stuff (one of the few writers modern who genuinely deserves the moniker "genius" IMO)

SPOILERS

In the short story it turned out that not only was he a secret agent...he'd also saved the entire world when he was 9 from an alien invasion by being so pleasant when the aliens showed up.

Cool story, bro.
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Electric Dreamer
Posted: September 17th, 2012, 9:48am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from CoopBazinga
I guess Kate Beckinsale was the best here combining both the Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside roles.  Although for me, she was basically doing her Selene “Underworld” impression.  Not surprising given the director.


I'm sure it didn't hurt that she's married to the director too.

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E.D.


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Ryan1
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Quoted from XL
Has anyone every seen a remake they liked?  


Dawn of the Dead springs to mind.  I thought it actually surpassed the original.


Quoted from XL
Yes, the first one was low budget with Arnold at his cheesy best, but the story was original and it had continuity.  


The original was many things, but low-budget was not among them.  But when looking at remakes I think it's now an unwritten rule that if Colin Farrell is in it, don't waste your money.
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CoopBazinga
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Quoted from Electric Dreamer
I'm sure it didn't hurt that she's married to the director too.


Precisely. That guy just likes dressing his missis up in latex. I guess you can't fault him for that because she's hot but why is she always looking so glum and miserable - must be the work-out schedule or being married to the aforementioned Mr. Wisemen.
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Electric Dreamer
Posted: November 14th, 2012, 10:47am Report to Moderator
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Well, I checked out the 131 minute Director's Cut of this.
It took me FOUR TIMES to get through the thing.
I kept falling asleep and having to reboot this sleepy remake.

The one word that kept popping up for me during this was... SANITIZED.
Everything is so clean and neat that I didn't feel like I was in a world at all.

The overabundance of gunplay without a lot collateral damage was annoying.
So sick of CG muzzle flashes and bullet hits standing in for action.

There was no chemistry to speak of between the characters.
The stakes felt tacked on, the real estate crisis was all exposition.

In the original, the stakes of the working class on Mars was VISUAL.
How could the Aussie colony not suspect anything at all?
Are there no safeguards in place on The Fall?

Don't see why Coohagen needed to vilify Bill Nighy.
If he's in charge, I'm sure he can cook the books to make his army.

And was it just me or was the pacing of this thing atrocious?

E.D.



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derekr
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Saw this in the theater because I'm a big fan of Kate Beckinsale (in 'Cold Comfort Farm', 'Last Days of Disco', Etc.) but found the whole thing to be pretty bland. I guess her original intention was to play the three breasted prostitute. Now there would be an interesting addition to one's IMDB listing.  
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Dreamscale
Posted: February 7th, 2013, 11:39am Report to Moderator
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I decided to add the Netflix DVD/Blu Ray to my streaming plan (first month is a free trial, BTW).

So, as I knew I would be, I was much less than satisfied with this reboot.  In fact, I pretty much hated it.

So many issues, right from the get go.

As far as I'm concerned, the entire "story" didn't make any sense.  A tunnel passage between Britain and Australia?  Workers traveling back and forth on a daily basis?  Really?  Really?  No other habitable land in the entire world?  Really?

The Recall element was so small here.  Recall itself was so unrealistic here.

The world itself was so dark.  Pretty much everything looked and felt like a retread from Blade Runner to Underworld.

The vast majority of the runtime involved chases, gunfire, hand to hand combat, and little else.  The gunfire itself looked and sounded so phony.  So few people were hurt or killed in so much gunfire.  As others said, it's like the bad guys were all blind and unable to shoot straight.  How can you have real tension when you know damn well none of the main stars will be hit?  You can't.

There were a few positives, however and I'll gladly point them out...

There were a few interesting, well set up scenes - the elevator things chase, the zero gravity shootout, maybe even the early car chase.

Kate Beckinsale.  Let me say that again.  Kate Beckinsale.  How frickin' hot is this chick?  She's almost 40 and yet, as far as I'm concerned, very few can compete with her hotness and coolness.  I did find it quite humorous how she was always dressed in some skimpy outfit, while everyone else has some from of combat armor on.

Oh well.  No big surprise here.  A HUGE flop here in the states and a surprise success overseas.

I may be about done watching Colin Farrell, as he's disappointed so many times and I think he's an arrogant prick, anyway.
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Eoin
Posted: February 7th, 2013, 11:45am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Dreamscale


Kate Beckinsale.  Let me say that again.  Kate Beckinsale.  How frickin' hot is this chick?  She's almost 40 and yet, as far as I'm concerned, very few can compete with her hotness and coolness.  I did find it quite humorous how she was always dressed in some skimpy outfit, while everyone else has some from of combat armor on.



She's the reason the pause button was invented - and the only reason PVC should ever be consider as a fashion choice . . . enough said.


Quoted from Dreamscale

I may be about done watching Colin Farrell, as he's disappointed so many times and I think he's an arrogant prick, anyway.



I'm not a huge fan - the only thing 2 things I have ever seen him worth watching are In Bruges and Ondine. Okay, maybe Intermission also . . .In the past, his wild way, drug taking, drinking etc certainly didn't endear him to many people - this behaviour was the closest he got to actually acting.

I'd hardly call him arrogant though. In recent interview, he seems pretty subdued. He's actually quite humble . . .

I'd question a lot of the choices he and his agent make regards projects - they just don't pick stuff that works form him.
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kabbottjr
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 12:55am Report to Moderator
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This reboot was BAD...so bad that explaining why it was bad would be a waste of my time.

It is sad when a movie makes me long for the good ole days of Arnold's terrible acting.


Kenneth Abbott Jr.

One of a very small group of people that actually saw Kevin Costner's "The Postman" in theaters,
and I LOVED it!

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DarrenJamesSeeley
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I'm surprised I skipped the discussion. Anyway...


Quoted from Dreamscale

As far as I'm concerned, the entire "story" didn't make any sense


I wondered why, too, but from what I been able to understand is that the director did something incredibly stupid. He had no faith in the audience and made two versions. One is the PG-13 theatrical cut. The other is the dreaded "director's cut" which is available only on Blu-Ray.

Despite some of the effects which was rather nice - I really liked the "elevator shafts" part , some of the car chase (a second of which which forced me to go back in one of my old scripts and take out the reverse driver's wheel, another excuse to rewrite the darned thing) ...I also felt that the movie never had a chance to breathe.  I also liked the homages to Blade Runner and tip of the hat to Minority Report at first but it got tiresome. The shout outs to '90s Recall was really annoying. (I almost expected a Next, because if Farrell was in Minority, Beil was in Next...)I was underwhelmed the first time...but I was curious...and my jaw dropped to the floor. I can't speak; the jaw remains by my feet.

See, there was talk earlier about a "director's cut" ...

Oh.
My.
God.


I don't know if the director had no faith in the audience. I don't know how much he butted heads with the studio. But that seventeen minutes of deleted and alternate takes makes up for a lot of the films problems. Not all of them, but I'll say at least a good chunk of them. What annoyed me visually was still there...the whole "falling to the earth's core to get from Australia to a futuristic Britain" and..how tall ARE those buildings, anyway?! And I would have liked instead of the "puke town" look that it would have been more desert-like so we have a shout out to Screamers...no, I would've liked it to be more red to have an alternative for Mars.

In any case, what was given up was Ethan Hawke as Hauser before not just a memory wipe but also surgery to alter his face. Due to this, extra reshoots and FX was added to cover this. But it also made some plot holes more noticeable as well. In other words, they covered up as best they could but it wasn't covered enough.

The annoying Lens flares was still in both cuts.
The dialog didn't really fit the remake when they tripped over themselves to give 90Recall references.
Super-agents who can move with the speed of sound, if not light. They can also go freerunning in and around structures that appear to be one hundred miles tall (?)


As for co-writer Kurt Wimmer:
Mainstream audiences do not care much for dystopian sci-fi. Not every character should move like they are in a video game. I liked the paper phones in Ultraviolet, I hope you came up with the Hand Phone in Recall even if not every character uses them

I think the original version would have been worth the fight. It is better than the theatrical. Since the the theatrical was a dud because nobody understood it, and the shout outs to Blade Runner, 90 Recall, Minority Report, Terminator, RoboCop and Star Wars were getting a bit much...I wonder.

I wonder if some directors would not cave in and say 'I don't want to lose plot, story and/or character. Audiences need to catch their breath. They need to take in everything that is going on. If we can't really give them anything new, we need to give em something to enjoy'.




I'm sorry. I got to rant.


No, I'm not. I stand corrected.



There's no reason in the world why this picture can't be enjoyed. Instead, the filmmakers knowingly put out inferior product. They knowingly take out the beats that flesh out the characters,they knowingly take out the scenes that help pace the story.They knowingly re-shoot and add additional FX to make amends.

They will remove things to make it a PG when they intended to push an R and have such footage.Why shoot it in the first place?

Hard to know if the DC would have done better or not. What I do know is that the DC was better that the theatrical. What I do know is that the DC was preferred by the filmmakers and they went with inferior product.

and they took a nose dive but landed on their @$$








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