Total Recall (Len Wiseman)

[Dukefrukem]

I'm probably going to this today.

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/total_recall.jpg

[Morris Schæffer]

Look forward to your thoughts. Seems most reviews are saying the cerebral aspects aren't really there and that this is a big stumbling block for them. The eye candy and action do appear good though, so maybe that will suffice for a fun evening?

[EvilShoe]

There better be someone giving the people air in this.

EDIT: As I'm not interested in this one, anyone mind telling me if they stayed faithful to the ending of "We can remember it for you wholesale"?

[TGM]

So yeah, wasn't expecting much, but I think I may have actually liked this more than the original.

[Dukefrukem]

So yeah, wasn't expecting much, but I think I may have actually liked this more than the original.

I definitely like it more than my most recent viewing of Total Recall, but that was mostly due to the movie not aging well at all.

I think this may be Bomback and Wiseman's best. I know that may not be saying much but it definitely rivals Underworld. Decent tracking and action, a much more coherent story from Bomback. (I didn't feel any action points in the movie where I thought of Die Hard 4's climax) Bomback and Wimmer took two pervious sci-fi universes and combined them. He took the dark-grittyness from Blade Runner and combined it with a more present day clean feel from Minority Report. This works really well because of the biggest sci-fi element; There's a tunnel connecting both sides ofthe planet together, straight through the core. On one side is the Blade Runner world and the other is the Minotiry Report world. Instead of taking place on Mars with the slum side and good side, this sets up the major climax of the movie.


You can break the movie down into halfs- the first half is ripped straight from the original and you can guess the sequence of events as it happens. That's fine. The second half is filled with new ideas, but the ideas aren't that compelling... or new. There's a lot of iRobot in this movie, which was the biggest rollseyes moment for me. But it's still a decent sci-fi synopsis with a chase synopsis melted in between.

The biggest problem from my initial viewing is the running time. Total Recall suffers from 'should have ended 30 minutes earlier" syndrome. That's funny to me because I feel like after watching Lockout i said they should have extended it by 30 minutes. The chase sequence with the mag cars went on far longer than it should have and there's a scene towards the end that just doesn't ever feel like its close to ending until it does. Hollywood needs to figure out the right mix of sequences with running times in future sci-fi movies. I know they want to show off, but there needs to be a limit here.

Overall there's pros and cons. Not enough cons to hate it entirely but I think I can recommend it for at least a single viewing.

LOVED the "2 weeks" mention

[Dukefrukem]

Oh and the 3 breasted girl isn't really explained. Since there is no Mars and not mutants, why does this girl have three breasts? Well if we want to try and link both movies together, you can assume the 3 breasts is a mutation from the nuclear war, which you don't even really find out until 3/4 into the movie. We don't see any other mutations or any other explanation other than the possible fallout relating to this anomaly.

[Morris Schæffer]

Was Cranston at all a reason to see this? I mean, he's no Cox, but he's definitely still Cranston. :)

[Dukefrukem]

Was Cranston at all a reason to see this? I mean, he's no Cox, but he's definitely still Cranston. :)

He's in the last 15 minutes of the movie.

[Dukefrukem]

Ouch. Only $32 Mil WW.

[Dukefrukem]

I was looking for a remastered Blu-ray of the original and found this review on Amazon.


I have to take umbrage at the person who made rude comments about how all the martians mutants with their foam latex appliances looked fake and lowered the quality of the film. I am part of the team that made all those crummy appliances. You can find my name in the credits under Rob Bottin. Actually I agree with you and I also think the scene where everyone decompresses and their eyes pop out on stalks then pop back in again when air pressure returns was totally preposterous. Total Recall was one of the last big films where effects were still done with rubber and mechanical animatronics pulled with cables. Many people thought the fat lady head slice gag was done with computers but it was a fiberglass head enlarged many times by soaking a silicone casting of the head in kerosene. The head was sliced with a special saw and a special array of slide bearings rigged with cables were pulled to open the slices. Makeup artists spent hours between shots filling up the gaps in the slices with wax so you could not detect them until the head was pulled apart. We were very proud of that effect and got applause from the crew when they saw it for the first time. Other effects did not go so well. Johnny Cab (Bob Picardo) was supposed to be very animated. His mouth was designed to open wide and form shapes but the servos would not work properly so in the film you see him mostly just bounce his jaw up and down with some minor lip movement. The guy in charge of repairing Johnny Cab stayed up four sleepless days and when it still didn't work was yelled at and mercilessly berated by the FX supervisor and later that day almost died of a bleeding stomach. On the good side Bennie the mutant cab driver has a mutant arm that is a beautiful thing to watch unfold and easily missed if you are not paying attention. You probably won't hear these uglier stories on the supplemental disc but if you are a fan of Total Recall and like to hear interesting background stories, ........

http://www.amazon.com/Total-Recall-Mind-Bending-Edition-Blu-ray/dp/B00827OX56/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344256688&sr=8-2&keywords=Total+Recall

[Kiusagi]

I wanted to enjoy this for what it was, but I couldn't get into it other than occasionally admiring the visuals and choreography. There are some creative action sequences here for sure and I wish they were surrounded by a better movie. I like Farrell, but he's pretty boring here. Beckinsale is smokin' as always and also the only one who's any real joy to watch. It's fun to watch Bryan Cranston play the villain because he's Bryan Cranston, but he's not present enough to make any real impression.

Not a terrible movie, just kind of a dull one. I remember the original being a lot more fun, but I can't put my finger on why. I'd say because it didn't take itself so seriously, but that's not the only reason.

And I really hate when action movie villains get boring deaths. Here Cohaagen gets stabbed in the gut. Come on, at least throw him off the roof or something.

[Dukefrukem]

One more thing I though of,

Beckinsale and Biel should have switched roles. I loved Beckinsale as the wife here, I thought she played a very sexy bad guy, but Biel wears cargo pants through the whole film. They never use her sex appeal. Sure she has a nice smile, but there's no good reason why Farrell should lust over Biel the way Arnold lusted over Melinda.

I agree with Farrell being boring.

[Fezzik]

I was liking this until about the time...

Farrell and Biel leave Hauser's apartment


and I just kind of lost interest. Its not bad at all, but its not one I highly recommend.

A mild yay from me.

[Dukefrukem]

Thats about the time it hit me too. There's no real climax after that aside from

The pending invasion to which we don't really know the goal or affect it will have, other than the idea of "an invasion" is bad.

[Fezzik]

Also, the end, with...

Hauser waking up in the med car or whatever and having a short, protracted throw-down with Lori

felt tacked on and unnecessary...not unnecessary in that it meant nothing to the story but unnecessary at THAT point in time. If they wanted to do something like that, they should have done it earlier.

Where it was, it felt like a scene added after principal shooting was finished in order to satisfy some suits or a focus group.

[Spun Lepton]

I agree with the people who have said this was dull. The only action scene with any real oomph was the fight scene in the small elevator. The foot chase was dull, car chase was dull, the zero-gravity action scene near the end was stupid as hell. Everything else basically aped the original until the robot invasion, which was less than spectacular.

[Spun Lepton]

Also, the end, with...

Hauser waking up in the med car or whatever and having a short, protracted throw-down with Lori

felt tacked on and unnecessary...not unnecessary in that it meant nothing to the story but unnecessary at THAT point in time.

Agreed. I wonder if it was cooked up by Wiseman to give his wife more screentime.

[Fezzik]

I was liking this until about the time...

Farrell and Biel leave Hauser's apartment


and I just kind of lost interest. Its not bad at all, but its not one I highly recommend.

A mild yay from me.


Changing my vote. This just gets worse and worse upon recollection.

[Dukefrukem]

Some of the deleted scenes I've seen are quite good. So I'm looking forward to the extended cut.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8462/8068737596_9a2d93b13c_z.jpg

[Skitch]

It felt cut, especially the third act.

[Dukefrukem]

It felt cut, especially the third act.

Have you seen the cool Farrell/robot fight scene yet?

[Skitch]

The one in the movie, yes. Haven't seen any deleted scenes.

I enjoyed the movie, but I felt with a couple little script changes it could have completely dropped the name and remake status and been a decent sci-fi flick without the stigma of having to live up to the original.

[Dukefrukem]

The one in the movie, yes. Haven't seen any deleted scenes.

I enjoyed the movie, but I felt with a couple little script changes it could have completely dropped the name and remake status and been a decent sci-fi flick without the stigma of having to live up to the original.

Completely agree. The big sci-fi draw of the movie was actually really well done. As I said in my post above, it really combined the best elements of Minority Report and Blade Runner. You don't need to call it Total Recall!