'Total Recall' ready for revival

[Monsieur Xavier]

Kate Beckinsale has had a boob job?

I will add a question mark as well ?

 

[Nightmare]

I doubt it. I hope not.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Ethan Hawke Talks About His Role In 'Total Recall'

"[I've got to] leave the party. Learn the lines. It's a five-page monologue ... Yeah, it's great. It's really good." His role in the film has been shrouded in mystery — is he playing a character we might recognize from the first film? Hawke just grinned mysteriously. "I don't know ... "

Source

I wouldn't exactly call his role a cameo, it's more like a tiny role to me. To those who have read the story, you guys have any idea who his character might be?

 

[Dr. Evil]

That Ethan Hawke article says he's starts shooting Total Recall next week. Well, they should finish casting the Melina role by next week.

 

[Duke]

I'm late to this conversation, but frankly I don't see a need for a Total Recall remake. The older version still holds up very well & Hollywood making remakes left & right makes it seem they've run out of writing material. Perhaps I may have a change of heart with the finished product, but as of now, no.

 

[DorkyFresh]

i gotta disagree with those who think Verhoeven's Total Recall holds up well today. the technology on Mars is futuristic from the perspective of someone living in the late 80s/early 90s but it's kinda laughable now. i think they're gonna try to update it so that the universe matches with Spielberg's Minority Report (which was originally supposed to be the sequel to Total Recall). oddly enough, Colin Farrel also starred in that movie...hehe

 

[Doc Ock]

No Mars?!?!?!?!

Yes, that is what is alarming me.

No Mars?!

 

[Eddie Dean]

Could Hawke be playing Kuato?

 

[The Morningstar]

i gotta disagree with those who think Verhoeven's Total Recall holds up well today. the technology on Mars is futuristic from the perspective of someone living in the late 80s/early 90s but it's kinda laughable now. i think they're gonna try to update it so that the universe matches with Spielberg's Minority Report (which was originally supposed to be the sequel to Total Recall). oddly enough, Colin Farrel also starred in that movie...hehe

The original does still hold up today. Very much so. Retro sci fi is still awesome.

And not even figuring in the technology, it's just a classic film. This new one is nothing but a cash in on the classic Ahnuld vehicles name. It won't surpass it, it won't bring anything new to the table. Apart from some flashy CGI. But flashy CGI doesn't mean **** if the film itself is crap. I mean, it's Len Wiseman directing here.

 

[DorkyFresh]

The original does still hold up today. Very much so. Retro sci fi is still awesome.

again, i disagree. Spielberg's Minority Report will hold up for a long time because he based that world on a realistic future. however, Verhoeven based Total Recall on a fantastical future. robot taxis with human features, tv screen phone stations, 3 boobed chicks, even a lot of the action scenes...all these things are "cool" but they're not like the technology and action scenes in MR, where everything feels real and makes sense...and will do so decades from now. not to mention a lot of the technology from Minority Report is now coming to fruition where as nothing from Total Recall has happened.

20 years later, Total Recall is dated and feels like an other worlds 90's film. 10 years from now, Minority Report will be almost 20 years old and it will still feel like a plausible futuristic sci fi thriller.

Could Hawke be playing Kuato?

i think it'd be cool if he plays Jerome Morrow, his character's inherited alias in Gattaca.

 

[dude stannis]

Maybe he's the guy who gives Quaid his briefcase?

 

[Dave McFly]

I'm late to this conversation, but frankly I don't see a need for a Total Recall remake. The older version still holds up very well & Hollywood making remakes left & right makes it seem they've run out of writing material. Perhaps I may have a change of heart with the finished product, but as of now, no.

*points to signature*

 

[JAK®]

again, i disagree. Spielberg's Minority Report will hold up for a long time because he based that world on a realistic future. however, Verhoeven based Total Recall on a fantastical future. robot taxis with human features, tv screen phone stations, 3 boobed chicks, even a lot of the action scenes...all these things are "cool" but they're not like the technology and action scenes in MR, where everything feels real and makes sense...and will do so decades from now. not to mention a lot of the technology from Minority Report is now coming to fruition where as nothing from Total Recall has happened.

20 years later, Total Recall is dated and feels like an other worlds 90's film. 10 years from now, Minority Report will be almost 20 years old and it will still feel like a plausible futuristic sci fi thriller.

But Total Recall has a very cartoonish style, even in 1990 a lot of it's ideas for the future were just bizarre, so for that reason it gets a pass. Minority Report takes itself seriously and that means it will be criticised more when it turns out to be wrong.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

A couple of those 'cartoon-y' elements were taken directly from other PKD stories, the Johhny Cab is from 'Now Wait for Last Year'(iirc, haven't read it, but it was referred to in an book excerpt in a pkd doc) and the threee booobed woooman is from the ss 'The Golden Man'. Part of the appeal of Sci-fi is not just trying to guess what will happen in the future, it is merely to have fun with ideas. I don't think those kind of fantastical elements date a movie, what dates a movie is having elements in the film that belong squarely to a time in movie history. So I would say the thing that dates TR is the fact you have Arnie S running around spouting McBainisms, much as he did in every other action movie he did in the 80s.

 

[KRIM]

But Total Recall has a very cartoonish style, even in 1990 a lot of it's ideas for the future were just bizarre, so for that reason it gets a pass. Minority Report takes itself seriously and that means it will be criticised more when it turns out to be wrong.

Not necessarily. MR didn't go out of its way to accurate predict the future. Merely present a future that is plausible. Everything in its world had logic and function behind it (except the Pre-Cogs). In that sense it held weight because it didn't suffer from just shoving random, bright, and "cool" concepts in your face, as many futuristic sci-fi stories suffer from.

 

[The Morningstar]

Actually Minority Report did go out of it's way to show plausible future technology. Just look at it's wiki page for a list.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Not necessarily. MR didn't go out of its way to accurate predict the future. Merely present a future that is plausible. Everything in its world had logic and function behind it (except the Pre-Cogs). In that sense it held weight because it didn't suffer from just shoving random, bright, and "cool" concepts in your face, as many futuristic sci-fi stories suffer from.

I don't think there were any sci-fi concepts in TR that made the story suffer, they were either as functional as the ones in MR, like the AI cabs, or were a social commentary on the absurd lengths to which having cosmetic surgery to enhance your appeal in the sex industry could go in the future. And, y'know, these elements can also be played for laughs too, but that doesn't mean they are any the less functional than the ones in MR, just because they are a little more garish.

 

[JAK®]

A couple of those 'cartoon-y' elements were taken directly from other PKD stories, the Johhny Cab is from 'Now Wait for Last Year'(iirc, haven't read it, but it was referred to in an book excerpt in a pkd doc) and the threee booobed woooman is from the ss 'The Golden Man'. Part of the appeal of Sci-fi is not just trying to guess what will happen in the future, it is merely to have fun with ideas. I don't think those kind of fantastical elements date a movie, what dates a movie is having elements in the film that belong squarely to a time in movie history. So I would say the thing that dates TR is the fact you have Arnie S running around spouting McBainisms, much as he did in every other action movie he did in the 80s.

You've misunderstood me, I was arguing that the cartoony style meant that the movie isn't dated.

 

[KRIM]

I don't think there were any sci-fi concepts in TR that made the story suffer, they were either as functional as the ones in MR, like the AI cabs, or were a social commentary on the absurd lengths to which having cosmetic surgery to enhance your appeal in the sex industry could go in the future. And, y'know, these elements can also be played for laughs too, but that doesn't mean they are any the less functional than the ones in MR, just because they are a little more garish.

A lot of it also lies on the tonality of how these concepts are presented. It's been a while since I've seen the film, but the bits that would have covered social commentary were glossed over fairly quickly. The film was clearly made to be a fun action movie than addressing any important issues gleamed from the proposed plot.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

You've misunderstood me, I was arguing that the cartoony style meant that the movie isn't dated.

I did, I was agreeing with you. I quoted you because I was just pointing out where those ideas origanted from, but in my main reply i was really addressing DF, while pointing out where I thought the movie was dated.

 

[JAK®]

A lot of it also lies on the tonality of how these concepts are presented. It's been a while since I've seen the film, but the bits that would have covered social commentary were glossed over fairly quickly. The film was clearly made to be a fun action movie than addressing any important issues gleamed from the proposed plot.

The beauty of Verhoven's films is that they appear to be shallow action movies on the surface but when you think about them they raise important questions.

On the surface Total Recall is a typical Schwarzenegger action romp, but when you consider the possibility that it is all a figment of his imagination then it becomes very tragic.

What appears to be an action movie simply upping the ante by bringing in bigger threats and crazy special effects is actually Quaid's mind falling deeper and deeper into his fantasy.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

A lot of it also lies on the tonality of how these concepts are presented. It's been a while since I've seen the film, but the bits that would have covered social commentary were glossed over fairly quickly. The film was clearly made to be a fun action movie than addressing any important issues gleamed from the proposed plot.

Yeah, the thing with the prostitute with 3 breasts was just a quick comment on how absurd cosmetic surgery could get in the future I guess.
I suppose there was some social commentary in TR about private corporations having control over people's lives like the government, and how that power can be abused. But mainly it was one of PKD's 'what is reality'? stories. A little more of a trippy philosophy being explored than the more down to earth theoretical philosophy behind the questions posed by MR. While we have fun watching Arnie on the run, but you could really say the same about MR. But yeah, MR has more meat on the story in that regard, TR is more of an action movie, with the philosophy as backdrop.
edit: Actually, thinking about it more, I am probably attributing more kudos to MR because it is presented in a more sober way, both movies have about as much as each other in terms of the philosophy being interwoven into the action, TR explores themes of identity, what constitutes a person, throughout the movie as well as reality.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Actually Minority Report did go out of it's way to show plausible future technology. Just look at it's wiki page for a list.

Yeah, I remember seeing a 'making of' doc on tv, where they talked about bringing in 'futurists' to advise on the film's tech.
It really depends on what kind of sci-fi fan you are in regards to if you think that makes the story more worthy, or sci-fi you can take 'seriously'. For me, it was always about the philosophy explored in the stories, I couldn't care less if the tech used in the film was more plausible, sure it is interesting to see a possible plausible future presented onscreen, but ultimately it was whatever best served the story that was important to my enjoyment. How seriously I regarded the story as a work was determined by how much my mind was engaged by the exploration of the philosophy, not how plausible the future tech being imagined was.

 

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

To everyone lamenting the lack of Mars in this movie- the character never goes to Mars in the original story. Kurt Wimmer said he took more from the original story when writing it than the previous one did- go look at the summary of it on wikipedia and take a guess what the twist will be if he sticks to Dick's fiction.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

To everyone lamenting the lack of Mars in this movie- the character never goes to Mars in the original story. Kurt Wimmer said he took more from the original story when writing it than the previous one did- go look at the summary of it on wikipedia and take a guess what the twist will be if he sticks to Dick's fiction.

It's typical ******** talk from the writer. You cannot make a movie out of the original story and the first Total Recall actually used the premise quite clever. They always talk about "this will be closer to the source", but trust me, it won't. It's like the new CONAN or the BLOODSPORT movie... It's just the name they are using. They don't care about original intentions.