Total Recall remake: good news/bad news

[Greylock Crescent]

Maybe I'm missing the word "Mars" in "Total Recall." But I don't see how your example is at all related.

Total Recall was about a guy who was bored with his life, went to Total Recall (which is a company, not a planet, and which also happens to be what the actual story revolves around despite your bizarre clinging to Mars), and had a mental episode while they were implanting his "dream vacation." The dream vacation could have been anywhere. He just chose Mars because he had a fetish for it. The fact that his "dream girl" was already in the database even hints strongly that he's done it before, but had it wiped for whatever reason -- probably for the same reason he goes mental this time around, too. But, well, that's another discussion I guess.

The point is Mars != Total Recall. In any way, shape, or form beyond being one of the hundreds of options he had available to him.

Sure, Mars was just one of many options ... but in the film, he chose Mars and, hence, the film spent a fair amount of time on Mars and about Mars. Evoking the name "Total Recall" automatically evokes the most striking images and most memorable elements of the film. And let's face it, lots of people associate the name "Total Recall" with a film about Mars. You can remake the original story any way you want (it certainly doesn't have to be about Mars), but if you're going to call your remake a "reboot of Total Recall" you're doing so based on the viewing public's familiarity with the film. To do that, and then dispense with some of the films most prominent visual and story elements -- namely Mars -- is going to evoke exactly the kinds of reactions you've seen thus far.

 

[bigdaddy]

If we get tid of Colin Farrell that will improve the movie a he'll of a lot.

 

[JarodRussell]

All of those complaining about the absence of Mars might want to consider that the Red Planet doesn't actually appear in the original book on which the movie was based on. That's not to say that this movie will be any good but at least it looks like they're going back to the source material, rather than a pointless identikit remake of the Verhoeven classic.

Personally, I think the fact that Len Wiseman is behind the camera is the worst of all news but Farrell and Cranston are pretty reliable, IMHO.

Len Wiseman can't direct a movie set on Mars because he only uses blue and green filters on the cameras.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Hehehe.

 

[JarodRussell]

And for you "What's it got to do with Mars" people...

May I quote?

He awoke—and wanted Mars.

The very first line of "We can remember it for you wholesale."

Arrgh, just read it for yourself, damnit:
http://osl.iu.edu/~kyross/pub/recall.pdf

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ But he never actually made it there, did he?

 

[JarodRussell]

^ But he never actually made it there, did he?

Batman never managed to actually end the crime in Gotham. So the next Batman reboot can forget about crime in Gotham altogether?


WCRIFYW is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars.
Total Recall is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars and then going to Mars. Or not.

And the remake neither has buying a memory nor a trip to Mars. All it has is the names of the characters of the movie Total Recall.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Look, I asked the question in good faith, not having read the book, there's no need to come up with a completely irrelevant and facetious comparison.


I concede the point that it seems odds to claim that it's an adaptation of the book and then use the title of the movie. However, as I said originally, the remake/ readaptation may or may not be any good (with Wiseman at the helm, odds are it won't) but I don't see why Mars is essential. It's an adaptation, not a word-for-word remake. Colin Farrell is nothing like Arnie, Cranston is nothing like Michael Ironside; let's just see what an Earth-set TR is like.

 

[JarodRussell]

^ Look, I asked the question in good faith, not having read the book, there's no need to come up with a completely irrelevant and facetious comparison.


I concede the point that it seems odds to claim that it's an adaptation of the book and then use the title of the movie. However, as I said originally, the remake/ readaptation may or may not be any good (with Wiseman at the helm, odds are it won't) but I don't see why Mars is essential. It's an adaptation, not a word-for-word remake. Colin Farrell is nothing like Arnie, Cranston is nothing like Michael Ironside; let's just see what an Earth-set TR is like.

Read it, I provided the link. It's not a book, it's just a short story.

 

[Sindatur]

^ But he never actually made it there, did he?

Batman never managed to actually end the crime in Gotham. So the next Batman reboot can forget about crime in Gotham altogether?


WCRIFYW is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars.
Total Recall is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars and then going to Mars. Or not.

And the remake neither has buying a memory nor a trip to Mars. All it has is the names of the characters of the movie Total Recall.

Seriously? The whole movie Total Recall (with or without Mars) is about going to Total Recall to buy a virtual vacation, and that either sparking his memory of his former life, or being an adventure.

So, the remake doesn't even have the purchasing of a memory? is that true to the short story? If it is, what did the movie Total Recall have in common with the short story?

 

[JarodRussell]

^ But he never actually made it there, did he?

Batman never managed to actually end the crime in Gotham. So the next Batman reboot can forget about crime in Gotham altogether?


WCRIFYW is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars.
Total Recall is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars and then going to Mars. Or not.

And the remake neither has buying a memory nor a trip to Mars. All it has is the names of the characters of the movie Total Recall.

Seriously? The whole movie Total Recall (with or without Mars) is about going to Total Recall to buy a virtual vacation, and that either sparking his memory of his former life, or being an adventure.

So, the remake doesn't even have the purchasing of a memory? is that true to the short story? If it is, what did the movie Total Recall have in common with the short story?

http://osl.iu.edu/~kyross/pub/recall.pdf

 

[Sindatur]

Batman never managed to actually end the crime in Gotham. So the next Batman reboot can forget about crime in Gotham altogether?


WCRIFYW is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars.
Total Recall is about a man buying a memory about a trip to Mars and then going to Mars. Or not.

And the remake neither has buying a memory nor a trip to Mars. All it has is the names of the characters of the movie Total Recall.

Seriously? The whole movie Total Recall (with or without Mars) is about going to Total Recall to buy a virtual vacation, and that either sparking his memory of his former life, or being an adventure.

So, the remake doesn't even have the purchasing of a memory? is that true to the short story? If it is, what did the movie Total Recall have in common with the short story?

http://osl.iu.edu/~kyross/pub/recall.pdf

OK, so the Short story does have him going to buy a memory, which was the biggest thing about the Total Recall movie, so, yea, kinda strange to call it a Total Recall remake without the Memory purcahsing

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ How do we know the new movie won't have a memory purchase? It won't have a memory of Mars, but it may still be about memory.

 

[Sindatur]

^ How do we know the new movie won't have a memory purchase? It won't have a memory of Mars, but it may still be about memory.

I don't know, I'm assuming JarodRussel knows what he's talking about, since he's speaking authoritatively about it.

And the remake neither has buying a memory nor a trip to Mars. All it has is the names of the characters of the movie Total Recall.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I don't know how anyone can presume to speak authoritatively of it at this stage.

 

[beamMe]

People's reactions are actually very understandable considering that the new film project is labeled as a "remake of Total Recall" rather than a "new adaptation of "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale." The minute you use "Total Recall" you're automatically referencing the Arnie film -- and not the original source material. And if you're going to "remake Total Recall" it makes virtually no sense to exclude Mars. Hence you get the reactions you seem to find so frustrating.

It's like saying, "We're going to remake West Side Story but the action will take place in the Italian countryside." Maybe the remake is slightly more faithful to the source material (Romeo and Juliet) ... but then why call it a "remake of West Side Story" if your intent is to ignore what made the movie unique and memorable to begin with?

This.

Total Recall without Mars = dumbest ideas since turning Miss Marple into a 30something.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

And, really, is Euromerica and New Shanghai any more stupid that that baby in the stomach creature?

What, baby-in-stomach was one of the coolest things in movie history!!! Euromerica and New Shanghai are stuff you'd expect from a Sat nite monster movie on Skiffy. Only occasionally do they come up with gems like Manquisto and Sharktopus.

Total Recall is about Mars. Have people forgotten the movie? I haven't watched it in years, but I definitely remember Mars (and Arnie, and baby-in-stomach) as being one of the most prominent elements of the movie. I'd like to see an adaptation of the PK Dick story someday, but this isn't that either. So what is it? Just another dumb Hollywood movie.

 

[Checkmate]

And they say that sci-fi fans are amongst the most open-minded people around. Yessir.

Hell, let's go with you guys. It's not a real Total Recall remake unless a chick with three tits is the main attraction. That's what most people remember about the movie. It comes up in every single spoof of it, afterall. Ergo, it cannot be a Total Recall movie without three tits.

 

[Captaindemotion]

And, really, is Euromerica and New Shanghai any more stupid that that baby in the stomach creature?

What, baby-in-stomach was one of the coolest things in movie history!!! Euromerica and New Shanghai are stuff you'd expect from a Sat nite monster movie on Skiffy. Only occasionally do they come up with gems like Manquisto and Sharktopus.

Total Recall is about Mars.

No it's not. It's about identity and memory. It happens to take place on Mars.

 

[barnaclelapse]

If anything good comes out of this it's a reminder that I need to buy those Library of America editions of Philip K. Dick's works.

As for the movie I'm just not going to care beyond the initial minor annoyance with the whole thing. I guess there's always a chance the trailer could come and completely blow my hair back (what little of it there is), but I'm not exactly expecting that. I also tend to view it as more of a remake of "Total Recall" than another adaptation of the source material.