Original vs. Remake Comparison: Total Recall (2012) vs. Total Recall (1990)

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nI remember seeing the original Total Recall in theaters waynback in 1990 when Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the peak of his action starnpowers, when he was the king of the world of action movies. Total Recall was upnto that point in Schwarzenegger’s career,  the biggest film he’d ever been in, the mostnexpensive, the most epic; the most bombastic. And Arnold was just getting warmed up, a couplenof years later he would amaze the world with Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992).nThere was no doubt in my mind that Verhoeven’s Total Recall was an event film,npeople were talking about the special effects and about how over the top it was,nbut most of all, the movie was getting tons of heat because of the violence andnthe ‘disrespect for human life’ that it displayed. You know what I say to that:n“Wake up people: it’s only a movie!” But then again, this was a time when Hollywood was getting anlot of criticism because of the violent quotient of it’s films. Yes ladies andngentlemen, 1990 was a summer/year of violence in theaters. We got such actionnpacked gore fests as Die Hard 2 (1990), Robocop 2 (1990), Predator 2 (1990), hell,nwe even got artsy violence with David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990). Boy did I love going to the movies that summer! But thenking of the violent films that year was the film we will be considering today,nPaul Verhoeven’s Total Recall (1990). 

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nAfter seeing the remake last night, I can clearly see whatnmakes both of these movies so different; and trust me they are very different.nLet’s start things off with the way the action star has changed through out thendecades. The 80’s and early 90’s were filled with action stars that werenessentially, huge muscle bound tanks of destruction, you messed with them they’dnanswer with a roundhouse kick, a punch to the jaw or they’d blow you awaynreally good. One look at the top action stars of the 80’s and it is crystalnclear, muscles were the thing. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, JeannClaude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, all of them, muscle bound and unstoppable.nThese guys were invincible in their films, so one thing that distinguished thenaction star of those days was the fact that nothing could get through them,nthey were damn near indestructible. With few exceptions, today’s action starsnare not muscle bound freaks, but instead have a leaner figure. They are alsonmore vulnerable, less indestructible. One look at the way James Bond wasnportrayed in Casino Royale (2006) will tell you this. Where Bond was once thenepitome of indestructible, he now takes a beating; yes my friends; today’snaction stars have one thing in common and that’s that they are psychologically  and physically vulnerable. This is why fornthis new remake we get a lean Colin Farrell instead of a muscle bound Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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nAnd speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was a big part ofnwhat made the original Total Recall what it is. Arnold has always been a bigger than lifencharacter, both in his movies and in real life and he wanted to make sure thatnthis film was going to be as big if not bigger than his ego. He’d been tryingnto get on board the Total Recall train since the days when Dino De Laurentisnwas producing it. When that fell through he convinced Carolco to buy the rightsnof the film for 3 million. He negotiated a deal that gave him unparalleled controlnover the film. He had veto power over everyone, the producers, the writers, thendirector…he even had final say so over promotional material which would explainnwhy his face is plastered over the entire poster! It was Arnold who chose PaulnVerhoeven as a director because he was impressed with Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987).nAnd here is where another essential element that made the old Total Recall whatnit was, the involvement of director Paul Verhoeven. It’s no secret that Verhoeven’snloves to cram his films with sex and violence. Veerhoven’s over the top stylenis plastered all over his Total Recall. When you see both the remake and thenoriginal, you see just what Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger brought to thenproject: sex, violence, cheesy one liners and over the top action. All of thesenelements are what is missing from the new film. It’s as if the fun was suckednright out of the movie. The new film is much more serious in tone, more solemn,ncold. Basically, it’s not as much fun.

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nWhen Cronenberg was on board as director for the originalnTotal Recall, he added an important element to the script that went on to become a huge part of Verhoeven’s version: it was the element of actually going to Mars, he also added the Mutants and Kuato. Though in Philip K. Dick’s short story ‘We Can Remember itnfor you Wholesale’ Quaid does want to go to Mars (actually it’s the reason whynhe goes to Rekal) he never actually does. In Cronenberg’s script, Quaidnactually does go to Mars and sides with the mutant rebels. There’d be none ofnthese elements in Veerhoven’s film if it hadn’t been for Cronenberg take onnthe project. So it’s Cronenberg we have to thank for the whole ‘get your ass tonMars’ twist from the first film; which of course was completely deleted fromnthe remake, apparently this was an effort to keep some amount of faithfulnessnto Philip K. Dick’s story. This means that on this new remake you won’t get,nalien machinery, no mars colony, no mutant whores or clairvoyants, no Kuato, nonBenny, no heads about to explode because of lack of air, no Mars with blue sky,nno spaceships landing on Mars. Basically, anything that was Mars related wasneliminated, which kind of brings the fun level down for me. Instead, we get anpost apocalyptic earth in which over population is a huge problem. We getnbuildings on top of buildings, humans commuting in mass to their jobs, flyingncars and a society living under a police state, a society that’s constantlynbeing surveyed by the powers that be. So I guess this is the biggest differencenwith this new film. Eliminating Mars and keeping the film firmly grounded onnEarth. They’ve switched the need to turn on the Alien Atmosphere Producing Machinesnwith the need to stop a dictator from achieving his conquest of the people.

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nHere’s where the two films walk on common ground. Both filmsnare distinctively subversive. In both films Quaid was the evil corporate douchenbag who now wants to be who he is, not who he used to be. He is the evil mannwho prefers to be the good guy he has turned into. His evil side is like andistant memory that he does not want to be a part of. Also, both films arenabout stopping the powers that be from abusing the people. On the original, wenhad Quaid trying to give the people free air, the way it should be. Why chargenpeople for something that should be free? On the remake we have the workforce,nbattling against a government that wants nothing more then to obliterate thenpoor while looking like they are doing something good; a government that liesnthrough the media, and uses the police as their own personal militia. Thisnwhole element of the working class vs. the higher powers actually reminded me anwhole lot of Metropolis (1927), which is also a film about the working classnasking for some respect. They after all helped build the futuristic city of Metropolis, all they wantnis to be treated fairly and with respect. Aesthetically, the film also remindednme of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002),nespecially when the film goes into those flying car chases; which by the way arenone of the coolest elements in the film. At the end of the day though, innbetween all the special effects and action, both films are about the peoplenstruggling to be heard and treated fairly. 

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nThe original cut for Total Recall got Verhoeven an X Ratingnfrom the MPAA, it was deemed way too violent and graphic for the masses and so, cuts had to be made innorder to get an R rating. Still, I’d say that Verhoeven walked away with annextremely gruesome movie. I still love watching Verhoeven’s film because it’snso over the top and crazy. I mean, it’s as if the film is constantly trying it’snhardest to shock you, I appreciate that about it. Three breasted prostitutes? Awesome!nHeads that are about to explode due to lack of oxygen? Cool! Masks that talknand explode? Tre Cool! Sharon Stone top less? Double the Pleasure, Double thenFun! And what about Arnold’snnone stop barrage of one liners? Fun as hell! Unfortunately all these elementsnwhere sucked out of the new one. I knew where the one liners were supposed tongo on the remake…they just didn’t happen. They weren’t there. I was screaming “see you at the party Richter!” in the theater, and a couple of people laughed, they knew what I was talking about. It’s as if thisnremake was too self-righteous to have any fun? It’s trying to be so politicallyncorrect with its delivery that it looses its edge, it looses what made thenprevious film fun.

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nTo make matters worse, one of the things that made thenoriginal so entertaining were Rob Bottin’s imaginative make up effects. Thesenmake up effects were so good that they got Rob Bottin and crew Academy Awardsnfor their work. The three breasted girl, Kuato, the mask, the mutants, evennJohnny Cab is gone, all of these creations we have Rob Bottin to thank for.nPaul Verhoeven basically gave Bottin free reign to come up with as many gags asnhe could for the film and Bottin was eager to please. He was the one who camenup with some of the films most show stopping moments, like the mask scene, thatnidea about the mask opening up and saying “get ready for a surprise!” was allnBottin! Sadly, the show stopping make up effects were completely ignored onnthis one. Instead we get tons of CGI environments.

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nI don’t want to soundnlike I didn’t enjoy this remake because it has some very good things going fornit. I loved the art direction, which mixed elements from Blade Runner,nMetropolis and Minority Report. There’s no doubts about it, this is one cool looking movie, kudos to director Len Wiseman for achieving this. And whose fantastic idea was it to put both JessicanBiel and Kate Beckinsale on the same flick? Kudos to that genius, whoever he ornshe might be. And Colin Farrell did a good job as Quaid. I wouldn’t mind seennhim on more action films. I also loved the idea behind these robot cops; theynlooked awesome and gave me a glimpse at what we might be seeing in the upcomingnRobocop remake which is currently in production. Sadly, if that Robocop remake followsnthe same ‘modus operandi’ of this Total Recall remake, then the new Robocopnwill be an equally neutered version of the original. So yeah, the point I wantnto make about this new remake is that even though it had tons of none stopnaction and great visual effects, when compared to Verhoeven’s film, this newnone feels neutered, like the majority of remakes nowadays. They offer usncleaner, “safer”, more politically correct versions of films that had balls. Itnseems to me like sex and violence are being eliminated from entertainment. Gonenare the raunchy comedies, the ultra violent action films and the ultra gorynhorror films. Society is being neutered, who’s got the balls to bring an edgenback to cinema?
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n(Go to this link for my full review of Total Recall (2012) 

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nRatings:

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nTotal Recall (1990): 5 out of 5

nTotal Recall (2012): 4 out of 5  

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