Now here’s a movie that I didn’t expect to get excited for! The first full trailer for Len Wiseman’s quasi-remake of Total Recall has arrived, and man, it looks pretty damn cool! It seems like a really interesting update/reimagining of the camp classic movie film 1990, since apparently this version sticks closer to the Philip K. Dick story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (I can neither confirm nor deny this, since I haven’t read it), cuts out all the stuff to do with Mars, and features a more Jason Bourne-like protagonist. But at the same time, they’re making sure to include a number of recognizeable moments from the Paul Verhoeven film as well, such as the line “If I’m not me, then who the hell am I?” and the bit where Quaid puts on a futuristic disguise (in this case it’s a holographic head instead of a bomb, I guess). I almost wish that Wiseman and company had chosen to either go further away from Verhoeven’s film, or more directly remade it, instead of this weird middle-ground…but it doesn’t really matter. Total Recall (1990) has never been my favourite film, though I do quite enjoy it, so I’m intrigued to see how this one separates itself from the Verhoeven film while at the same time being faithful to it. Plus, this looks badass.
Total Recall comes out August 3, 2012.