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I'm primarily interested in the storyline differences between the Director's Cut and its theatrical counterparts, so here are the differences between the two (NOTE: SPOILERS FOLLOW).
The Director's Cut runs about 12 minutes longer than the theatrical cut. No additional gore has been added although additional F-bombs have been added. Ethan Hawke makes a surprise appearance in a scene that was cut from the theatrical movie.
(1) Extra scene of Quaid meeting with a Human Resources Management representative from the Cohaagen administration who requests that he sign a non-disclosure agreement given that he works at a sensitive defense production factory. (I can see why this was cut as it didn't add much to the overall storyline.)
(2) Extra scene of scantily clad women in Rekall neighborhood. (The three mammary gland-ed lady still makes the same appearance with topless nudity.)
(3) In the scene where Quaid finds the hidden holographic piano recording in his apartment, it has been altered to show Ethan Hawke as the old Quaid, revealing that Cohaagen also gave Quaid facial reconstructive surgery. (This was an interesting twist which I wished they had left in. It explains why no one was able to recognize him.)
(4) When Quaid and Melina escape from Lori in the elevator action sequence, there is a re-inserted shot of the destroyed elevator plunging onto the roadway below and destroying a hover car. (Pretty neat CGI!)
(5) During the UFB assault on Matthias's base, there is an extra shot of a white combat synth gunning down some hapless Resistance members.
(6) Melina is revealed to be Matthias's daughter. Cohaagen also refers to Melina as Matthias's daughter, rather than lieutenant.
(7) Cohaagen talks a little more about his plan to use Quaid to lead to Matthias, revealing that it was Quaid's idea to have his memory wiped in order to feign allegiance to Matthias.
(8) When Cohaagen has Quaid strapped to the chair, Quaid instead yells an F-word laced expletive at Cohaagen.
(9) When Cohaagen ponders what to do with Melina, she spits in his face and screams the F-word, whereas in the theatrical cut she says "Never!"
(10) The climactic final fight is slightly longer, showing an additional shot of UFB black-clad special forces troops getting gunned down by Melina and the fight between Cohaagen's black painted super-synth bodyguard and Quaid is slightly longer.
And that's it. The biggest addition is Ethan Hawke's reinserted scene.
I enjoyed the Total Recall re-make, even if it lacked some of the campy humor and ridiculous gore of Paul Verhoeven's original. I give it five stars for completely shallow reasonsKate Beckinsale! Hello. Heck if I were Quaid and married to Kate Beckinsale I'd forget about Rekall. Jessica Biel is easy on the eyes too. The re-make is darker and more serious, akin to Minority Report meets Total Recall. It seems to combine elements from both the Arnold film and Philip Dick's "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale".
In a nod to the Verhoeven film, Harry and Quaid talk about going to Mars, a synthetic thug loses his arm, a similar looking "two weeks" woman walks by customs, Quaid uses holograms, Federal police engage in a zero-G gunbattle with Quaid, and the iconic three breasted woman makes an appearance. Missing of course are the memorable Johnny Cab, Benny, the poor sap who gets perforated on the escalator, and Kuato.
The action scenes are well staged even if TDI Vector sporting Federal police are mowed down like stormtroopers. The technology is fascinating, especially "The Fall" and hand insertable phones. The Colony's populace has a distinct Asian overtone and is more Blade Runner-esque. The UFB is probably situated in England to make Beckinsale's native accent more convenient.
I only wish they had made a hard R-version rather than pander to the PG-13 desires of studio executives.
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I just got back from the Midnight showing of this movie and I have to say that I was actually quite impressed with the storyline as it differed just enough from the original to make the film very entertaining, yet didn't seem to be a complete re-hash of the original Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course the special effects were much better than the original film, but I have to admit that Arnold has such a presence that it makes it very hard to compete against him. Especially when you are playing the part he played so well in the original. However, Colin Farrel does do a good job playing the role of Douglas Quaid, or is it Hauser. I'm not really sure and that is the point of the movie. The cast is rounded out with Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season fame reprising the role originally played by veteran actor Ronny Cox and Jessica Biel as Hauser's love interest Melina played by Rachel Ticotin in the original film, and Bokeem Woodbine as Quaid's friend Harry.Now there are some obvious differences between the two films and without giving away in major spoilers, I am going to share a few of them with you here. So don't continue reading if you don't want to know some key plot elements in this new film.
1. Sharon Stone's role from the original film is played devilishly and deliciously by Kate Beckinsale of the Underworld: The Legacy Collection films and plays her character all the way through the entire film up until the very end. Her character in this film is actually a combination of two characters from the original film. Of course as I already stated Sharon Stone's original role, but also the role of Michael Ironside as Richter in the original film. I thought this was a nicely added touch and I am sure you will as well. Beckinsale really gives her role some real viciousness as it seems only a female can.
2. There is no relevance with the planet Mars in this version. All the events take place in what was once known as Europe and Australia.
3. There are no "mutants" of any kind really shown or implied in the film. Well of course there is one, but when you see her you'll wish you had three hands.
In order to fully enjoy this film, you really need to kind of forget about the original and just sit back and enjoy this film for what it is. A different take on the short story by Phillip K. Dick, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."
Shawn Kovacich
Author and Creator of numerous books and DVD's.
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I kept thinking about the original film while watching this one. To put it simply: Arnold was better than Colin Farrell. Kate Beckinsale in the expanded role is better than Sharon Stone, and I really love them both. Jessica Biel is better than anyone, if you don't believe me, ask her. What I really liked about this film is the updated special effects, down to the electronic notes on the refrigerator door. I love attention to detail.The action was fast paced. The future looks similar to "The Fifth Element" but with more computer gizmos. If you have seen the original version, then you can miss the first few minutes of this one and be able to pick it up.
For some reason they eliminated all the fun aspects of going to Mars. That is why we watched the first film. Instead we get a film where we simply root for the terrorists. The terrorists are revolting against the Chancellor who wants to replace workers with synthetics, although this theme was poorly developed.
One of the aspects of both productions that I didn't like was the initial dream sequence. Had they eliminated that from both films, then the genius of the script would have been the ambiguity of reality vs. the recall machine.
The film included 3D holograms, Star Wars stormtroopers, Bill Nighy for a brief moment, and an inadvertent mention of an old film "Hauser's Memory."
What I didn't like about this film was all the action. It didn't have drama scenes outside of the beginning. No colorful characters. No time for a Biel/ Farrell love scene. It was like watching someone play a video game. Seriously, where was the writing? The clever lines? The complex character? The relationship? Any moron can write "Bang bang, run shoot, bang, chase, shoot, bang."
Parental Guide: F-Bomb, Nudity (Kaitlyn Leeb wearing a fake chest) no sex. 3 stars is pushing it. Can't wait for the video game.
Honest reviews on Total Recall (Two Discs: Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy) (2012)
Ok, I loved the Schwarzenegger movie, it was a campy fun SciFi flic, my favorite genre, and I was exited when I heard they'd remake it... But instead of getting our collective asses to Maaas, we go wait for it to dreary old future London, which looks pretty much like dreary old present day London if you ask me.Somehow in the future only Britain and Australia remain, with Australia being a colony of Britain connected through an underground tunnel/elevator that can go from one end to the earth to the other in 17 minutes, in a massive elevator like gizmo. Other that that the local are pretty much interchangeable only in Australia the houses hang from the sky, which I guess makes sense because its on the other side of the world.
The whole movie is littered with silly references from the original movie which is cute at first, but later serves as a constant reminder of how much better the original was. The whole movie seems to be pieced together from the left overs of other movies, the police robots look like they are lifted straight from Star Wars, the constant rainy dreariness from blade Runner. This movie shares with the original the name, the three breasted hooker and the name of the protagonists and that's it, to call this a remake is just laughable...
The equivalent would be to remake Star Trek, but instead of all the cool space ships and stuff you cast Gilbert Gotfried as Captain Kirk driving a school bus through Burbank that's named 'The Enterprise' .... Ugh completly forgettable....
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First off, any review of Total Recall (2012) must compare it to Total Recall (1990), and in just about every way possible, the newer one comes up short. Say what you want about Schwarzenegger's acting, he owned and sold the role in a way that Colin Farrell's sleepy, ballet-choreographed-fighting could not.Then there was the appalling decision to combine the Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside characters into a single Kate Beckinsale role, which failed on every possible level.
Set design was accomplished by blatantly ripping off "Blade Runner," with additional contributions from "The Matrix," and "Minority Report." The Rekall store went from looking like a futuristic dentist's office to a hidden P.F. Chang's restaurant, for reasons that are utterly baffling -isn't this supposed to be a major corporation, that advertises world-wide, like McDonald's? Why would it be hard to find?
The CGI wizardry of the modern day somehow looks tired and absurd compared to the effects Verhoeven achieved with technology 20 years older.
I'm pretty sure there was a paragraph of dialogue that was lifted nearly verbatim from "The Matrix" when Morpheus is explaining to Neo that the brain simply detects electro-chemical inputs.
Pacing was an absolute nightmare. It went from slow, when Quaid is trying to figure things out, to slower, when they would commence one of the combat-ballets.
Nothing was set up, and nothing was paid off. There are battle droids, and sometimes they're bulletproof, and sometimes, you can shoot them. There's a subway that goes through the Earth's molten rock and solid iron core. (BTW, the ENTIRE trip on "The Fall" would be at Zero-G to the occupants, not just the middle five seconds.) The rest of the world is uninhabitable because of "chemical weapons," but you can survive in it just by wearing a gas mask. Cohaagen, the chief bad guy (and "Chancellor"), is out there wearing a bulletproof vest with his suit trousers, on the front line with his troops. It would be like if President Obama had personally accompanied Seal Team Six to track and kill Osama Bin Laden. Jessica Biel's character was a cipher we knew nothing about her, and she had nothing to do but provide occasional support for Colin Farrell. We didn't care about any of the characters. What's that? You're going to launch a genocidal invasion? Okay. Go ahead. I have nothing invested in anybody here. Most of the characters with speaking parts don't even live in that part of the world, anyway.
Want to watch "Total Recall?" Get the 1990 version and have a blast.
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