Following the announcement that Total Recall, the sort-of-adaptation of Philip K Dick’s ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’ is to be remade, the time is right for another look at a film that surely ranks as one of the finest science fiction films Arnold Schwarzenegger was involved with. It is certainly the most involved and complex, and for all its faults, it still stands up well as an exciting action film.
The effects may look a bit primitive now, but the pacing, performances and set pieces are still as potent as they were when the film first came out.
Paul Verhoeven’s direction is pitch perfect, managing to handle both action and plot in a remarkably effective manner. The Martian city is excellently realized, and despite Arnie’s reputation for flat performances, he gives a very strong showing here. While the film doesn’t match the depth of Dick’s novel, or indeed a chunk of the plot, it is pretty much as close as Hollywood got to serious science fiction at the time.
With overtones of environmental issues, along with class wars and matters of human depravity and identity, it remains a bleak vision of the future that carries some genuine depth. Not much, but there is definitely a little there.
What worries me about the remake that is on the way is the manner in which the film will likely be created. Now that we are able to do so much with CG effects, I am concerned that the story will get lost in huge CG set pieces at the expense of character and plot. I may well be wrong, as there are many films now that are perfectly integrating effects with the story instead of letting the effects BE the story, but still there is that worry.
The nuances of Dick’s book were lost with the Arnie film, but the message and ideas remained, and at its core it respected the source material.
The plight of Doug Quaid as his memories return is a compelling storyline, but throw in action and intrigue- and the famous revelation, and you have the recipe for a science fiction classic. Granted, we already have that classic, plus a short lived TV series of Total Recall (which was a rather Blade Runner-esque sci-fi noir project, but cool), but there is a great desire at various studios to redo films that have become cult classics.
I can see the reasoning behind the idea of a remake though- the back story in the movie, of a resistance movement staged by mutants who had been deformed by the lack of decent radiation filtering in the city built by an overbearing corporation, hits close to home now.
As corporations become more powerful, even during a global financial crisis, the common man is having his life twisted in order to keep the idea of a capitalist society alive. I guess on that score, Total recall does have a few things to say about today.
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Andrew is a globally published music journalist and SF author. He also writes for a leading movie memorabilia and collectibles site and their many blogs. For the latest in movies, TV, collectibles and pop culture, visit ===> http://starstoreblog.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Hawnt |
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