WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
As with many of the remakes I cover on this blog, the Total Recall films are based a on novella. This time it is by the name of We Can Remember it for You Wholesale by Phillip K Dick (again, hence the title…). Not having read this short story, yet, I can’t make any comparisons to it but that doesn’t stop me making comparisons between the films…
Staying on Earth
Now, this is my biggest issue with the remake. The original film, like the short story, is all about the ability to go to Mars and in the end, that’s where most of the film is set. The remake, however, clearly seemed to think this was a little too farfetched and decided the whole film would be set on Earth. For me, this takes a lot away from the film.
Firstly, the underlying evil plan doesn’t come across so terrible. In the original film, Cohaagen literally has control of the atmosphere on Mars and he charges people for the air they breathe. This is why he’s hiding the fact that there is an alien reactor that will give the atmosphere back to the planet. Now, compared to that, an invasion of robots in The Colony (which is basically Australia) doesn’t seem that impressive.
Schwarzenegger vs Farrell
Roll up, roll up for my typical first section of an original vs remake article – the comparison of the lead actors.
The main comparison I want to make, is between their fight scenes. The great thing about Arnie is actually his size. They portray Doug Quaid in the original film as this brawling character and this is benefited by the fact that Arnie looks like he could literally rip apart the people he’s fighting. On the other hand, for some reason, they decided to make Farrell’s Quaid into a secret agent so the fight scenes contain much more finesse than Arnie’s. It makes me wonder if the style of the actor was the reason for the change in the way the character was written.
Lori
Now, I want to talk about Quaid/Hauser’s wife. This plot point stays through both the original and the remake, however the size of her role changes between the two. Yes, in both films she is also a spy for Cohaagen but in the remake they mould both the characters of Lori and Victor, from the original film, in to one person. Let me explain. Victor is Cohaagen’s henchman in the original film and the one he sends after Quaid once he realises who he really is. Now, in the remake it is Lori who is sent after Quaid. I think it’s because of this that the character of Harry is created…
Harry is a work colleague of Quaid’s at the factory, a little like Robert Costanzo’s minor role in the original film (the characters have the same name) but again, the role is enlarged. I think because they rolled both Lori and Victor into one character for the remake, they had to increase Harry’s role so that they still had a sympathetic character to try and win Quaid around to their side.
Homages to the Original
This is a common thing when it comes to remakes, they always have to hark back to the original in some shape or form. Total Recall is no different. Firstly, there’s the triple-breasted woman who we are introduced to much earlier in the remake than in the original. On top of this, there’s a line that also references our first meeting her in the original film where Benny says ‘Baby, you make me wish I had three hands.’ Now, in the remake there is no Benny so the person to meet her is Quaid himself and it is her that says ‘You’re going to wish you had three hands.’
Now for the clever homage. When watching the remake, did you wonder why your view is drawn to the rather rotund, red-haired woman when Quaid is in disguise trying to get back into the Colony? This is because in the original, that is exactly the disguise he uses.
In Conclusion
I’ll be honest, I had high hopes for the remake – I really did. However, I think this is the second time that Colin Farrell has chosen to do a film that really should not have been made in the first place. I don’t know what some directors’ issues are with early 90s films that they feel they need ‘updating’. In a round about way I’m trying to say that I prefer the original film. You know, I say it so often that I have to find a new way of telling you guys that I prefer the original.
