Total Recall-all time classic?

Hard to believe now, but Total Recall caused a bit of a stir due to the body count. There was an article in the Sunday Times magazine about it. I get the impression that sci-fi fans are sniffy about this high-concept movie, but I'm fine with it.


Melina: How can you do this? You're a mutant.
Benny: [shrugs] I needed the money. I got four kiRAB to feed.
Douglas Quaid: What happened to number five?
Benny: [beat tone] Aw, sh!t, man! You got me. I don't have any kiRAB. I ain't even married!
 
That's because other than the FX, there was nothing original about The Matrix.

The Wachoswskis ripped off several well knows sci-fi ideas and wrapped them up in state of the art FX.
 
As a big fan of Philip K Dick, I regard Total Recall as one of the less good adaptations of his stories. To add further woe, it was originally scripted and was going to be directed by David Cronenberg - how good would that have been?!!!!!
So, it was a big disappointment, but it's still an enjoyable movie.
 
I don't want Total Recall to be remade, but I really wish it had been made a few years later, so that some of the effects looked more realistic.

As much as I like the film, it hasn't aged well.
 
I don't think so. I remember at the time that it was ground breaking in the special effects department.

I think it is seen by many to be a classic now, even though I hated the shmaltzy ending and the air in the bio-dome rubbish.

I think it looks dated now in it's production, in the way that it has a very corny 80's feel to it, much like most Arnie movies do now.
But a film being dated doesn't bother me in any way whatsoever. I can find dated films very enjoyable in their own right. I just see them as having a different style.

But I think that 'The Running Man' is seen more as a sci-fi classic than most of his other films bar Terminator and Terminator 2.
I don't even think that 'The Running Man' was such a major blockbuster hit when it originally came out and was pretty much straight to video. But I think that The Running Man is a kind of cult classic.
 
Which effects do you think look bad?

I think the effects still look great because they were done with real models and animatronics so they haven't aged in the same way CGi does.
 
I absolutely love Total Recall, it's a genuine sci-fi classic in my eyes. It has some of the best one-liners in the history of cinema, my favourite being: "See you at da paaarty Richter!" :D
 
Love the film, easily a classic imo.

So many classic Arnie lines:

"See you at the paaaarty Richter!"
"Damn it Cohagen! Give da people their aiiiiiiir!"
"Ha! You think this is da real Quaid!....IT IS!!!" *BANG*

:D
 
For me, watching some older films on Blu-ray or SkyHD can sometimes show up a films imperfections even more than previously seen. Total Recall is one of those films.

The real model work and animatronics you mention really haven't aged well....and with high-definition now edging closer to mainstream, it'll no doubt age even more. The rest of the film isn't too bad though.

2001: A Space Odyssey is another good example. As great as some of the film is on Blu-ray, other scenes look awful (there's one scene where you can clearly the brushstrokes, where they painted clouRAB onto a blue backdrop.
 
I'm also a fan of PKD, and I felt this did a good job of reflecting his concerns as a writer about what's real and what's human. The red pill/blue pill sequence in The Matrix, for example, was done in Total Recall first, and done better, in my opinion. Because Arnie doesn't take the pill, we don't find out whether it would have woken him up.

I love that the Arnie at the end was, in fact, the fake: a personality created by the bad guy to gull the opposition. And that virtually the entire film was a fake memory, ending with the oxygen machine turning the Mars sky blue and starting with the technician preping Arnie, commenting on the tape as he does so, "Blue Sky on Mars - that's new."

Who knows? I like Cronenberg, but I thought eXistenZ was a far bigger disappointment than Total Recall.
 
The pill scene was excellent. I also liked the exploding fake head scene at the security check - that's very PKD.

I think Cronenberg had just done The Fly when he got involved in Total Recall.

From Wikipedia:


BTW, I loved eXistenZ, but it's a strange film, with a very retro 1980s feel to it.
 
Total Recall is a modern SCi-Fi classic. If T2 can be called a classic (I personally find it vastly overrated alongside its director) then so can Total Recall. Another from the same helmer is RoboCop, now that is another modern classic. For me Verhoeven versus Cameron, Verhoeven all the time. And if anyone mentions Showgirls, I'll just pitch in with Titanic or Piranha 2. :D
 
Didnt realise you had already made the point about The Matrix AT, sorry :o
Some scenes and ideas in this film are definitely shown again in The Matrix.
 
Yeah TR is a classic. Have it on DVD and recorded it the other day in HD too, but not yet got round to watching it in HD yet.

A true Sci-Fi classic, but will the new one being made live up to it.

However though, I feel TR itself is a classic because of Arnie. There was originally a sequel planned but was never made, IIRC something to do with Arnie not liking sequels as his Conan movie sequel where a flop, so he lost heart in them but made an excepting for Terminator 2.

80s & 90s though was best years for movies IMO.
 
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