Just in time for the 2012 remake with Colin Farrell, Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 sci-fi thriller ‘Total Recall‘ starring Arnold Schwarzenegger will get a Blu-ray SteelBook in the UK next month. Both films are adapted from Philip K. Dick’s short story ‘We Can Remember It for You Wholesale’, but will they both feature three-breasted hookers?
From the official film synopsis:
The year is 2084. Douglas Quaid, a construction worker on Earth, is haunted by a recurring dream. He buys an implanted memory from Rekall Inc. to try and make sense of it, but something goes wrong. He finds himself as a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator Cohaagen.
The SteelBook design is decent, but I personally would have preferred some artwork a little more eye-catching that we haven’t already seen before. Click the image below to enlarge:
Special features for this release will include:
- Audio Commentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Director Paul Verhoeven
- Making of
- The Special Effects of Total Recall
- New interview with Paul Verhoeven
- “Imagining Total Recall” Featurette
- Film scene restoration comparison
- Photo Gallery
- Trailer
- Total Recall 2012 Trailer
While we’re on the topic of ‘Total Recall’, I found this “Total Ripoff” comparison of scenes from the 1990 movie and the new 2012 remake to be pretty amusing:
After watching the video, it really makes me wonder why the remake was necessary at all. Judge for yourself.
The SteelBook for ‘Total Recall – Ultimate Rekall Edition’ will be available on July 16th. The title can be pre-ordered at Amazon UK, which will ship to North America. Unfortunately, there’s no confirmation about region coding status at this time.
Josh Zyber
The disc will also have a new remastered transfer. Previous Blu-ray editions of the movie were pretty problematic.
I don’t see what the big deal is about the remake having similarities to the original film. I mean, it is a REMAKE, after all.
Brian Hoss
“Do you think that this is the “real” Total Recall?” “It is.”
Wherever the whiteboard is where they have all the remakes, reboots, and prequels written, they need to just erase all the Verhoeven movies.
Tom Landy
Yeah, but that comparison video is like a mirror image except the part that says okay maybe that’s new. 😉
JM
The three-breasted mutant prostitute even has the same lipstick.
But.
(1) They don’t go to Mars.
(2) Bill Nighy is leading the underground resistance.
(3) They added a massive plot twist.
And.
(5) This ‘Total Recall’ is totally focusing more on the existential themes present in Dick’s original vision of the Kate Beckinsale /Jessica Biel catfight.
Julian
And (4)? Or is there no (4)?
JM
(4) I’m concerned the three-breasted mutant prostitute doesn’t know how to please her customers.
She says, “You’re going to wish you had three hands.”
But the ideal satisfaction would be, “Two hands, one mouth.’
Aaron Peck
They should’ve added more breasts. Possibly udders.
JM
It starts like ‘Total Recall’ and ends like ‘The Crying Game.’
hurin
I don’t have much fate in the remake. The trailer shows Quaid use a man as a shield with his left hand while shooting with his right. Schwarzenegger can do this, but not a man of normal size.
Also PG-13, what are they thinking? The over-the-top violence was the best part of the original.
Josh Zyber
The trailer for the remake looks a lot better than I was expecting. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
While I’m no fan of the Underworld movies, I actually thought that Wiseman did a pretty good job with the last Die Hard. And that movie didn’t suffer for action despite its PG-13.
JM
‘Total Recall’ is a reboot of the Philip K. Dick short story ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’ which was published in ’66.
This new offshoot is a vision of the America vs. Japan geopolitics of 2084.
PG-13 secured the $200M budget. It was shot for an uncut blu-ray.
Len Wiseman is young director, 39, with a B-movie sci-fi sensibility.
In terms of buzz, ‘Total Recall’ won CinemaCon ’12 with nearly universal praise, calling it ‘Bourne’ meets ‘Blade Runner.’
Brian Hoss
Have you read ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale?’ Its not exactly filled with geopolitical offshoots.
Josh Zyber
Exactly. The new movie looks to have about as much to do with Philip Dick as the old movie did, which is basically nothing at all.
JM
How do you make a sci-fi assassin film set in 2084 and not update the geopolitics?