9 Films That Completely Ignored Their Source (And Sucked Because Of It)
4. Total Recall Pretends To Adapt The Short Story, But Is Only Interested In The Film
Paul Verhovens Total Recall took plenty of liberties to turn a Philip K. Dick short story in an Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner, but that film did anything but suck (the special effects feel as alive now as they did twenty years ago). No, today Im on the remake. Ask Len Wiseman and hed say his film is less a remake of the 1990 Mars-set, gore-soaked flick and more a reimagining of We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. If he was genuinely telling the truth (rather than simply posturing to win over fans of the original) then he failed terribly. The finished film's style is mostly a mash up of Blade Runner, Minority Report, Inception and just about every other post Star Wars sci-fi, but its plot, minus the red planet, is completely lifted from Verhovens film. The changes are skin deep. Cohaagens plan varies in technicalities in both and Lori doesn't die at the same point, but the key moments that so defined the original (minus Benny and his non-existent hungry kids) come at the same pace, punctuated only by derivative, cookie-cutter action sequences. I still have no idea why Wiseman made his claim; in a world where remaking a story, rather than finding a natural continuation is viewed as a viable option it seems rather wasteful to trumpet your film as something else.
