At first, I thought you were referring to the old Arnie flick and my reaction was "Blasphemy!" and then I realized it was the horrendous remake.

Total Recall (2012) - 4 outta 10 stars

@mechajutaro said:

I forgot how BAD this Movie Was.

Think you may be the only person on earth who remembers that Total Recall '12 ever existed, Vor. Dunno if this anything to be proud of, but it's an unusual accomplishment, at any rate

Yeah, I was the one dumb guy who went to the theaters to see it.

It's nothing compared to the iconic original, but it's watchable...

@CheekyMonkey said:

It's nothing compared to the iconic original, but it's watchable...

A lot of things are watchable, though, like paint drying on a wall. As outlandish as Paul Verhoeven's original film is, in my opinion, it does keep one's attention. I was happy to have caught the last 5-10 minutes of this when I saw some of it....

@CelluloidFan said:

@CheekyMonkey said:

It's nothing compared to the iconic original, but it's watchable...

A lot of things are watchable though, like paint drying on a wall. As outlandish as Paul Verhoeven's original film is, in my opinion, it does keep one's attention. I was happy to have caught the last 5-10 minutes of this when I saw some of it....

Oh man, Verhoeven's was funny as hell. Even the special effects are a gas. Plus it was loaded was some great one liners.

SEE YOU AT THE PAAARTY VICTOR!!!!

@movie_nazi said:

@CelluloidFan said:

@CheekyMonkey said:

It's nothing compared to the iconic original, but it's watchable...

A lot of things are watchable though, like paint drying on a wall. As outlandish as Paul Verhoeven's original film is, in my opinion, it does keep one's attention. I was happy to have caught the last 5-10 minutes of this when I saw some of it....

Oh man, Verhoeven's was funny as hell. Even the special effects are a gas. Plus it was loaded was some great one liners.

SEE YOU AT THE PAAARTY VICTOR!!!!

And really, many of the special effects in the original film were done for laughs, so you're right to mention those two things together.

@TheVorlon said:

I must have been repressing the torture I went through watching it.

i didnt think it was bad. loved the scene where they are jumping through homes, gates, and roof tops. the scene setting is amazing

It's tricky.

The 1990 sets the bar for us because it's the version of the story most of us first saw.

Unfortunately, it did not stick as closely to the original story as this remake. This happens not infrequently, with varying results:

• Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), currently tracking at a TMDb user score of 82% is not author Stephen King's favourite version. A TV movie was made (1997) that King felt much happier with. even though it is currently only tracking at a TMDb user score of 63%/ ...most audiences will always remember Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall and nary remember Steven Weber and Rebecca De Mornay.
• On the other hand, while Stallone was first out of the gate with a popular and similarly cartoonish version of Judge Dredd (1995), it is only tracking a low 58% user score, while the darker, grittier Dredd (2012) is doing better at 68%, even though most people think of Stallone sooner than they do Karl Urban.

I have seen both Total Recall versions, and I too remember not quite liking the Colin Farrell version (even though I'm a big fan of him - his work in Horrible Bosses and The Batman are splendid!). Having recently rewatched Arnie's version for fun and to try to see if I can see what the truth is about theories of dream vs. reality, Hauser vs. Quaid, etc...I'm going to sit through the Farrell version again - let's see if I again like it less.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

It's tricky.

The 1990 sets the bar for us because it's the version of the story most of us first saw.

Unfortunately, it did not stick as closely to the original story as this remake. This happens not infrequently, with varying results:

• Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), currently tracking at a TMDb user score of 82% is not author Stephen King's favourite version. A TV movie was made (1997) that King felt much happier with. even though it is currently only tracking at a TMDb user score of 63%/ ...most audiences will always remember Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall and nary remember Steven Weber and Rebecca De Mornay.
• On the other hand, while Stallone was first out of the gate with a popular and similarly cartoonish version of Judge Dredd (1995), it is only tracking a low 58% user score, while the darker, grittier Dredd (2012) is doing better at 68%, even though most people think of Stallone sooner than they do Karl Urban.

I have seen both Total Recall versions, and I too remember not quite liking the Colin Farrell version (even though I'm a big fan of him - his work in Horrible Bosses and The Batman are splendid!). Having recently rewatched Arnie's version for fun and to try to see if I can see what the truth is about theories of dream vs. reality, Hauser vs. Quaid, etc...I'm going to sit through the Farrell version again - let's see if I again like it less.

Colin Farrell is a fantastic actor but he has been in a lot of flops. He has been in some good ones too. I remember quite liking The Lobster .

I watched them both this weekend, and I'm changing my impression - I like them both equally, but for different reasons.

If people approach this Farrell version while clinging to the Arnie version, I think that's unfortunate; Arnie's got the campy 80s thing going in a funny, fun movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. Yet, I think this movie stands up quite well on its own - it's grittier, darker, more intense.

Get your ass to Mars

@movie_nazi said:

Colin Farrell is a fantastic actor but he has been in a lot of flops. He has been in some good ones too. I remember quite liking The Lobster .

Every actor has their fair share of flops. It takes putting in work to get the better scripts/co-stars/big budgets. I wouldn't hold that more against Colin Farrell than any other actor without combing through my numbers....(sounds like I should at least look at numbers... stay tuned...)

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@movie_nazi said:

Colin Farrell is a fantastic actor but he has been in a lot of flops. He has been in some good ones too. I remember quite liking The Lobster .

Every actor has their fair share of flops. It takes putting in work to get the better scripts/co-stars/big budgets. I wouldn't hold that more against Colin Farrell than any other actor without combing through my numbers....(sounds like I should at least look at numbers... stay tuned...)

Okay, so, in my movie ROI database with over 2600 titles from 1924 to 2022, these 2600+ movies paid an average of $3.67 of revenue for each budget dollar in an industry that typically needs $2 to break even.

I have eight movies with Colin Farrell in them, and they paid $2.56 - which is below the database-wide average, but not terrible. I filtered my actor lists for those paying between $2.50 and $2.60 and Farrell shares this pay rate with the likes of Barry Pepper, Bill Paxton, Danny DeVito, Jamie Fox, Kathy Bates, Nick Nolte, and Ray Liotta, among others.

In the tier below, paying $2.20 - $2.49 there are such heavyweights as Chazz Palminteri, Denzel Washington, John C. mcGinley, John Cusack, Marlon Brando, Sean Penn, Stanley Tucci, Tim Robbins and Will Ferrell, among others.

So, this is the nature of this movie industry beast - actors do not do "9-5" and are never sure when they're going to work again after wrapping up any project. They tend to want to stay busy, stay working, keep seeking collaborations and relationships looking for magic. That means, they strike out more than they hit home runs. And, just like baseball, it's okay, it's expected, it is what it is.