A remake of an action classic that’s so bad genre icon Arnold Schwarzenegger himself slammed it as “stupid” is now all set to stream for free. For better or worse, remakes have now become part of the Hollywood fabric, and while some strive to bring something new to an age-old tale, others are so unremarkable that you’d be forgiven for forgetting they even happened.
Inspired by the 1966 short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick, 2012’s Total Recall is very much the latter, with the remake recasting the action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger with Oscar-nominee Colin Farrell in this tale of a man who is far more important than even he realizes. Underworld and Ballerina director Len Wiseman takes over from the renowned filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, who helmed the 1990 original. The differences between the two versions of Total Recall are stark, with Schwarzenegger’s effort holding a score of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the remake has been officially declared “rotten” at 30%.
Ditching a lot of what made the 90s effort so memorable, including getting our asses to Mars, the more recent Total Recall was, according to Arnie himself, a mistake. But if you want to see whether you agree with the Terminator star or not, you can do so for free when Total Recall hits Tubi on December 1. In the meantime, you can check out the official synopsis below…
“In need of a vacation from his ordinary life, factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) visits Rekall, a company that can turn dreams into real memories. Thinking that memories of life as a superspy are just the ticket, Quaid undergoes the procedure — but it goes horribly wrong. Suddenly, Quaid is a hunted man. He teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) on a search to find the head of the underground resistance and take down the leader (Bryan Cranston) of the free world.”
“That Is Stupid to Do!”
We have now reached a point in cinematic history when action movie classics led by Arnold Schwarzenegger are being remade. The most recent is director Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, and while attending a special screening of the dystopian action flick, which finds Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell taking on the Schwarzenegger role, the action legend took the time to heap praise on Wright’s reimaginig…while slamming the remake of Total Recall.
“In 1987, we made the movie The Running Man. This was the decade where most of the greatest action movies were made; the eighties and into the nineties. Why would you redo, you know, Total Recall? I was unhappy about it. I’d say, ‘OK, that’s—that is stupid to do.'”
Thankfully, Colin Farrell has gone on to much bigger and better things since 2012. The actor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Banshees of Inisherin back in 2023, and recently received Emmy nods for his lead performance in The Batman spin-off series, The Penguin. The actor is also set to return to the world of action movies as the lead in John Wick creator Derek Kolstad’s upcoming adaptation of the comic book Ordained.
- Release Date
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August 2, 2012
- Runtime
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118 Minutes