Sony delivered the first trailer for Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall today and it’s chock full of visual effects, action and a bad case of an identity crisis.
Based on the Philip K. Dick short story ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,’ Total Recall is the story of Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), a factory worker with a wife (Kate Beckinsale) longing for a little adventure in his otherwise mundane existence. When he checks into Rekall, a shady operation resembling an illegal massage parlor that implants “real” memories into the brain, Quaid becomes a hunted man and who is really is becomes his greatest mystery.
While no one outwardly asked for a Total Recall remake that I’m aware of, there’s a lot to like about this trailer. The urban environments and flying vehicles are reminiscent of Minority Report and The Fifth Element, while the robotic Federal Police officers look like they stepped out of a Mass Effect video game. The cool facial flicker, an updated version of the masks from the Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger 1990 version, is a nice touch and homage.
There’s a cool action sequence in the Total Recall trailer where Farrell and a rebel fighter who comes to his aid (Jessica Biel) try to escape the police in their flying car by performing a free fall. Just before slamming into a car parked on the ground below, Farrell hits the air brakes and the cars in the general vicinity go flying.
Unfortunately the trailer delivers some bad news for John Cho fans. His role as a Rekall operator looks as if it will only last a few moments at best given what happens after the memory implant procedure gets underway.
Total Recall starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy and John Cho drops into theaters on August 3. Ironically another remake no one asked for, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, became a surprise hit on this same opening weekend in 2011.
