Total Recall: A Good Story Never Gets Old

Total Recall: A Good Story Never Gets Old

The 2012 version of Total Recall can, at best, be considered a fairly standard sci-fi/action movie. If not for the 1990 version starring Schwarzenegger (and Sharon Stone), this film probably would have made far less of an impression than it does now. When a true classic already exists, a remake can never really surpass it; as long as it does not damage the reputation of the original, it can be counted as a success. In that sense, this remake is passable.

For viewers who grew up with Total Recall—or The Space Warrior, as it was translated back then—the first reaction to a remake is often to nitpick. The male lead is not as powerfully built as Schwarzenegger (and on this planet it may be hard to find an actor—or governor—who is). The female lead is not as sexy as Sharon Stone, though to be fair she was also excellent in Underworld. But once the plot begins to move, those comparisons are gradually drowned out by nostalgia. From the hero’s wife, with whom he has only spent a few weeks but who feels like seven years of shared life, to the undercover co-worker, and even the casually encountered woman with three breasts—everything stirs up a strong sense of déjà vu. This time Quaid does not go to Mars; the story only travels between the two poles of Earth. Yet from the plot to the settings, everything carries that unmistakable feeling of familiarity. Perhaps Total Recall was not simply chosen at random from Schwarzenegger’s many classic films for a remake—there are too many classics to choose from—but rather because it was meant to awaken the full, vivid memories of an audience now gradually entering middle age.

In 1999—or maybe 2000—the essay topic for China’s college entrance exam was “If Memory Could Be Transplanted.” At the time, I thought that if I had been taking the exam that year, having seen Total Recall might have given me a natural advantage. But I quickly discovered that many classmates had seen it too, and that fanciful sense of superiority disappeared instantly. It turned into a kind of mixed discussion about Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Jackie Chan. Among those action superstars, Schwarzenegger stood out because his films occupied both the action and science fiction realms through their wild imagination, rather than dominating only the martial arts/action category as Stallone and Jackie Chan did in their own ways. At a time when information technology had not yet advanced by leaps and bounds, the rich sci-fi flavor and alien imagery in Schwarzenegger’s films left an incredibly deep impression on a whole generation. As for me, my earliest introduction to and imagination of science fiction began with Total Recall and the Terminator series.

It is hard to believe that more than twenty years have passed since the previous film—almost thirty by next year. That span is nearly as long as my whole life (though of course, by the time I saw the first film, it had already been out for several years). Many younger viewers and even a large portion of movie fans may never have really heard Schwarzenegger’s story. After all, he was not as successful as a governor as he was as a movie star, and after leaving office he has rarely had major new works. Stories that once belonged to an earlier generation may be entirely unknown to younger audiences. But a good story never gets old, and that is why The Terminator and Total Recall have been brought back to the big screen once again. Compared with that earlier era, today’s audiences are already accustomed to exotic alien worlds, and the visual landscapes of sci-fi works have become far more dazzling. With the alien setting removed, the remake of Total Recall is only barely adequate on the level of visual world-building; it never really delivers that sense of wonder. In terms of plot, it also significantly weakens the original’s storytelling while adding more action scenes. Yet those action scenes are not as exciting as the original’s either. (I am, inevitably, falling back into nostalgia for the good old days and using that to dismiss the new film.) In today’s context, no matter how one looks at it, the remake is only just passable; it can no longer approach the heights of the original.

But the story itself remains extraordinarily compelling. With a different cast and a different backdrop, it does gain a certain freshness. When reading, I often find myself thinking of the standard mentioned in Norwegian Wood for selecting books: only read works by authors who have been dead for more than thirty years, as a simple way to filter for classics that have stood the test of time. But in film, things cannot be judged so simply. Of course, works that truly endure the test of time remain equally classic and moving, whether they were made now or decades ago. Chaplin’s City Lights, though a product of the silent era, is every bit as brilliant and touching as any film today. But many more works inevitably grow dated as technology and narrative techniques evolve—even if their core stories remain excellent. From that perspective, some films really should be retold through remakes several decades later. After all, a good story is worth watching again and again.