Yes they now regularly create mini-movie trailers for trailers, so the first look we get at this year’s remake of the science fiction classic Total Recall is a 30-second mini-trailer, which does however manage to provide evidence that Len Wiseman’s remake of the 1990 film, which is slated to debut on August 3rd, appears to be a well-made sci-fi action movie.
The full trailer, which is due out this Sunday, should provide a more conclusive case, but Wiseman’s film, which stars Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston already looks interesting. With Ridley Scott’s Prometheus stealing much of the science fiction thunder this summer, it’s important to remember that Total Recall boasts a solid science fiction pedigree. It is an adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s 1966 novelette, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, a work that encompasses the paranoid tensions, the consciousness and identity issues that are at the heart of so much of Dick’s best work. If, as advertised, Wiseman’s adaptation can include more of the political paranoia of Dick’s original story, while sharpening and toning down the mind-numbing random violence of Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 film, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, the remake could be one of this summer’s sleepers.
Dynamite Entertainment is publishing a Total Recall comic based on Dick’s novel (see “Dynamite’s 'Total Recall' Extends the Story).