Why the fight choreography of Arnie's TOTAL RECALL is so good (and so brutal).

In the original post-download fight scene he's fighting more human opponents. They're sweaty, overweight, covered in wounds. They scream and grimace as they are hit. They and Quaid's blows are clumsy and desperate. These are all things that make the fighting more relatable to ordinary human experience, and thus more realistic and gritty. Whereas in the remake it's a larger group of clean, masked and identical assailants. Everything about them says 'we are not characters'. And if they are not characters, the audience has less reason to worry the hero is in any danger.

The Trilogy is: RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers. You'll never get another Paul Verhoeven.

The fight scene in the remake looks like a video game cut scene. The original scene looks like a real, terrifying situation. You can buy that Arnie could kill 4 guys in that situation, by taking the initiative but in the remake, you can tell that a bunch of stuntment are taking turns getting punched.That remake sucks ass. A fucking elevator through the Earth. My fucking God.

My friend Steve Lambert, who was a Gung Fu master and member of The Five Dragons (Al Leong, James Lee, Douglas Wong and Eric Lee) was in Total Recall. He was the guy on the escalator who gets sprayed and thrown. Sadly, Steve passed away a couple years ago, but he was absolutely brilliant and his work in Martial Arts and Film live on.

This is really the problem with the PG-13-ification of violence. By removing the sound fx and squibs that make violence feel more real, it creates this bizarre distance and I think it takes the viewer out of the movie. If you don't want to show graphic violence in your movie, fine, then choreograph a fight that doesn't involve those kinds of hits/kills. But I think it's oddly jarring to see what should be horrific violence done in such a sanitized way. If people criticize violent movies by saying they desensitize viewers to the violent acts, id argue that pg13 action movies are actually worse. They remove the weight and danger that violence actually poses to people. Either represent violence and bloodshed in a way that respects life and its fragility, or dont.

The difference, IMO, is that fight scenes used to look better because they were a lot more raw and looked less choreographed back then. Action movie fights used to look like it could be regular guys having a punch up with some gritty sound effects and squibs thrown in to make it more dramatic, then the Matrix came along and every fight choreographer had to have 27 black belts and fights started looking obviously choreographed, which has the effect of breaking the audiences suspension of disbelief.

Problem with the remake imo, is that the action scene doesn’t have a ‘punch’ to it. The original does, the sound effect, emphasis on certain actions and the blood.

"Total Recall: 1990" is the real deal, the classic, which I have watched multiple times. I've seen the 2012 remake only once. That's it.

The irony is that Richter never did go to the party. Jokes aside, Total Recall is my favourite Arnie film. It's possibly my actual favourite film. Though Starship Troopers Ive seen more.

7k subscribers on this just shows that YT doesn't promote quality at all . . . This video was pure greatness!

I don't care if you're the toughest badass that ever lived. There's no "air" time in real life. No one in the real world can fist fight his way out of a ten-man squad with submachine guns.

I personally don't like the overly choreographed fight scenes in movies these days. They look too obviously scripted, which kills my suspension of disbelief.

The thing about Arnold is that he always had amazing charisma. Even if he isn't the best actor, you want to watch him.

my personal disliking with over the top action scenes like in the remake is that it doesnt seem possible. the first one feels legit, its one gunman who didnt shoot because he didnt react quick enough to being kicked in the chest, far from realostic but it feels plausable. the police in the back rows wouldnt have waited when the main character starts grappling with the close officers

Total recall reboot was forgettable, nothing against the actors/director. You just can't beat OG Paul Verhoeven films.

Tbh Arnie could of probably killed most people with one hit back then, guy was built like a fucking nuclear reactor

"See you at the pauty Richtaa!"

The fight between the 2 women is also one of my favourites ever, filmed really well.

Excellent video. Verhoeven is an apt economist with his action shots.

The violence in Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall is so much more visceral, especially when Douglas Quaid has to defend himself from Harry and his men. This is a fight where, even though the hero is portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, there is no promise Quaid will survive. This is a ferocious street fight with a sense of jeopardy and true risk In only moments of brutality, with straightforward, easy to follow camera work, it creates an emotional investment in "Arnold" Quaid. Like him, the audience is confused as to how he "switched on" into a trained killer and is in for the ride all the way to Mars By comparison, in Total Recall 2.0, the inciting violent encounter between "Colin" Quaid and the Next Gen Stormtroopers, it looks more like a "non-skippable cut scene" from a pretentious hideo kojima video game The cinematography is TOO sophisticated and self-congratulatory, the violence is TOO smooth with obsequiously compliant assailants, so much it instantly removes the audience from the moment and attention lapses because they think there is no danger Violence is ugly and not a bloodless dance routine, which is why Total Recall 1990 is the superior film