Why the new Total Recall should be better than the old Total Recall

On Friday, Hollywood will release yet another remake of another movie that does not need to be remade, this time with Colin Farrell in "Total Recall".

The original, which is based on a Philip K. Dick novel, starred Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 1990. Even for the Bad Action movie genre, it wasn't very good. As far as Arnold movies go, give me Raw Deal, Red Heat, Predator or Commando over Total Recall.

Colin Farrell is not going to be an upgrade over Arnold. The movie, however, has a chance to be.

The two female leads are Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel. That alone makes it an Oscar contender. Can they act? No. Do we care? No. The original featured an in-her-prime Sharon Stone and the underrated Rachel Ticotin; Stone had a "wow" factor then.

The biggest problem with the '90 flick was how silly and cheesy the special effects looked. They were so bad it served as a distraction. Unlike other futuristic Philip K. Dick novels that have been turned into movies - Blade Runner, Minority Report - the visual effects in the '90 Total Recall looked Grade B-ish.

Visual effects have become so good now this Total Recall has a chance to be decent. Most Philip K. Dick novels are pretty compelling, and provided the visual effects don't serve as a distraction but rather an addition this Total Recall can be a solid action movie.