Totall Recall // DVD Review
Obviously, my drawers are bulging with Dick, so do I really need to make space in my DVD cabinet for yet another take on his canon?
Philip K. Dick was, for me, the foremost Sci-Fi writer of his generation. His psychedelic vision and deftly disguised social commentary were decades ahead of his peers, and, although Clarke, Vonnegut and Asimov are the go-to guys of Sci-Fi’s “golden age”, I’m not ashamed to say it: I love Dick.
I’ve been a huge fan of Dick since I was a teenager. I devoured his short stories, lapped up his novels and relished films featuring Dick’s outpouring. I was blown away by Bladerunner and I marvelled at the twisting wit of Verhoeven’s 1992 original Total Recall. In 2002 Tom Cruise – himself a devotee of science-fiction and huge fan of Dick – re-invigorated a limping career with Minority Report, and, although not by Dick, Christopher Nolan’s Inception absolutely reeks of Dick. I could go on about A Scanner Darkly, Paycheck and The Adjustment Bureau but I’m sure you’ve taken the point: I know a thing or two about watching Dick’s work on film.
Obviously, my drawers are bulging with Dick, so do I really need to make space in my DVD cabinet for yet another take on his canon? Isn’t this rich vein exhausted? Well, actually, no. You see, re-making Sci-Fi, more so than any other genre, makes good sense. Improved technology can render the vivid visions of Dick in much more detail and, provided the central thrust of Dick’s philosophy and his unsurpassed storytelling remain intact, as they do in this thoroughly enjoyable and faithful reimagining , I’ll take all the Dick I can get.
Jay Freeman
