‘Total Recall’ Is Almost Upon Us! Recalling 5 Even Better Remakes

Len Wiseman's remake of Paul Verhoven's classic sci-fi action extraordinaire is set to divide critics.

That's quite an assumption to make I know, but you see I, alongside million of others John McClane fans have been burned by Wiseman before, *Cough* Die Hard 4.

But let's not decide Total Recall is woefully inept before we see it.

Maybe, old Lenny can pull something out of the bag! To be fair to him trailers and clips of the movie havn't looked all that bad and the cast is pretty stellar too. Perhaps Wiseman is going to prove us all wrong after all!

If so he'll be joining an elite line-up of filmmakers whose newer renditions of a movie have been better than the original, but I'm not holding my breath though. Here's a definitive look at the greatest movie remakes to ever hit the big screen.

The Departed - Martin Scorsese's one and only Oscar win is definitely not his best film but remains a quick and taut thriller that betters it's Hong Kong original, Internal Affairs, mainly because of it's outstanding cast. DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Baldwin and Wahlberg excel as the great one glides us through the murky underworld of Boston's cops and criminals.

Dawn of the Dead - George Romero's 1978 cult classic zombie movie influenced a generation of filmmakers and launched a brand new genre. So anyone looking to remake the great mans work needed to be full of confidence, probably not a first-time unknown like Zack Snyder. Yet he managed to defy the critics by modernising DOTD and bringing a fresh, fast-paced energy to the narrative.

Ocean's 11 - It's probably stretching it to say that both Brad Pitt and George Clooney are cooler than The Rat Pack, but Steven Soderbergh was able to convince us that they were for two hours in 2001. The large ensemble bounce off each other delightfully and even dodgy accents and humongous plot holes can't detract from the enjoyment. The ensuing sequels can though.

Casino Royale - It's easy to forget how unpopular Bond was back in 2006. Die Another Day was dire and Bourne had reinvented the spy genre, so the Broccoli's decided that they needed to act and reinvented 007 with a tenacity and grit not seen before in the series. The producers used Ian Fleming's first ever book to do so and easily trumped the comedic 1967 version in the process with Daniel Craig instantly becoming one of the most popular Bond's ever.

Scarface - Brian De Palma's 1983 gorefest is synonymous with all things 80s and was able to trounce Howard Hawks 1932 version merely because of the leniency of the decade he produced his in compared to the original. Cocaine, guns, bad music, appalling clothes and even worse hair are located throughout his gangster epic but Al Pacino provides an acting tour de force which it is impossible to take your eyes from, to make Scarface simply sensational. It also remains the home to dozens of quotable lines that have become cinematic landmarks.