I think one of the problems they run up against remaking this is how many people will be familiar with the first movie. When folks saw the first, many were not familiar with the source material, Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." So, the first movie had only a small percentage familiar with short story and didn't have to worry if the audience would know what twist was coming when and which reality was the realy reality, etc. Add to that the many changes to the short story that the first film makes and there's no telling where the first film was going. Twenty years later, we have a movie with producers, writers, and a director that all know the first movie was widely seen. They know also that a larger portion of their audience might be prone to reading the original story and, even if not, can jump online and find out most of what they might need to know to make some comparisons. I think they were sort of boxed in but managed to honor the original short story, give some nods to the first film, and, realizing they weren't really going to fool anyone with the dual/multiple realities angle, make a very good action movie with effects that don't overshadow the story they did decide to present (with some acknowledgement that it wasn't meant to be all that deep). Honestly, I'm surprised how deep their pockets were regarding the casting budget.
