Total Recall
by Paul Verhoeven
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DVD details
Actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Ironside, Sharon StoneDirector: Paul Verhoeven
Brand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 113 minutes
Published: 1990
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-31
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Total Recall
DVD Review: If I'm not me, den who dah hell em I?
Summary: 4 Stars
Though I've read a fair bit of Philip K. Dick, whose short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" was adapted by a whole mess of people for this 1990 Paul Verhoeven film, I've neither read this piece nor any others that have been adapted into film. Strange, eh? So I come at this, as I did on first seeing it new 20 years ago, knowing a bit about the basic ideas behind it and most of Dick's fiction, but without being able to comment too much on the work as an adaptation. Perhaps that's for the best; I doubt Dick would have approved of any of his work being turned into an Arnie slugfest; then again, on a second viewing and watched carefully, there's definitely more than meets the eye.
First off, not surprisingly if you're familiar with the author at all, this is a story about identity and the nature of reality. Douglas Quaid (Arnie) is a construction worker on Earth in 2048 who keeps having nightmares about Mars. His wife Lori (Sharon Stone) worries about him and tries to keep his mind off these regular dreams, but to no avail. Quaid decides to visit "Rekall", a company that provides dream vacations that can be implanted into your memories directly, giving a sensation every bit as real as if you'd actually taken the physical trip. Or so they claim. But something goes wrong as Quaid is strapped into the chair, waiting for his dream of being a secret agent on Mars to begin. He starts convulsing and going nuts, and soon he is sedated and dropped in a cab to be sent home. Now his real nightmare begins, as first his best friend from work (Robert Costanzo) tries to kill him, followed by his wife - who claims she's an agent sent to monitor him. Turns out that Mr. Quaid really was an agent on Mars, and he's had his memory wiped and a new persona created by Cohagen, the director of the Mars colony, a ruthless dictator type played by (who else) Ronny Cox. Soon Cohagen's chief henchman Richter (Michael Ironside) and a crew are out to bring Quaid in, and Quaid is on the run through the antiseptic city, and then on to the domes of Mars where he works to find out the secrets that Cohagen is trying to surpress.
Though the "is this real or is it a dream" theme does recur at various times in the film and is always an uneasy current running through most of the narrative, at heart Total Recall is a non-stop action/thriller, and a pretty solid one overall. The ace supporting cast, which also includes Rachel Ticotin as an apparent former lover of the amnesiac Quaid on Mars and Mel Johnson Jr as a wisecracking cab driver, manages to outshine our hero on many occasions, which is fine as Arnold's physical presence isn't really as important here as it usually is. This is clearly a role that could have been readily adapted for any number of actors (Patrick Swayze was one of those considered for it at one time), but Arnold's stardom helped get it made, and helped raise a budget that allowed for some fairly impressive sets and effects. The look of the film is industrial and at times antiseptic, and in fact it may look pretty cheap if you're used to the high-gloss sheen of most new big-budget action films, but it serves Verhoeven's purpose of showing a future-world in which the have-nots still seemingly far outnumber the haves, and the lives of the lower classes aren't worth a hill of beans to the few ruthless men in charge. There's less room for the director's typically satirical and jaundiced vision here, but it's certainly not missing.
Ultimately the big climactic last few sequences ring just a little hollow to me and the last scene in particular is just silly as hell. But Arnold's last line and a few other touches here and there do help to remind us that we may be in a dream the whole time, and who would want to dream of saving the world in a prosaic, ordinary, believable way?
Another spectacularly good and original score by Jerry Goldsmith here; the man could practically do no wrong as far as I've been able to tell. The "making of/behind the scenes" feature here is one of the better examples I've seen; this comes very, very close to being deserving of a "5" from me, but sometimes the flaws need as much recognition as the merits. In any case, among Arnold's 5 or so best films I think, and I'm sure I'll return to it again in less than 20 years this time.
Description of Total Recall
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 10/09/2008This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon
This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon
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