Total Recall Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Total Recall

Phillip K Dick (unfortunate name really) has been a favourite author for Hollywood adaptation since Blade Runner. This film, based on Dick's story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, presents us with Doug Quaid (Arnie). Quaid is a construction worker who goes to Rekall to purchase the memory of a trip to Mars but when the procedure of installing the memory goes wrong he recovers his real memories of Mars, where he was a double agent working for eiether the dictatorial ruler (Cox) or the resistance (personified by Ticotin).

At least I think that's the plot. It is somewhat ambiguous whether Quaid or his alter ego are in fact the real person and thats one of the most interesting things about Total Recall.

The film is directed by mad dutchman Paul Verhoven. It's less satirical than his previous film; Robocop but matches, if not betters, it for action set pieces. Verhoven shoots action and special effects well and though the limitations of 1990 effects are shown up by the progress made in 15 years the work here is hugely impressive for the time.

The look of the film is interesting, every frame is packed with detail, particularly when Quaid reaches Mars it's inhabitants are beautifully and interestingly designed (only in a Paul Verhoven film will you find a hooker with three breasts). There is, however, one odd design gaffe. Look closely at the guards who try and stop Quaid as he arrives on Mars, the communicators on their wrists, hillariously, are Casio calculators.

The script, while in concept quite intelligent and literate, is merely functional. Dialogue serves eiether to advance the plot or provide Arnie a quip ('Consider dat a divorce', after shooting his wife in the head, is a highlight) but in it Verhoven finds fun details of life in 2084 (the cab Arnie tells to 'just drive' but which won't go anywhere without a specific destination).

Arnie is better here than he'd been before and while he's acceptable in the role a more cerebral leading man (with an aptitude for action) might have made for a more interesting hero. His acting is, as ever, pretty one note but the script has clearly been tailored to its star and so it works.

Rachel Ticotin makes for a bland, dull heroine but her boring presence is made up for by a young Sharon Stone as Quaid's wife. Stone has enormous fun here being a horrendous bitch and gets a great catfight with Ticotin.

Michael Ironside and a scenercy chewing Cox make for hissable villains and Cox gets some wonderful lines to establish just how eeevil he is.

Total Recall isn't a great film but, as undemanding Friday night beer and pizza movies go you'd be hard pushed to find one that's as much cheesy fun as this.

Great escapism

Very enjoyable film, intellectually stimulating it is not but its Arnie at his best. Recommended

Just who AM l?!

Another story taken from Philip K Dick's canon. This is a typical Dick story in a way for a central part of the film is a commentary on the nature of reality and memory - all very Dickian. Arnie's character, Quaid, appears to be just a simple construction worker but he's dissatisfied with life and he decides to visit Recall who could implant memories of trips anywhere in the Solar System. After chosing Mars as his destination, Quaid suffered a fit and Recall blanked his memory of the visit for such work could only be the work of a government agency. On returning home, he begins to realise that his life, and his wife, as he knew them were lies after an attempt to kill him was made right on his doorstep. Even if he no longer knew who he was his body had some unusual skills it hadn't forgotten. On receiving a message from his prewiped self Quaid thinks he's got a better idea of what was going on but it means a trip to Mars.

The ability to tell what is real and what is artificial is put to the test when confronted by his wife and a supposed psychiatrist to get him out of a supposed psychotic incident.

This film certainly lives up to the 18 rating in terms of violence and the make up for the mutants is unpleasantly realistic as were the effects of decompression out on Mars's surface.

Quaid has to decide who he is: the basically decent guy he was made into or Mars's dictator's best friend.

Unfortunately the final effect of Mars getting an atmosphere was totally unrealistic - Mars is far too small to retain a decent atmosphere for very long nor could it have been achieved so fast.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Excellent entertainment

This is the movie that changed my veiws on sci-fi films.Exciting kick ass action the whole way through.Arnold Schwarzenegger is so perfect in his normal action hero role that you can forgive his wooden acting.Imaginative and unique,many will try to immitate it but few will succeed.

Interesting ideas, adequate execution

This science fiction-cum-shoot-'em-up contains some interesting ideas. How far might it be possible to re-program someone's memory so they cannot remember who they really are? The twists on this theme are the best thing in the film. Apart from that, it's more or less a typical Arnie shoot-'em-up typical of his 1980s films, except that ot set in the future, both on earth and Mars. Paul Verhoeven is a rather simplistic and crass director, and does not really bring out the full potential of the concept. But it's diverting enough as post-pub entertainment.

Classic Recall

one my favourites in the past, going back to this was pure arnie nostalgia. everything from the awesome expanding face moulds to the 'mind job' played on poor arnie.

The plot thicken at every step, but the pace is fairly heavy, some funny 'predictions' of what life will be like in the future too.

its one of the best arnie films of all time and a must see his fans.

[Highly rated reviewer]

An enjoyable couple of hours.

Sci-fi actioner set in the year 2084 in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a construction worker who discovers that his memory has been erased and that he had a secret life on Mars that he cannot remember and which follows Schwarzenegger’s quest as he travels to Mars to find out what he has forgotten, all the while trying to avoid people who are trying to kill him because of what he now knows. A good sci-fi B-movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring the ever irrepressible Schwarzenegger in the kind of sci-fi action role that he does so well. The memory erasure plot is intriguing and throughout the film there is never an uneventful moment. The special effects aren’t half bad either and the make-up department did a really great job for some of the supporting characters playing deformed mutants. But be warned: the film is very violent (as per usual for Paul Verhoeven!). An enjoyable couple of hours.

get your ass to mars

in the grand scale of things we all would love to have one killer party trick, one that would leave the ladies gasping and the men buying you another drink. Well the leader of the 'resistance' in this movie has the best of all, he has a small man attached to his belly under his woollen shirt. If you don't pull on a night out just unleash the mall-formed little man.

This film is a mixed bag, arnie fans will love it, as will woollen shirt wearers and with arnie in drag and an 'eye-popping' low oxygen scene that?s reminisant of the old y-fronts visiting a region where no man should dare. this is a classic slice of arnie

Better than expected

Not a Schwarzeneggar fan, but I actually enjoyed this entertaining nonsense. Looks a bit dated by now, but still good fun to watch

Typical Arnie!

You'd think the role of Danko was written especially for Arnie's wooden style of acting - he fits the bill perfectly. If you're into Arnie you'll like this, if you're not it's easy enough to watch anyway.