Total Recall

[KLAXXON]

Set in the year 2084, TOTAL RECALL tells the tale of a construction worker on Earth who is haunted by his dreams of another life on Mars. Obsessed with the red planet he asks Rekell Inc. to put artificial memories of Mars into his brain, but during the process, his real memories and another personality come to the surface. Who is he…? What happened on Mars…? Why is everyone trying to kill him…?




In the year 2084, a construction worker investigates his strange recurring dream only to uncover a new life, a different personality and foul play aplenty. Sci-fi thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, directed by Paul Verhoeven
Total Recall is fine entertainment, complete with breathtaking action sequences and special effects that impress even in these computer-generated times. If only the script hadn't been dumbed down to accommodate Arnold Schwarzenegger's audience, Verhoeven's film could have seriously rivalled Ridley Scott's Blade Runner as the finest Philip K Dick adaptation to date.

Loosely based on Dick's short story 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale', Total Recall centres on Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger), a late 21st century construction worker who is troubled by a recurring dream about travelling to Mars. Determined to get to the bottom of the matter, Quaid purchases a virtual holiday from the good people at Rekall Inc. However, the procedure at the false memory transfer service goes terribly wrong, with Quaid experiencing a dramatic personality change. Worse still, when things return to normal, Quaid learns that his friends and family are out to kill him. Finding notes left to him by his other self, our hero has no option but to travel to Mars and get to the bottom of the mystery. Before it is anything else, Total Recall is an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The Austrian Oak's presence and creative power (he insisted the character's name be changed from Quayle to Quaid to make the hero sound more manly) certainly has great bearing upon the picture. However, far from hurting the fim, his limited range - confusion, anger, yep, that's about it - means Quaid comes on as a sympathetic if slightly dopey everyman figure. That Ahnoldt doesn't ruin Total Recall also has a lot to do with the actors cast around him. Having apparently learnt from James Cameron's experiences on The Terminator, Verhoeven surrounds his lead with top character actors such as Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox. And well aware of what a good-looking woman can do for a picture, the Dutchman has his star share the screen with Sharon Stone (as Quaid's double-dealing wife) and Rachel Ticotin (as the other woman in his life).

The picture doubles as a playground for the Verhoeven's favourite preoccupations, namely sex, violence, fascism and the media. Verhoeven being Verhoeven, there's nothing subtle about his approach to these topics, but his no-holds-barred take means that Total Recall is exciting even when the director is at his most didactic. And while his collaboration with the effects department results in a future that's as convincing as it is frightening, Verhoeven's warped but wonderful sense of humour enables him to have some fun - the chatty Johnnycab for example. Since there are so many good things about Total Recall, it's a shame the film falls short of excellence. The major problem is the screenplay, which almost completely ignores the essence of Dick's work - which was always as concerned with mankind's present predicaments as with the shape of things to come. The flaws in the script seem all the more disappointing when you realise that Total Recall was co-written by Alien scribes Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. However, since Navy SEALS author Gary Goldman also receives a writing credit, perhaps he should shoulder the blame for the film's occasional obviousness.



Total Recall's very entertaining and technically dazzling, but the absence of Dick - a rare thing in a Paul Verhoeven movie - robs it of resonance.



Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid, a humble construction worker in the 21st Century who has bad dreams about Mars, where he's never been, and a beautiful woman he's never met. Dropping by a futuristic holiday firm where you can be injected with the memories of a wonderful two-week vacation someone else took for you, Quaid freaks out before he can be given a fantasy-filled trip to Mars in the guise of a secret agent on a vital mission, and then discovers that everyone, including his lovin



Total Recall - an explosion of machine-gunning, gut-punching, throat-ripping, eyeball-exploding, bone-breaking gratuitous violence - is a film not for the faint of heart, though some of the rubberized effects have lost their impact with age.

Adapted from the short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by science fiction guru Philip K. Dick, it is also, however, a nonstop roller-coaster ride of top-flight action entertainment that isn't afraid to have a brain or two in its head. Featuring vast sets, magnificent explosions, plentiful plot twists and the aforementioned ultra-violence, the film keeps pulling the narrative rug out from under you in thoroughly unexpected ways that exploit the paranoid nervousness that makes Dick - author also of the source novel for Blade Runner - such an insightful and important writer.

One moment in particular, which explains why Cox hasn't had the traitor killed outright and has instead dreamed up this whole Quaid deal, is among the cleverest revelations in the cinema which at the time, stretched Schwarzenegger's action man persona into wholly new areas (though the later stretch to comedy and politics we could perhaps have done without).



A bloody roller coaster narrative from the creators of 'Alien' and plenty of tough-guy action speak makes this a still thoroughly enjoyable set-piece, though the effects have lost their shock value since the heavy use of CGI took over some years after the release. But worryingly satisfying in a purely gruesome, beat-em-up kinda way.








Arnold Schwarzenegger ...  Douglas Quaid / Hauser
Sharon Stone ...  Lori
Rachel Ticotin ...  Melina
Ronny Cox ...  Vilos Cohaagen
Michael Ironside ...  Richter
Marshall Bell ...  George / Kuato
Mel Johnson Jr. ...  Benny
Michael Champion ...  Helm
Roy Brocksmith ...  Dr. Edgemar
Ray Baker ...  Bob McClane
Rosemary Dunsmore ...  Dr. Lull
David Knell ...  Ernie
Alexia Robinson ...  Tiffany
Dean Norris ...  Tony
Mark Carlton ...  Bartender



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Does it maybe have director's commentary?