Review of Total Recall (1990) by Adam F — 26 Jun 2013

The 90's total recall is part ultra-violent Schwarzenegger action flick, part mind bending sci-fi and consistently entertaining. The premise is deceptively complex and it's the kind of movie you think is just a straight up action flick until a crucial moment about midway that will blow your mind. The story is set in an undetermined future where Mars has been colonized but is under significant strain. Extensive mining operations are going on but the civilian population and a group of rebels are fighting back against the mining corporation who is also responsible for the air supply and housing of the inhabitants. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays "Douglas Quaid" a happily married construction worker who dreams of going to Mars. With the state of things there, he ops instead for a new futuristic type of vacation in the form of "Rekal", a service that implants memories for a fee, simulating vacations or even fantasies into the client's mind. Once "Quaid" visits Rekall, things go awry and our hero's entire world takes a different turn.

Everything you want in an 80's action movie is here (which is odd considering the film was released in the 90's but that's ok). You get excellent one-liners, the best of which is between "Quaid" and a mutant (words can't describe the situation exactly, but it begins with the line "You've got some nerve showing your face around here, Hauser!"). There isn't just one or two memorable quotes from this movie though, nearly every major scene has a memorable line in it. This movie is a blast to watch with your friends and quote afterwards. The plot is smart and you can watch the movie multiple times, catching something new with every viewing to see what some of the clues at "Rekall" mean and what to make of the ending (Which can be interpreted in two ways). It's nearly two hours but never feels slow, thanks to the many action sequences and the excellent special effects. While there are a couple of blue-screen effects that aren't seamless (and if you're watching the movie on Blu-ray you'll cringe a little) but everything else works convincingly, largely due to the practical effects. There's one brief sequence that uses computer generated imagery but in every other scene you have elaborate makeup, excellent miniatures, convincing matte paintings, elaborate sets, a slew of squibs as people get blown away left and right and some very impressive animatronics who lip synch very well to the dialogue they're given. There are some memorable vehicles in the film and more than one sequence that will have you wondering how they pulled it all off.

Paul Verhoven consistently delivers when it comes to sci-fi action flicks (see "Robocop" and "Starship Troopers") and he manages to squeeze in some good moments of dark humor and satire in the film, which helps deal with some of the over-the-top savage gun fights. He also manages to get some pretty decent performances from his actors (even Arnold, though he's a little wooden at the beginning manages to do a pretty convincing job). The characters are intelligent, well defined and very memorable. It helps that every major player is given at least one memorable scene and iconic line but you actually genuinely get a feel for who these characters are and they're more than just setpieces being moved around from confrontation to confrontation. The story borrows so loosely from the original material it's pretty much it's own thing but there's so much twisting and turning and the quick pace means you won't care at all.

Yes, for some people it's going to be too violent and if you don't see some of the psychological subtext in the film, it will just be an over-the-top action movie but even purely on that level it works. Some bits haven't aged well and some of the acting is a bit silly but it's one of the better Schwarzenegger movies and purely on a technical level it's a masterpiece. If you haven't seen this yet, watch it with a friend of yours that already has and discuss the movie afterwards, you'll get a lot more than you bargained for. (Blu-ray, June 14, 2013).