Total Recall (1990) TriStar/Sci-Fi-Action RT: 113 minutes Rated R (language, strong graphic violence, nudity, sexual content, disturbing images) Director: Paul Verhoeven Screenplay: Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon and Gary Goldman Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Jost Vacano Release date: June 1, 1990 (US) Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox, Marshall Bell, Mel Johnson Jr., Michael Champion, Roy Brocksmith, Ray Baker, Rosemary Dunsmore, David Knell, Alexia Robinson, Dean Norris, Mark Carlton, Robert Costanzo, Debbie Lee Carrington. Box Office: $119.4M (US)/$261.4M (World)
Rating: ****
My favorite sci-fi movie of all time is Blade Runner which is based on the Phillip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Total Recall, an adaptation of his short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, is in my top five. The author had some brilliant ideas about the future although I’m sure none of them involved Arnold Schwarzenegger saving an entire planet. That’s pure Hollywood. For once, they got it right.
Total Recall isn’t your usual Schwarzenegger movie. It has an intelligent plot that requires the viewer’s full, undivided attention. It’s a real mindbender with its tale of an ordinary man who finds out he might not be so ordinary after all. The former Governator plays Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who lives on Earth circa 2084 with his wife Lori (Stone, Basic Instinct). He frequently dreams of Mars which has become a popular tourist destination now that it’s colonized. He also dreams of a mysterious brunette woman. He doesn’t know what any of it means, but it’s enough to get him interested in taking a trip to the red planet.
In lieu of physically going to Mars, Quaid decides to go there virtually via Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting false memories that feel real. The sales rep talks him into a program that allows him to go to Mars as a secret agent. Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, something goes wrong during implant and Quaid loses it. He starts carrying on about his cover being blown. Realizing a sinister outfit called “The Agency” is involved, Rekall dumps Quaid in a cab and destroys all evidence of him being there. That’s when Total Recall kicks into high gear.
Suddenly, it seems that everybody wants to kill Quaid including his wife. It turns out he really is a secret agent whose memory has been erased. He has something in his head that evil Agency head Cohaagen (Cox, RoboCop) doesn’t want getting out. His main henchman Richter (Ironside, Extreme Prejudice) is tasked with capturing and killing Quaid before he can get his memory restored.
Quaid goes to Mars where he’s supposed to find rebel leader Kuato, an alien mutant with psychic powers. That’s where he finds the girl of his dreams Melina (Ticotin, Falling Down) who knows him even though he has no memory of her. There’s a revolution against the tyrannical Cohaagen going on. He controls the air flow on Mars among other things. What Quaid has in his head could bring him down. He can’t allow that to happen.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop), Total Recall is a great movie. Even though it’s been around for more than 30 years, I would dream of spoiling any of the awesome surprises that await the first-time viewer. Who would have thought Ah-nuld had it in him to star in a movie with more brains than brawn although the latter is still not in short supply. There is no shortage of violent action as Schwarzenegger beats, shoots and drills his way to the truth of his existence. He also gets off a few of his trademark classic lines like when he follows up killing his fake wife with this witticism: “Consider that a divorce!” From anyone else, it would sound cold. From Arnie, it’s a riot. In another scene, he poses the existential question “If I am not me, then who the hell am I?” Okay, just one more. When he dispatches a baddie with a large drill, he leaves him with these parting words: “SCREW YOU!” Now that’s the Arnold we all know and love!
The special effects team (Rob Bottin, Eric Brevig, Tim McGovern and Alex Funke) won a well-deserved Special Achievement Oscar for their work on Total Recall. It was also nominated for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. The movie succeeds to an infinite degree in the FX department. They are top-notch, first-rate stuff. The whole look of the film is something moviegoers haven’t seen before, plus it has special little touches (e.g. a newspaper machine for Mars Today, obviously modeled after USA Today) that make the world of Mars, specifically the red-light district of Venusville, seem so real and authentic. What’s even more amazing is that they still look great all these years later.
The performances in Total Recall are all great. Schwarzenegger is always fun. Ticotin is a perfect match. She’s no damsel in distress, this lady. She easily keeps up with her co-star. Stone, who isn’t the finest actress to grace the silver screen, does okay as the fake wife, sexy and deceptive in equal measures. Ironside, one of my favorite character actors, always makes a cool villain. He’s so evil looking. Cox’s character here is as hateful as his company creep in RoboCop.
I just rewatched Total Recall over the weekend and loved it. It holds up quite well. It’s just as awesome as when I saw a midnight preview of it back in ’90. Not only is it a cool and intelligent kick-ass sci-fi actioner, it proves Hollywood is occasionally capable of making a good adaptation of the written word. They absolutely nailed it with this version of Total Recall. Forget about the 2012 remake with Colin Farrell. This is the one to watch or rewatch.
