Total Recall

Cast, Etc.
Dir. Paul Verhoeven, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Sharon Stone, score by Jerry Goldsmith, rated R, 1990

Synopsis
A regular guy starts having memories of having been to Mars.

Review
Once again we see the disparity between movies that are based on short stories by Philip K. Dick. While Blade Runner was ghastly, Total Recall is full of action and still retains the sci-fi aspect of what it's saying about humanity. In the future, Doug Quaid (Schwarzenegger) wakes up from a nightmare in which he and a woman were hiking on Mars and he fell, cracked his spacesuit's faceplate, and asphyxiated. Strangely drawn to the idea of going to Mars, Doug visits Rekall, a company specializing in implanting memories of places you've never been to in order to have the experience but not the hassle. Doug orders a trip to Mars but starts manifesting the memories before they have a chance to implant them. This leads to him being chased by bad guys and Quaid making an actual trip to Mars to find out who he is, what the bad guys want, and just what the heck is going on. What follows is one of Arnold's classic and career-defining movies that offers plenty of action as well as thought-provoking issues. Arnold is very good as Quaid, a regular guy who finds he knows more than he thinks he does (a la Jason Bourne); this is not your usual Arnold (for the most part) as he's just a normal person trying to figure out what's going on. He is joined by Rachel Ticotin as Melina, the mystery woman of his dreams who turns out to be real(?). Ticotin does a fine job as an Arnold lady: strong and independent. Michael Ironside, a stalwart of late '80s-early '90s bad-guy and sci-fi roles, is again good as, Richter, the lackey sent after Quaid to make sure he doesn't leak what he knows. Ronny Cox makes another appearance in a Paul Verhoeven movie (RoboCop) and is again rather a good pompous bad guy in Vilos Cohaagen. A treat is Sharon Stone in an early role as Quaid's wife Lori, who gets to do some action of her own. One of the last movies to be made before digital compositing truly came into vogue, Recall is dazzling visually, especially when you consider it's all actual sets or miniatures, blended perfectly for a real sense of atmosphere, both on earth and Mars. The action is quick and full-bodied (they had to actually tone down the violence in the theatrical cut to avoid an "X" rating). The pace of the movie never lags, even when dealing with the philosophical aspects of the plot, showing you can make a good sci-fi movie that also entertains without being pedantic and boring.

Highlights
Arnold; Rekall; Johnny Cab; Lori; Mars; the mutants

Rating
I give this film a beer rating; it's action-packed, violent, and funny; it never takes itself too seriously and has some classic Arnold moments. As a sci-fi movie, it's a classic. The villain of Vilos Cohaagen is very good. The score by Goldsmith is one of his classics.