Oct 051990
 
four reels

Bored Construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wants something more in life, but his wife (Sharon Stone) is happy as things are.  So he has the artificial memories company, ReKall, implant a virtual vacation to Mars, complete with the memory of him being a secret agent.  But things go wrong as it appears all of his memories may already be fake and he is hunted by the Martian governor, Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) and his lieutenant, Richter (Michael Ironside).

It’s hard to find a better Cyberpunk pedigree than this combination of writer Philip K. Dick (who inspired Blade Runner, Minority Report, Impostor) and Director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop).  Dick’s stories question the meaning of being human as well as our acceptance of reality.  Verhoeven’s films use satire and excess to expose the worst in human nature and society.  Together, they produced this smart, non-stop spectacle.

If you are looking for food for thought, it’s here.  Are we the sum of our memories?  Does it matter if the world is “real”?  Based on Dick’s short story, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” which had a quiet accountant getting false memories of a vacation, Verhoeven has kept the meaning, added jabs at society, and put it all in a wrapper of punches, bullets, and explosions.  So often, critics require their thoughtful pictures to be slow, direct, and commonplace, so it’s not surprising that many missed the blood drenched meaning here.  Silly critics.

While Total Recall is a violent movie (the MPAA gave it an X before cuts were made), it’s violent like a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  There’s no carnage that will stun you or make you wish you hadn’t eaten before viewing.  It is exciting, loud, and great looking.  The hails of bullets are all it good fun, as they should be, considering the story.

As for that story, we’re left with three ways to interpret what happened after Quaid goes to ReKall:

  • Everything is part of the ReKall false memory vacation, giving Quaid exactly what he asked for down to the sales pitch’s “blue skies.”
  • It’s all in Quaid’s head, but things have gone wrong, and instead of the implanted trip, he’s supplying his own paranoid delusions.  He will never wake up, and he’s lobotomized.
  • It’s all real.

But these are not all equally likely.  In fact, one is completely ruled out.  I’ve heard critics attacking Total Recall and it almost always comes down to them failing to understand what is actually happening onscreen.  Silly critics.

Paul Verhoeven also directed the brilliant and undervalued Flesh & Blood (1985), the sexual Noir, Basic Instinct (1992), the wry, anti-fascist Starship Troopers (1997), and the disappointing Hollow Man (2000).

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