Action

Adventure

Science Fiction

Total Recall

Carolco Pictures

Ronald Shusett/Gary Goldman Productions

United States of America

English

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Rachel Ticotin

Sharon Stone

Ronny Cox

Michael Ironside

Marshall Bell

Mel Johnson Jr.

Michael Champion

Roy Brocksmith

Ray Baker

Rosemary Dunsmore

David Knell

Alexia Robinson

Dean Norris

Mark Carlton

Debbie Lee Carrington

Lycia Naff

Robert Costanzo

Michael LaGuardia

Priscilla Allen

Ken Strausbaugh

Marc Alaimo

Michael Gregory

Ken Gildin

Mickey Jones

Ellen Gollas

Parker Whitman

Gloria Dorson

Erika Carlsson

Benny Corral

Bob Tzudiker

Erik Cord

Frank Kopyc

Chuck Sloan

Dave Nicolson

Paula McClure

Rebecca Ruth

Milt Tarver

Roger Cudney

Monica Steuer

Sasha Rionda

Linda Howell

Robert Picardo

Kamala Lopez

Morgan Lofting

Patti Attar

Bob Bergen

Joe Unger

Karlyn Michelson

Joel Kramer

Andy Armstrong

Graeme Crowther

Thomas Ebert

Frank Allen Forbes

Allan Graf

Peter Kent

Steven Lambert

Billy D. Lucas

Bennie Moore

Terry Richards

Erica Edell Phillips

Paul Verhoeven

Dan O'Bannon

Andrew G. Vajna

Ronald Shusett

José Rodríguez Granada

Jon Povill

Robert Gould

Jost Vacano

Mike Fenton

Judy Taylor

Mario Kassar

Frank J. Urioste

James E. Tocci

Jerry Goldsmith

William Sandell

Valorie Massalas

Buzz Feitshans

Thierry Coup

Rob Bottin

Joan Thomas

Jeff Dawn

Kenny Endoso

Chere Rae

Dick Ziker

Gary Goldman

Donna Evans

Jeannie Epper

Nick Dimitri

Gene LeBell

Dana Dru Evenson

Rosemary Campbell

Craig Berkeley

Robin Weiss

Peter Tothpal

Michael White

Tony Brubaker

Freddie Hice

Doug Coleman

Elliot Schick

David Rodgers

Robert Fentress

Judy Cammer

Steve Burg

Antonio Mata

Cal DiValerio

Thomas B. DiValerio

Larry Clark

W.C. 'Chunky' Huse

John Downey

Jorge Mancilla

Scott R. Fisher

Alan Collis

Steven Ladish

Vic Armstrong

Ignazio Maccarone

Juan Clemente Prosper

Dana Gustafson

Steve Slocomb

Xavier Grobet

Mazzareno Sgolacchia

Trudy Ramirez

John R. Elliott

Mayes C. Rubeo

Alan Howarth

Ron Lambert

Henry Alvarez

Taneia Lednicky

Bob Bremner

Lily Flaschner

Judith Goodman

Heriberto Cárdenas

Miguel Lima

J. Fernando Solorio

James W. Kristoff

Anuar Badin

Miguel Chang

Jim Davidson

Alan B. Samuels

David Appleby

Thomas L. Fisher

David McMillan

Tom Boyd

David Bartlett

Stephen Hunter Flick

Judee Flick

Kenneth Hall

George Merkert

Elissa Bello

Steve Love

Arthur Morton

Fred Runner

David A. Arnold

Eric Brevig

Gimly

Intrinsically Verhoeven, _Total Recall_ is a film from my youth that I probably shouldn't have been watching quite as early as I did, but that I still love to this day. All the practical effects, exquisite violence & nudity and provocative sci-fi themes you've come to expect from this sort of thing, but twists and turns that start just five minutes in and keep running all the way through to the end. _Total Recall_ is a must-see.

_Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite._

Verhoeven bonkers adaptation of a P. K. Dick story. 

Doug Quaid keeps getting recurring dreams about a visit to Mars. In spite of his friends warnings, he decides to have a memory implanted Mars holiday. But during the implantation he remembers being a secret agent who is fighting evil Mars boss Vilos Cohaagen. Things are about to go very intergalactic bonkers indeed.

Total Recall finds director Paul Verhoeven on particularly OTT form, with the often maligned director cranking up the action and violence to the max. So then, who better to play out the carnage than the big Austrian oak himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger? It was actually Schwarzenegger who brought Verhoeven into the picture. The idea for the film had been kicking around for years, a number of director's came and went, David Cronenberg famously worked on a screenplay for a year only to have it jettisoned for being too close to the P. K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". The makers wanted a high energy sci-fi blockbuster, a star vehicle for Schwarzenegger, and Verhoeven was only too happy to oblige. 

Total Recall is a fascinating concept as we find ourselves wondering what in fact is reality? Quaid himself is never quite sure as the film takes a delicious twist at the midpoint to further compound the confusion, but in true Verhoeven style, it all comes crashing together in a giant ball of bangs, crashes and explosions. It should be noted that the film is far removed from the cerebral essence of Dick's story, and really when one saw that Schwarzenegger was to star in a Verhoeven directed adaptation, one really should be prepared for the high octane brain dumb down that Total Recall is. Something which was beyond some highbrow critics who are still baffled by the gargantuan financial success of the film (it made over $260 million worldwide).

Fleshing out the cast are a stoic reliable bunch. Rachael Ticotin, Ronny Cox, Sharon Stone & Michael Ironside deliver the expected tongue in cheek professionalism. While the effects prove to be a mixture of the poor and the decent; tho it's nice to see the often lost art of model work being of a pretty high standard. All of which leaves me personally with a film that I find to be a hugely enjoyable piece of uber violent popcorn fodder. 8/10

CinemaSerf

Aside from maybe "Predator" (1987) this is probably my favourite outing from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He ("Quaid") goes off to have an harmless implant of memories from an holiday on Mars (that he hasn't had) only to find that his life starts to unwind very quickly afterwards. Even his girlfriend "Lori" (Sharon Stone) becomes a would-be assassin and he is soon under attack from just about every other quarter too. Why? Well, that's what we now explore as he decides that he - helped by a video iteration of himself - must travel back to the red planet and get to the bottom of things. My flaw - well Ronny Cox is just dreadful as "Cohaagen" which does prove important towards the end of the film, but for the main part it is an action packed and well directed vehicle for a very much on-form star. It's one of the first films I recall that started messing about with timelines. We are not quite sure what happened when or if, indeed, at all - and Paul Verhoeven keeps that tempo running well right from the start of the film. Arnie has a chance to deliver some quite fun one-liners and the visual effects enhance, sparingly, the production rather than impose themselves on it. It has dated a little, some of the sets do look a bit static, but thirty-odd years on, it's still standing up well and is well worth seeing.

Man, it's almost like Saw with it's torture-porn thing... only the over-the-top gore actually fits beautifully into the story in the most entertaining way possible, even when it is so 80s cheese that it's almost comical.

But the ultra-violence is part of the fun of these types of films. It's part of the reason why people love them... and it's over-the-top in a way that can't really be done today.

It's also pretty stylistic and fun and that brings you into the world that the story is trying to create, while at the same time it leaves the viewer thinking that they are watching one heck of a mystery. Like Blade Runner, if you wanted to, you could walk away thinking that it's all an illusion, that what you thought was real was fake... if you wanted to be that deep.

But let's face it, no one really bothers to debate that because what we are watching is an action sci-fi movie that is so well done, we don't want it to be as deep as it really is.

"Total Recall" is an extraordinarily violent and gory extravaganza, but even though it is quite needlessly graphic in some places - Quaid's, Melina's, and Cohaagan's suffocation after they are exposed to the poisonious Martian atmosphere; the deaths of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire during scenes of gunplay; the severing of limbs; the stabbings and impalings and so forth - the film is admittedly staged superbly and directed by Paul Verhoeven in an exciting way at all times and it is enjoyably well paced. The visual effects are also of a high standard - they feature some realistic shots of Mars - and the reactor sequences towards the end look terrific. This is a marvellous and incredibly entertaining popcorn movie overall which has been brilliantly made by experts in this highly competitive genre.

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Total Recall

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Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Rachel Ticotin

Sharon Stone

Ronny Cox

Michael Ironside

Marshall Bell

Mel Johnson Jr.

Michael Champion

Roy Brocksmith

Ray Baker

Box office

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