Total Recall

A perfect science fiction film, with as much depth and thought-provoking intellectual intrigue as carnal brutality and primal sex appeal. The special effects and shots are so well-done; they really make everything in the film look and feel like a lived-in, real place.As far as science fiction plotlines go, this one has them all. From terraforming and human colonization of alien worlds to mutant psychics and ancient alien reactors to political struggles and rebellions against totalitarian regimes to a future where implanted memories of false vacations are as commonplace as rhinoplasty and air itself is sold by monopolists. There are so many science fiction concepts to explore and appreciate here, and the convincing prosthetics, intricate models, and cutting edge (for 1990) special effects all work to brilliantly communicate them on screen. All of the characters are multi-faceted, multi-dimensional individuals with differing perspectives and desires, and all the actors play their parts brilliantly. The action and gore is immensely satisfying, with some of the scenes featuring Mortal Kombat Fatality-levels of violence. There are some very memorable one-liners here too. Between Sharron Stone and The Last Resort, the movie has sufficient sex appeal to complement the action and science fiction.But the greatest strength of the film comes from the lingering doubt held by both the protagonist and the viewer as to whether what appears on screen is in fact real. The movie is perfectly paced so that just as Schwarzenaggar's character is about to confront this possibility, the question has already been slowly rising in the back of the viewer's mind. Too much evidence lines up for the false explanation of events to be purely coincidental...but does that make it true? Who is the real Hauser: the sinister, conniving corporate agent; the humble construction worker on Earth who dreams of a life greater than his own; or the defected agent-turned-rebel hero, destined to liberate Mars? Which persona was invented, and which reality was the dream?

Mars is the site of strategic mining for Earth. There is a revolt going on there however which threatens the enterprise. Thrown into the middle of things is Doug (Arnold Schwarzenegger) a working class construction worker. Doug has constant dreams about going to Mars so he tries a new system called Total Recall that implants thoughts into people’s minds including a trip to the red planet. He chooses a package that would make him a secret agent. The problems start when he claims he’s a secret agent even before the process begins. He finds out his whole life was a lie.Total Recall was a blast when it came out and is still great fun today. It had some of the best special effects before CGI took over. There’s a great scene where Doug is using a mechanical woman’s body and it comes apart in segments. The story was just as good. Even after the first reveal that Doug’s life wasn’t what he thought it was their continued to be twists and turns. By this time writers also realized that Schwarzenegger was great with one liners so there are a bunch of those throughout the film. It even plays upon a common theme of the rich and powerful exploiting the people for their own gain. Overall this still stands as a great piece of sci-fi.C

Each time I see this movie I like it better. Today, I interpret the movie very different from when I was younger. This movie puts arguments for and against in manner you might easily dismiss when you really should be taking a closer look at them.During the movie, we are presented with a number of scenes that are to prove that he is or is not in a dream. Few of them are convincing as to him being in the dream. But, in order to accept that you have to explain away a couple of things. You have to explain away the beginning, the girl being in recalls character archive, and the ending. The ending is a storybook ending look at a sunset or sunrise.Most every other part of the movie that tells you whether it is an implanted memory or not is subtle except for when they go to his room to argue for him to come back. Each of these can be manipulated by Recall for or against it being real.If you give each piece the weight it is due, the one that screams the loudest is when her image is presented as his contact on Mars. You can explain it away as just a movie, an introduction to that actress, OR it is a big clue about whether it is a dream or not.

There's like a dozen plot things going on simultaneously in Total Recall that could each probably form the basis of an entire other movie just by themselves. Just off the top of my head you've got the "implanted memory vacation", the triple-crossing special agent, Martian terraforming, a violent labor revolt against corporate malfeasance, psychic mutants (!), and the remnants of an ancient alien civilization, all crammed into 2 hours between cartoonishly bloody action action scenes (in typical Paul "Robocop" Verhoven fashion, getting shot always means a chunk of flesh and gore will visibly get blown from your body and splatter on the wall behind you). This means Total Recall doesn't actually ever get too deep into any of these storylines (and I mean AT ALL), but add it all together and you do get yourself a good time.Oh, and of course it's all real and it's not just the implanted memory, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see all the events that Arnold never witnesses. I don't know why people humor that notion at all.BTW: the footage quality of this on Prime Video (as of this writing) looks rather washed out and grainy. It's watchable enough, but I have to believe there's a better print available.

This is a difficult one as I have somehow managed to buy two copies of Total Recall (The Arnie version) and while I cannot at all fault the film which still looks fantastic over 20 years on & is a great action film from director Paul Verhoven. With a huge conundrum at its core. Is it all a dream that he requires recall or is his adventure to mars all real?. It's the dvds that are the problem for me. Here I have two copies, one a special edition blu ray with commentary from Schwarzenegger & Verhoven Where they explane the ins & outs of the movie together & provides some interesting insight to the film it also has other features that included. The other blu ray is Just the film nothing else on it & I am a special edition or to be more honest (Commentary fan) I therefore love the special edition & probably will not bother with the sparce edition at all. I don't know how this mix up happened as both pics on the Amazon site have the same (special edition) box featured yet the sparce edition has a slightly different box it features just Arnie's face in blue shade, with no red triagle of flame or mars on it. I dunno who I bought which dvd from either, only that the special edition came first. Oh well never mind. great film that feel younger than it is. it also blows the modern Colin Farrell remake completely out of the water & on it's head.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Douglas Quaid, a lowly construction worker who's nightly dreams are filled of Mars and a mysterious woman, much to his wife's annoyance. After seeing an advert on his journey to work for fake memories of outer space trips by ReKall Inc he decide to embrace his fragmented dreams with a full memory. However when the implant goes wrong a darker secret from Quaid's mind is released causing a chain reaction of events that leaves Quaid questioning what are dreams and reality...Bought to replace the early 2000's bluray release which unfortunately had a hit and miss playback history on PS3 systems. This new edition is a worthy reason to upgrade, crystal clear picture and audio range, good colouring which can be noticed most in the Mars scenes compared to the previous releases. Not many new features from the older release but contains a few.I hope this review helped you. If so, I would appreciate it if you clicked on the Yes button for a helpful review. If you have any questions, please ask. I am pretty responsive to comments

Just watched Total Recall (Blu ray) again after many years. principally because of the marvellous film soundtrack would you believe. Thanks to Jerry Goldsmith. The film has dated a little - but it still packs a punch, with Arnie doing what he does best, along with classic one liners, fast chase sequences and lots of violence. The body count sure is high which is very different on how we perceive action movies today. Way back in 1990 it all seemed okay. I still find the plot a little muddled, and difficult to follow, (which is which when Arnie's dreaming?) but hey, it's a great story and one which you can watch more than once. As for the blu ray release, it's a very pure picture, although a little grainy in parts, soundtrack is immense and powerful, especially in the 5:1 setting on the amplifier. Overall a fine release.

The movie itself is great, no discussion here.But I am still not fully convinced by the new bluray transfer. It is better looking than the first release, so it is a good idea to update (it is cheap anyway). While there was a lot of bloat around the new transfer ("approved by director"), I found it absolutely impossible to find any real information about the work that was performed. The "restoration" example they show in the supplements is meaningless, as any negative scan needs heavy grading anyway to produce a useable end result.Fact is: the movie looks different than any other film I know from (approx.) 1990. Colors, contrast, grain - it just does not look like properly recorded and processed negative cinema film from this time. It almost seems like they either initially messed with the exposure and/or processing of the material (intentionally or by accident), or the film degraded heavily afterwards (which would be strange for "modern" film from 1990).Nevertheless, the 2012 remaster is very watchable and most likely as good as it will ever get. It is just annoying that this visually stunning movie will never look "absolutely great" because of unknown reasons.

Originally made 1990, this Arnnie film stands up for itself over the years, a real classic. The run time is 1 hour 48 minutes on this double dvd from Momentum pictures and the extras are worth it for any fan. Some of the fight scenes, on the dvd; appear less cut than what you get from the telly. Perhaps accounting for a longer running time?