Total Recall (1990)

 Total Recall (1990)

Total Recall is one beast of a movie. Is that a good thing? Well, it depends on your preferences. Paul Verhoeven, who also directed the 1987 film Robocop, made his film with wall-to-wall violence that never lets up. His frenetic direction is what made the film move had such a breakneck pace. Because the film was adapted from a Philip K. Dick story (just like a similar sci-fi story, Blade Runner), there has to be social commentary. Throughout the almost-two-hour long movie, an important question is asked of the audience. Is Schwarzenegger’s character’s actions real or is everything just a dream? There are no clear answers…and I really liked the ambiguity. Lesser directors could have turned the movie into a mindless action film using Schwarzenegger’s brawn to create something forgettable. The big man does use his muscle to great effect in the action scenes, but one could say he was cast against type. When compared to his 80’s actioners, his character is more vulnerable. The special effects team used lots of visual effects to cobble together the vision of Earth and Mars. Mostly practical effects were used, and the movie is actually one of the last ones to completely rely upon practical effects as CGI was in its infancy. I liked the look of Mars and how the planet was colonized. The inhabitants of Mars were created to be dark and weird, and I liked that. Yet, the film’s scientific logic is laughable. If a human were to step outside in the vastness of space, their heads would not explode. But it does make for good cinema!

The pre-production and production processes were haywire. Kudos to everyone making it through two decades and forty screenplay drafts to finally have a completed version of the story. You might be familiar with the names Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon? These gentlemen are the reason why we have these type of movies as they ushered Alien into the world. Yet before that film terrorized everyone, they were focusing on Dick’s 1956 short story, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale.” Because the story ended so abruptly, it was a struggle to create a third act. That and the high budget/use of special effects deemed the story unfilmable. In the 80’s, Dino De Laurentiis took a crack at the story. He hired David Cronenberg to direct but had trouble with the story’s direction. Will the tone be more serious, or would there be an Indiana Jones-type adventure vibe? Bruce Beresford used a more “Spielbergian” tone, but production was canceled when the studio filed for bankruptcy. Arnold became aware of the script and was able to get his producer friends, Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar to purchase the rights. Paul Verhoeven was approached to direct the film in earlier stages but declined because he disliked science fiction. He finally agreed to direct after reading the scene where Dr. Edgemar tries to convince Schwarzenegger’s character that he is on Earth. This paragraph is out a basic outline of issues the story, so it is surprising we were able to get a legitimately good product that is not afraid to ask questions.

What is reality? What is it like to have dreams implanted in your brain? Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a construction worker who seems to live an idyllic life with a gorgeous wife, Lori (Sharon Stone) and a lovely apartment. Yet he keeps having these dreams about the colonization planet, Mars. He takes a trip to this travel agency where he is given a “dream” vacation to Mars. In this dream, he gets to be involved in this super spy situation and fall in love with a custom-made brunet. Quaid’s brunet is someone named Melinda (Rachel Ticotin). In this dream, there is a revolutionary war happening on Mars between a mercenary captain, Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) and a small band of rebels. Throughout, the audience is questioning the reality of everything further cemented by a scene where Lori enters this dream and tells her husband that everything is fake. Once again I ask, what is real?

This movie allowed Arnold Schwarzenegger to rejuvenate his career. In a mini slump, he found a role that played against type. He still fights like Superman, yet his psyche is far more fragile that what one is accustomed to when seeing Arnold onscreen victimized by reality itself. I think he did a fantastic job playing this type of character. His main nemesis is Richter, Cohaagen’s vicious lieutenant played wonderfully by Michael Ironside. Sharon Stone’s character is clouded in suspense there is a scene between her and Arnold that had me cheering. Arnold’s one-liner, “Consider that a divorce,” is one of my favorites from him.

Total Recall is an action-packed, violent film that is designed to make you think. It is one of the most visually interesting, thought-provoking films from the last forty years. I can see how one would be turned off (the initial cut actually received an X rating before minor edits). Verhoeven is a director who does not use action just for action’s sake. He uses the action and the visuals to create a world about commercialization and how humans use one another for the sake of profit. Care was taken into making the film with practical effects. Some of the Mars’s scenes were shot in Mexico. I thought the inside of Mars looked like a sandy version of Times Square. Verhoeven created a highly detailed version of Mars. This is one of the more interesting sci-fi films that exist, so give it a watch.

My Grade: B+