"Total Recall" R
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Quaid, a man from the future who lives in a dystopia of sedentary work life, but when he is given the chance to live false memories in a virtual reality game, things go terribly wrong, and he actually imagines himself a spy, Hauser, who is off to Mars to stop the evil leader of the planet. Based upon Philip K. Dick's short story, 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale', the story tells of a virtual world before the term was coined. Dick also wrote 'Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep' the story that Blade Runner is loosely based on. But here director Paul Verhoven is on a different planet in terms of story, and Arnie plays it as his typical smart ass wise cracking self. The movie is incredibly dumb. Over the years it has become a cult classic popcorn flick played at bored overnight gatherings, but back in 1990 it was pretty dreadful. Forgive the bad science, such as the gravity seems Earth normal on Mars, and alien air can make you instantly not die when you go out on the surface, and how did they get that huge ball thing up his nose, and the like. It is more a fantasy than a science fiction thriller. The catch phrases from this have entered our language, such as 'Get your ass to Mars' and 'It's an air maker' and the three breasted chick line, 'for this you need 3 hands'. Even so, the movie is actually tepid. The only way any of it would work is if it's all a dream in his head.
Review by Adam Browne
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