Forgive the cliché, but they don't make 'em like this anymore

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2014)

Ah, the magnificent work of Paul Verhoeven. From time to time I tend to binge on it and plough through his whole American filmography (even including "Showgirls", when I have the courage) in a day or so, because this man is the absolute master of mixing artistic value, satire and pure unadulterated camp value. "Total Recall" is an awesome roller-coaster ride of increasingly ridiculous action set pieces. The extreme violence is not quite as raw as in "RoboCop", but it's cartoonish (yet still gory) style always gets a chuckle out of me. The best part about this though is the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, who delivers his cheesy one-liners with gusto and makes good use of the somewhat clueless glint in his eyes. He really brings home the point that his character has no idea what's going on, comparable to his performance in the much inferior "The 6th Day". He's also made a fantastic commentary track of this movie that I highly recommend, where he just basically describes what's happening on the screen with a childish enthusiasm, adding absolutely no behind the scenes information whatsoever. It's just an absolute treat, you won't learn a single thing about how the movie was made but it's still one of the best commentaries I've ever heard. Even without the track though this is a true classic, albeit a pretty sleazy one.