Poor Man's "Blade Runner"

Rating: 6/10 (4 February 2004)

The purpose of intelligent science fiction is not only to speculate on how science and technology might possibly develop in the future, but also to consider the philosophical, ethical and social implications of those developments. The most common science-fiction theme is, of course, space travel, but there are other possible technologies that also lend themselves to a science-fiction treatment. `Total Recall' takes as its subject one of those themes, and combines it with a more conventional story about the colonisation of the planet Mars. It imagines that at some date in the future neuro-technology will have advanced to the point where it is possible to implant false memories into a person's brain- that is to say memories which the person believes to be genuine but which in fact relate to events that have never taken place.
One of the applications of this technology is the service provided by Recall Inc., a travel agency that offers to supply its customers with memories of holidays they have never actually been on. The central character, Douglas Quaid, experiences frequent dreams about Mars, a planet that he believes he has never visited. These awaken in him a desire to see Mars for real, but because he has a low-paid job, he settles for the cheaper option of visiting Recall Inc. to have false memories of a Martian holiday implanted. The operation, however, seems to reawaken memories of a genuine previous life on Mars, and he comes to believe that he is in fact a secret agent whose mind has been altered to erase memories of this previous life.
Quaid now actually makes the voyage to Mars in an attempt to find out the truth. Mars is under the rule of a dictatorial leader named Cohaagen, and Quaid joins forces with a rebel army who are fighting to overthrow him. The plot then becomes very complex with a number of twists. Quaid does not know which of his associates he can trust; moreover, he does not know whether he can trust himself. Is his personality as `Quaid' real or is it merely a set of false memories implanted in his head by Cohaagen's agents? Did he have a previous life that he can no longer remember? If so, was his previous self good or evil?
While I was watching this film, it reminded me of another science-fiction movie from a few years earlier, Ridley Scott's `Blade Runner'. Both films use a science-fiction theme to ask potentially profound philosophical questions about the nature of identity and what it means to be human. (I was interested to learn from other reviewers that both were based on the writings of Philip K. Dick). In terms of quality, however, the two films are very different, `Blade Runner' being superior by far.
The reasons for this difference lie partly in the casting of the lead role, partly in the directing and partly in the script. In order to make the most of the possibilities of the situation, the actor playing Quaid needs to be able to suggest three different personalities; Quaid the ordinary man in an ordinary job, Quaid as transformed into the agent fighting alongside the Martian resistance, and Hauser, Quaid's alter ego. In other words, the role requires an actor far more subtle and varied than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has difficulty conveying one personality beyond that of his conventional tough-guy action hero, let alone three. (Harrison Ford, the star of `Blade Runner', would have been a much better choice). The rest of the cast are also indifferent, with the honourable exception of Sharon Stone as Quaid's beautiful wife Lori who may not be all she seems.
The main reason, however, why the film fails to fulfil its potential is that the scriptwriter and director tend to skirt round the deeper implications raised by the plot and treat it as just another goodies-versus-baddies action thriller. The potentially fascinating questions, `What is the nature of the self?' and `How might our concept of the self be changed by the technology of the future?' take a poor second place to `Will Quaid overthrow the evil Cohaagen?' and `Will he get the girl?' (I will not reveal the answers or the ending of the film, beyond saying that it struck me as very implausible). The film raises deeper questions and then avoids them; the result is a wasted opportunity. Paul Verhoeven fails where Ridley Scott succeeded brilliantly.
Incidentally, I note that in Dick's original short story the central character was called "Quail" rather than "Quaid". It is interesting to speculate why this may have been changed. Was "Quail" an insufficiently macho name for Schwarzenegger's persona? Or were the filmmakers worried that it could have been taken as a comment on then Vice-President Dan Quayle? 6/10