One of Arnie's best Â– an action movie with a very good core plot

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2002)

In 2020, Douglas feels he needs a break from the day to day life and goes to Total Recall Â– where memories are planted in your head to make you think you are someone else for a while Â– a holiday in your head if you will. However before he can be injected he begins to have flashbacks and suddenly finds that people are trying to kill him and that somehow he must get to Mars to uncover the reasons. However what is truth and what is fake and is the whole thing really happening or not?
Based on a Phillip K. Dick story this was always going to be intelligent Â– however it's surprising that Verhoeven manages to keep that core well. The plot allows his excessive violence but is also a great story that more than holds the interest with twists and turns and neither Douglas or us fully knowing what's going on. The action is great Â– even 10 or so years on, and the tension just stays solid throughout.
Schwarzenegger does his usual invincible muscles stuff and looks happy blasting crowds, but he is also OK in other areas too. Tictin is good but never repeated this success for herself. The baddies (or maybe not?) are the best roles Â– solid baddies like Ironside and Cox are just as good as they were in other similar roles and Sharon Stone is good as Douglas' wife.
Overall this continues Verhoeven's trend of making ultra-violence and clever plots and satire work well together (Robocop, Starship Troopers and this) as opposed to his trend of making trash! Everything about this film works well Â– whether it be the action or the acting or the plot Â– a surprisingly nice package for a violent action movie!