One of Arnold's best vehicles.

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2012)

"Total Recall" offers fine slam bang action and an intriguing, twist-laden story, co-scripted by Ronald Shusett & Dan O'Bannon ("Alien", "Dead & Buried") based on the story "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Production design, visual effects, makeup, and atmosphere are all vividly realized in this fun movie that comes up with some great concepts along the way. As entertainment, it certainly does its job. Schwarzenegger gets one (actually, more than one) of his more complex roles, as blue collar guy Douglas Quaid who wants something more out of life, and has developed an obsession with the planet Mars. He knows of a company named Rekall that creates artificial memories of lavish vacations, and figures it will be "safer" than the real thing, so, not being able to get Mars out of his head, goes to Rekall for their Mars package - the scenario he chooses casts him as a secret agent - only to find out that he is not "real", and is simply the new identity for another character. After his arrival on Mars, he finds that his mission will be to help stop the power crazed megalomaniac Cohaagen (Ronny Cox), who cruelly controls the fates of the Mars inhabitants, mutants and humans alike. Some scenes and images here are highly memorable, and director Paul Verhoeven, who'd previously given us another satirical look at a grim future in "RoboCop", takes the violence to a hysterically over the top level; one's gotta love the chase sequence where one poor innocent schmuck is used as a human shield. Also noteworthy are the scenes where Quaid removes a "bug" from his skull, by going through the nostril, and where a disguise of his starts malfunctioning. Everything is done on a grand scale, including the pounding music score by Jerry Goldsmith. And the actors supporting Arnold are exceptionally well chosen, with Cox and the always intimidating Michael Ironside (who was initially considered for the title role in "RoboCop"!) making for nasty, formidable villains. Rachel Ticotin is feisty as the "sleazy and demure" leading lady Melina, with Sharon Stone adding plenty of sex appeal as Quaid's dubious wife; she figures in a payoff scene that features one of Arnold's many well loved cinematic one-liners in "Considuh dat a dee-vorse!" Fine character players dot the landscape, too, including Marshall Bell, Michael Champion, Roy Brocksmith, Ray Baker, Dean Norris, Robert Costanzo, Marc Alaimo, Michael Gregory, and Mickey Jones; Robert Picardo supplies the voice of the priceless "Johnnycab", and Lycia Naff and Debbie Lee Carrington have two of the best roles in the feature; Naff's bosom will definitely stick in the mind (it WILL make guys wish they had three hands). Makeup effects expert Rob Bottin finally won a richly deserved Academy Award for his work here. Humorous, lively, and interesting, "Total Recall" has fine forward momentum and packs its scenes with details, never letting filler get in the way of a good story and offering crowd pleasing thrills. It's a diverting movie from beginning to end. Eight out of 10.