Partial success

Rating: 6/10 (3 September 2016)

Apparently the last of the pre-CGI blockbusters, which means everything and everyone you see, at least in one sense are real. Therefore it's perhaps unfair to judge it by modern day standards, but it has to be said that all the blood (and there's lots of it) looks like tomato ketchup, the fight scones look very fake and much of the make up effects look like grafted on rubber.
Then there's the perennial question, how do you solve a problem like Arnie? He plainly can't act, get into character or even say a line without giving the appearance he's memorised it the minute before. Well, like my brother says, you make a singer who can't dance look like they can by surrounding them with good dancers and while it's arguable director Paul Verheuven does that with the quality of acting here, there is a terrific Philip K Dick storyline playing out in the background, not to mention some memorable scenes and visual effects for good measure.
The idea of replacing a man's memories for me is a fascinating one and one that reminded me of Dennis Potter's excellent TV drama "Karaoke" from around the same time starring Albert Finney. Of course, the finesse in the story is blockbustered away by Schwarzenegger's action hero status which effectively means that the long middle part of the movie is one extended chase sequence, but the movie does hint at a degree of intelligence after all by giving us a slightly enigmatic "Inception"-like finish.
The most memorable SFX undoubtedly involve make-up and the use of prosthetic masks, like when Arnold's impersonation of a lady tourist comes unstuck at the space station and when he and Melina's facial features nearly explode when they come into contact with the Martian atmosphere. Verheuven directs most of the movie seemingly through a red filter giving a suitably other-worldly sheen to events.
Sure the direction is often flashy, occasionally crude and repetitive (try counting the number of dead bodies, smashed windows and trashed cars and you'll get the general drift), but there's no doubt it's an entertaining movie which helped propel Shwarzeneggar to top box office status for the rest of the 90's.