Total Recall

Rating: 9/10 (22 September 2005)

From director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers), the star of Predator and Twins had truly established himself as a movie star, and besides his most famous role as The Terminator this is one of his finest action movies, based on the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Basically it is the future, 2084, and construction worker Douglas 'Doug' Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been having trouble sleeping dreaming about Mars and a mysterious woman in it with him, his wife is Lori (Sharon Stone) dismissive of taking a trip to the planet, but then he ignores warnings from co-workers and visits Rekall. The company uses memory implants to send people on a vacation to wherever they want, and in Doug's case he also chooses the option to go under a different identity, he chooses to be a secret agent, and he also selects the option of the beautiful woman he will meet on the trip, it happens to be the woman from the dream. Before any implant can be made he reacts violently, but he is sedated and they erase his memory of visiting the company, and the next things he finds his co-workers are attacking him, he kills them, and then Lori turns on him as well. She explains that their marriage and Doug's entire life as a construction worker is fake, and he is now running to escape being caught or killed by thugs led by Richter (Michael Ironside), and contacted by an unknown man on the picture phone he finds out he is being tracked. After the unknown man leaves Quaid a suitcase full of gadgets, fake IDs and cash he also finds a video of the man he apparently used to be, Hauser, who through a recorded message tells him he used to work for ruthless governor of Mars, Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox), he tells him how to remove the bug in his head, and that he has to go to Mars. On the red planet Quaid again escapes the thugs, and he follows the clues to a hotel and then to Venusville, the red light district populated by mutated people affected by the radiation poorly shielded, there is the Last Resort strip club, Mary the three-breasted prostitute (Lycia Naff), Thumbelina the dwarf prostitute (Debbie Lee Carrington) and of course Melina (Rachel Ticotin). She is Hauser's former lover, even as a rebel she refuses to help him thinking he still works for Cohaagen, and returning to his hotel room Quaid meets Dr. Edgemar (Roy Brocksmith), President of Rekall, who tries to convince him that he is currently living the fantasy he created with the memory implant, and Lori is there also trying to persuade him to take a pill to end the dream. Melina comes to the rescue after Quaid kills Edgemar, and in a fight he also kill Lori, who was Richter's lover, and they escape getting a ride from taxi driver Benny (Mel Johnson Jr.), and while they go through the tunnels behind the bar Cohaagen shuts down the ventilation in Venusville to suffocate the people. Quaid is led to the resistance, and on the chest of George (Twins' Marshall Bell) appears their leader, mutant Kuato, who reads his mind and determines that the artifact he has hidden within his mind is that there is a reactor that when activated can create a breathable atmosphere for Mars. Kuato is killed and Quaid and Melina are taken, but they manage to escape, they have a confrontation with Benny who is killed in the fight, and they manage to locate the mines where the reactor is, using a hologram device to fool the bad men, and Quaid and Richter have a final fight before the villain is killed, and Cohaagen appears to stop him, claiming that the alien device will kill everyone. In the end, after creating a vacuum, Cohaagen is sucked out and dies from choking and decompression, the reactor is activated, and just in time to stop Quaid and Melina dying from the same way in the vacuum of space, Mars becomes a habitable planet with blue skies, Quaid takes a moment to wonder is he still dreaming, so Melina tells him to kiss her before he wakes up. Also starring Ray Baker as Bob McClane, Dean Norris as Tony, Robert 'Bobby' Costanzo as Harry, Priscilla Allen as Fat Lady and Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Picardo as Voice of Johnnycab. Schwarzenegger gives a great performance as the ordinary (apart from the muscles) man turned action hero trying to find out his true identity, Cox is good as the mad power crazed villain, Ironside is terrific as the henchman obsessed with killing the hero, and Stone who was climbing the Hollywood ladder is a fantastic find, and of course the following year went onto Basic Instinct. I admit that I used to find this find this film a little confusing with the story involving reality, identity and the subconscious, but eventually I got the hang of it and could enjoy all of, the characters are all great, it has entertaining chases, fights and action, the violence is part of the fun, it is just a perfect science- fiction thriller. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound and a Special Achievement Award (for Visual Effects), and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects. Arnold Schwarzenegger was number 54 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 20 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Very good!