A fun and thoughtful science-fiction movie

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2018)

This review contains spoilers.
Total Recall is a 1990 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The story is written by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Jon Povill. The movie is based on the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a construction worker named Douglas Quaid. He opts for a memory implant that gives him a memory trip as a Martian secret agent.
The movie is a great action, science-fiction movie that actually had a lot to say. There is a running theme of reality that pervades this movie. The movie absolutely opens with this theme with Douglas Quaid having memories of Mars. This increases only when Douglas Quaid attempts to get a memory implant. From the beginning of the movie, there is already a doubt whether Douglas' reality is real. I enjoyed this theme immensely as it absolutely made the movie more exciting to watch.
The action in this movie is at a good level. There are many fun and exciting action pieces as Douglas goes from Earth to Mars. These action scenes also add more to the story as it leads to that theme of reality. These scenes have a different take on multiple viewings. The scenes are also great by their effects.
Arnold Schwarzenegger does a great job in the leading role of Douglas Quaid. Arnold is normally a fun action movie star. He is still in that role here but he has a different take on it in this movie. He is more unsure and seems more like an every man. This performance fits the movie as it always makes the themes more apparent. It is harder to imagine Douglas Quaid taking out scores of enemies. It is also hard to imagine that Douglas Quaid simply gets contacts out of nowhere.
Paul Verhoeven does a great job with the directing in this movie. There is hardly a scene that fails to get its point across. In addition the movie is beautiful and gets prettier as it goes on. This is a movie that rewards audiences that pay attention to the small details.
I highly recommend Total Recall. The movie is a deep and solid science-fiction movie.
Grade: A