Open to Interpretation, So Here's Mine. . .

Rating: 9/10 (22 June 2005)

Let me start by saying that, yes, this movie is open to interpretation. But that doesn't mean everyone can't give their own interpretations and offer reasons for them.
Here's mine: the whole thing was NOT a dream.
Quaid's dreams in the beginning of the movie when he's still in his "regular life" with Sharon Stone--his actual memories trying to poke through. The movie establishes later that he had a relationship with Melina before he was with Sharon Stone.
Many scenes take place without Quaid being present and/or when he is unconscious. These scenes are totally inexplicable if it's all his dream/implant.
Watch the Rekall Center scenes--the technicians are talking about him, while he's knocked out. We would not experience this if it were all supposed to be his dream. One of them says "we didn't implant it yet" meaning they did not implant his little vacation and that there was a "memory cap," which had erased or locked away all of his memories. All this happens when Quaid's knocked out. If this were all a ruse/part of his implant, they would have done it while he was awake to make him think it were true. Instead, only the viewers experience this.
The reactors, Melina, etc. that pop up during the Rekall Center scenes-- The techs were asking Quaid questions about his preferences. He was already hooked up to their monitoring machines while this was happening. He begins to fall asleep while they are monitoring his mind. He doesn't verbally answer the last question. But somehow, the techs know what he wants. This can only mean they get this info from their monitoring machines, which are hooked into his mind. Of course they pull these things (Melina, the reactors, etc) out of his mind because they were already in there from his real life as a secret agent.
Sharon Stone, the agent's sweat bead do not make sense if it is a dream.
Of course he can use kung fu moves, he's practiced and perfected these things while training as an agent to the point where he merely reacts with these movements, and doesn't think about them. He did not have occasion to use these things as a construction worker, so they did not "pop out of nowhere" during that time in his life. Kind of reminds me of Jason Bourne. You can have your identity wiped but still retain non-identity things, such as kung fu skills, intelligence, etc. Bourne finds out, as he needs to do something, that he can do it.
Last point--if it's a dream, then this movie totally sucks. I'm not a viewer who likes to know he's invested two hours in a movie with great action, plot twists, intrigue, and a great ending only to find out it's all been a dream. What the hell was the point of the last two hours, then? It was all happening in his mind, so it didn't matter one iota? A thriller only works if there's real danger, with actual consequences. If the consequences are this average, everyday construction worker gets lobotomized because someone has screwed up his implant, then the universe is a sick, malevolent place, isn't it? Kind of contrary to the whole outcome of the plot--the good guy wins, saves the planet, gets the girl. A true thriller/actioner operates on the premise that the side of good can win, and does.