Total Wreck-All

Rating: 1/10 (10 June 2007)

When TOTAL RECALL was released back in 1990, it signaled the end of an era: the end of intelligent science fiction films made in Hollywood. No more ANDROMEDA STRAIN, no more BLADE RUNNER, no more DUNE. The science fiction genre was dumbed down considerably by this Paul "subtle as a sledgehammer" Verhoeven directed project based on a story by Philip K Dick. It's well reported how the script was changed considerably to suit Ah-nuld's limitations as an actor. What a good actor could have done with the original story's intriguing plot points were quickly re-written once Ah-nuld was attached to the project. I read the article in CINEFANTASTIQUE about the tumultuous life of the screenplay and the many changes they made to the storyline. The article was disheartening. Plot points and fascinating ideas found in the original screenplay were eliminated and replaced by gore, gore, gore and stupid one liners, and a very mean-spirited tone. The repetitious use of gratuitous violence was exploited brilliantly by Verhoeven to prompt the story with some "life" because he was aware Ah-nuld could not act. In fact, almost every actor in TOTAL RECALL cannot act. I've never seen such a collection of bad acting from so many actors in a single film, with Rachel Ticotin winning the award for worst pseudo-action female star ever.
Things are made worse by the complete lack of vision from the director: the papier-mâché look of the sets and the Mars environment, with the uber cheesy mutants living there made the film look like a $80 million TROMA film. But the thing that killed this film was the complete lack of logic which clashed with the science fiction aspects of the story: because this is an action film, made for people who believe Ah-nuld can kill 100 bad guys with one bullet, the action goes on as if everything took place on earth, in your average city. Everyone starts shooting all over the enclosed Mars environment with ordinary guns and bullets. The bad guys shoot bullets into (breakable) windows and there goes the carefully controlled environment. Brilliant work, guys. You're jeopardizing your own life. This movie is so dumb, it's unbelievable. Verhoeven pandered to the lowest common denominator just to please action film fans and, IMO, he permanently lost his "author" tag with the ugly TOTAL WRECK-ALL.
The only good thing in this film is Jerry Goldsmith's score. It's powerful and evocative. I just wish this excellent score was attached to a good movie.