Clunky Robocop on Mars, starring Conan

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2012)

Just having seen Total Recall in both incarnations, I can review the old 1990's one with a fresh perspective. The thing with the recall (heh) is that I remembered this film as one that I liked. Sure, it was a bit awkward and it made no sense for any science, but I did like it. And now, 22 years later from its making, I watched it again. And, for no good reason other than nostalgia, I liked it again.
Now, it is a film made by the director of Robocop. The corporate evil, the clunky metal vehicles, the gratuitous violence, they are all there, along with ridiculous dialogue and bad acting, but some of the bits of the film show good design and thinking. Add to this Sharon Stone when she was hot, Michael Ironside when he was young and Arnold Schwarzenegger doing Conan the Barbarian on Mars, with submachine guns and you get a cheesy, clunky, ridiculous film that somehow feels good.
What is the secret? I don't know. Probably Paul Verhoeven saw in the film the same flaws that I see and just didn't give a damn. He accepted the shortcomings of technology and of himself and did the film as well as he could in the circumstances. Bottom line: not really a good film, but who can say it was a bad one?