Total Recall (Optimum Reissue) (DVD)

Introduction

That's the trouble with mental notes; they just aren't reliable. I've had the original barebones release of Total Recall in my collection for several years now, and as soon as the 2-disc special edition was released some three years ago, I made a mental note to double dip. That it's taken the arrival of this check disc from Optimum, the third UK DVD release of the film, to send me off to my nearest online retailer doesn't bode well for this review. Optimum have the rights to several of Arnold Schwarzenegger's masterworks, films that were previously released under the Momentum banner, and this August promises to be a Summer of Arn, as Terminator 2 and Total Recall make their Bluray debut, while Total Recall, Raw Deal, Red Heat, and Red Sonja get spiffy new re-releases on DVD. The latter four films have previously been released in a boxset by Momentum, but Optimum are releasing these new discs both individually and in a new Schwarzenegger Collection boxset.

While Optimum give with one hand, they take away with the other; and in terms of features, this disc lies somewhere between the original release and the Limited Edition. But it is available at a budget price. So why did I triple dip?



Based on Philip K. Dick's short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". Total Recall has been described as the thinking man's action movie, and nearly twenty years on the description still fits. Doug Quaid is a lowly construction worker, but happily married to a gorgeous blonde and comfortably well off, he certainly has no reason to complain. Except that while his days are spent in the arms of his wife, at night in his dreams he's on Mars trekking across the landscape with a sleazy but demure brunette. It's an obsession he can't get free off, and he can't fulfil, as his wife hates the idea of travelling to Mars. So contrary to all advice, he pays a visit to Rekall, a company that specialises in implanted vacations, memories that are installed in the mind, which are indistinguishable from the real thing.

Something goes wrong with Quaid's procedure. Suddenly he's a secret agent named Hauser, complaining his cover's been blown. The Rekall employees try to cover it up with a quick mindwipe, but when the amnesiac Quaid gets home there are men with guns waiting for him. Just who is Quaid, and what's his connection to Mars? Quaid will have to travel to the red planet to find out, but it's a world of unrest, the greedy Cohaagen works the people to the bone to profit from the mines, while keeping an ancient secret at the heart of the planet covered up. It's a secret that Quaid has buried in the back of his mind, and Cohaagen will do what it takes to stop it from getting out. But if Quaid can work out what he's forgotten, then the truth will change the face of Mars forever.

Picture

Total Recall gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, and I'm hard pressed to tell if there is any difference between this and the previous releases. That's despite there being an extra hour of material crammed onto this disc in the form of extras. It's a film that hasn't aged well, the primary factor being that the effects shots were optically composited, resulting in a fair bit of dirt. It's still quite grainy too, which makes me curious as to how it will be treated on Bluray, whether the grain won't just be DVNR'd out of existence. There are occasional moments of softness, but by and large the film has held up adequately. As for which version is better, I got the impression that the Special Edition was slightly crisper and cleaner, but that may have just been me.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 English Stereo. There are no subtitles. Despite all the action and excitement, Total Recall has never been the most dynamic of audio experiences, and that carries through into its third incarnation, although this disc has an awkwardly placed layer change. Mostly the front speakers carry the action and dialogue, while the rears add just a hint of ambience. This is a film that does make you pause and reflect on just how great a composer Jerry Goldsmith was. Total Recall's music still remains a one-off.

The lack of subtitles is unforgivable. The most basic selling point of the DVD format is the optional subtitle track, and as I have grown older, it's become clear to me how essential it is. With an aging population, and more and more neighbours intolerant of that DTS home cinema set up, you need them more than ever. If subtitles are a necessity for you, then look up the old Momentum releases of this film, which have them, before they are deleted.

Extras

Johnny Cab animated menus open the experience. Well they do after you've endured those annoying unskippable logos. This disc cherry picks its extras from the 2-Disc Special Edition and crams it all onto one disc. You get one of the commentaries and the bulk of the documentaries and featurettes.

Neither Paul Verhoeven nor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most engaging of public speakers, which makes this commentary something of a chore to sit through. It's worth a little effort as there is the occasional titbit of interest. Arnold provides what amounts to an audio descriptive track, while Verhoeven drills the dream/reality musings of the film home with subtlety of a jackhammer.

Imagining Total Recall lasts 30 minutes, was filmed in 2003 and offers a retrospective of the making of the film. Just like another Dick property, Blade Runner, Total Recall spent decades in development hell before Arnold's enthusiasm for the project saw it picked up by Carolco. It's interesting to note that it was originally a De Laurentis production with Patrick Swayze headlining the cast.



The Making of Total Recall has been on both previous releases, but here it is prefaced by the Rekall ad that was an Easter Egg on the first disc. The run time is thus longer at 8 minutes, and it's still the standard EPK guff that gets put out with a film when it is first released.

Visions of Mars offers around 6 minutes of the real science behind modern Mars exploration. Again coming from the 2003 disc, this offers some simulations of the Mars Rovers before they actually landed. It's already out of date.

There are 7 minutes of storyboard comparisons, the spoilerific trailer, and three minutes worth of TV spots.

Conclusion

Well, it's the same old Arnie action sci-fi that I snuck in to see when I was seventeen, and it holds up surprisingly well given the passage of time. When I reviewed the first disc, I was slightly disparaging of the effects work, all miniatures and practical effects in one of the last films to be made in such a way, in an age where the ubiquity of CGI was yet to overwhelm. Now, some five years down the line, I find the old way of doing thing somewhat charming, and even a little more effective than the gratuitous overload of computer generated imagery.



The story itself is classic Philip K Dick, with questions of the nature of reality being posed, and the audience given just as much of a mindf*** as Quaid. It's one of the axioms of showbiz that the audience should always be left begging for more, and Total Recall leaves you wondering whether what you just saw was 'real' or not. What's more, it doesn't make you lament the experience, as certain other 'twist' endings have managed to do.

A cerebral Arnie action movie! Who'd have figured? But Total Recall is just that, with Arnold cast in his typical everyman role, albeit an everyman who works out, is built like an oak tree, and has a hidden secret agent persona. It's one great chase sequence after another from beginning to end, full of action and excitement, and chock-a-block with the violence eye-candy that Verhoeven used to such great effect in Robocop. When you watched an Arnie movie in the mid-late eighties, you were concerned with action, stunts and more importantly body count. Total Recall delivers in every respect. That it is a credible sci-fi movie is just icing on the cake. Arnold was already a bankable star following hits like Conan, The Terminator, and Predator, but it was Total Recall that launched him into the stratosphere, mostly because it took what he was best at, but took tongue out of cheek and instead applied some intelligence and thoughtfulness to the story. Those earlier Arnie films were cheesy, films that were enjoyable, but also came with a helping of popcorn to throw at the screen. Total Recall was a good film by every measure.



How can I recommend this disc when the 2-disc Special Edition is still available to buy, and in some retailers selling for less than half the price of this disc? This release is actually a step backwards. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just the barebones disc that was being upgraded, but this release makes the cardinal sin in my view of omitting the subtitles. Of course it's now inevitable that the original releases will be deleted to make way for this disc, indeed one prominent retailer has already removed them from its catalogue. If you want Total Recall, and haven't bought it already, it's a race against time to get all the extras, or more importantly a version with subtitles. This disc is one of those superfluous re-releases that simply muddy the waters by offering little new, and indeed taking stuff away. Go for the Momentum Special Edition unless you have absolutely no other option.