Review of Total Recall

Introduction

An Arnold Schwarzenegger film that works your brain, who`d have figured? Don`t worry it`s not necessary, you can go without. Philip K. Dick`s short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" gets the movie treatment in Total Recall and one quick name change later (Quail to Quaid, I guess Quail doesn`t sound hard enough). Paul Verhoeven takes his dystopian vision of the future, first explored in Robocop and takes it to the next planet out. This film is built around Arnie, so can his shoulders carry the burden?

In the future, mankind has conquered the solar system and colonised the planets. Doug Quaid is a lowly construction worker on Earth, happily married to the gorgeous Lori and harbouring a passion for all things Martian. Or so he believes. Wishing to go to Mars, but unable to, he opts for the next best thing, a trip to Rekall. Rekall is a company that specialises in implanted memories. For a fee, they will give you the memory of a holiday without you leaving your hometown, and it`s guaranteed better than the real thing. Quaid tempted by the secret agent package books a trip to Mars, complete with Alien artefacts. Something goes wrong during the implant procedure, and some hidden memories begin to reappear. Trying to erase the damage, the Rekall technicians blank Quaid`s memory of the day and send him home, none the wiser. On his way home, a friend from work stops him. He accuses Quaid of blabbing about Mars and attempts to kill him. However Quaid turns the tables and kills his assailants, using abilities he never knew he possessed. At home he turns to his wife for help, but she also turns on him and attempts to kill him. Restraining her, he finds out that the marriage is a sham and that he has been given new memories and planted on Earth for some reason. Escaping the men that Lori contacted, he heads for a hotel, where a stranger gives him a case. In it is a message from himself. Quaid learns that he was an intelligence agent called Hauser, and that given the information that he had concerning Vilas Cohaagen, the governor of Mars, he could have overthrown the Mars tyranny. However, he was apprehended and placed on Earth, his memories erased. Hauser instructs Quaid to travel to Mars and meet up with his former lover, Melina so that they can unlock the secrets buried in his mind to bring about the revolution.

Video

Total Recall is presented in an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 format. The transfer is good and the film looks it. The picture is clean and colourful however the image isn`t as sharp as desired. This varies through the film but is to some degree evident throughout. It`s a minor problem and is noticeable only when you compare with other discs. Taken on its own merits, the film looks better than at anywhere else, not counting the cinema of course. This film was released in 1990 and is the last of a dying breed. I don`t think there`s CGI anywhere in the film, except maybe the weapon scan sequence, and even that would have been completed photographically. The effects therefore have dated somewhat, and the film definitely shows its age. Most of the film is still very good, the prosthetics especially spring to mind, but what was noticeable even then and more so now, is the Martian landscape. This was all done in miniature and the models look very contrived now. It is difficult to suspend my disbelief when the Martian landscape is shown. Fortunately, much of the action takes place underground and when Mars is shown, it`s usually as a background rather than an essential story element. Earth however looks much better, and the use of location to build a future world that`s more plausible helps the movie no end. The industrial greys and regimented society depicted here is almost as good as the future world Verhoeven created for Robocop. The opening credits still look awesome though and have never been copied as far as I know.

Audio

Soundtracks are provided in DD 5.1 English, German and Spanish Surrounds. The sound is good enough for the movie, but the action was concentrated in the front speakers with the rears being used for ambience and music only. Frankly the menus felt more immersive than the film itself. This is no bad thing, as the film is a product of its era and the film isn`t lessened for this. Jerry Goldsmith provides music and he hits the right note for the soundtrack. The theme is memorable and he keeps the pace of the action up with his score. The music is suitably otherworldly and ethereal when needs be and he does the film credit.

Features

There are a few extras on this disc, but not many. There is the obligatory Trailer and Teaser Trailer. There is also a 7-minute making of featurette. It`s rather short and marginally informative, but does tend to end up looking like a 7-minute trailer rather than anything else. You learn more by watching rather than listening though. For those who can be bothered there is also an Easter egg showing the Rekall ad in full. Enjoy.

Conclusion

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this film in a role that he does best, a big muscled hero. There`s no comedy or irony, you get what you pay for. This movie is built around Schwarzenegger and as a result works very well. Rachel Ticotin is Melina, and for once, in this kind of movie, a woman gets into the action as well. Providing a glamorous nemesis is Sharon Stone, as Quaid`s erstwhile wife, Lori. Michael Ironside is her boyfriend, Richter and gets to be ruthless and just plain nasty. He gets a gruesome death too. Ronny Cox takes his Robocop character to the next level and is the chief bad guy in Total Recall. He plays the governor of Mars, Vilas Cohaagen with a penchant for malice. It`s difficult to comment on the performances in a movie like this, as the roles are often stereotypes and it`s more a matter of fulfilling the requirements of the script rather than trying to garner acting accolades. Everyone delivers a competent performance and the film doesn`t suffer.

This was the last of the classic Arnie films, before T2 somersaulted him into permanent iconic status. (And he started making duffers) Big strong hero type takes on the world with an accented quip and a sub-machine gun, wins against the odds. Here he gets a brilliant story tailored to his strengths. You are on a non-stop action ride from beginning to end and the film never lets up in pace. The story is traditional Sci-Fi at its best and contains more twists than a Chubby Checker song. I`ve seen this film on and off for the last 10 years or so and it still perplexes me. You can never figure out if everything that happens after Quaid`s trip to Rekall is real or not, and to its credit the film leaves it up for the viewer to decide. The DVD raises more questions as you can now clearly see the alien artefacts that are part of the Mars package at Rekall and they definitely look familiar. There has been a sequel rumoured for several years now and I always imagine the opening sequence at Rekall with an emaciated body hooked up to the machine and a drip with Quaid written on a toe-tag. The story is excellent, the film is let down only by those naff Martian miniatures, well worth a look see.