Total Recall (1990)

Such a frustrating disappointment

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This movie is a masterpiece of both action and science fiction and is another one of my favorites. in the film Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a bored construction worker Douglass Quaid who wants more in life and wants to go to Mars. an idea that his wife Laurie hates. But when he watches an advertisement for a program called rekall, he immediately gains interest. So he visits rekall and asks for a memory of being a secret agent on Mars but something goes wrong because he really was a secret agent on Mars. some people have speculated that the whole film is in Quaid's head and he's at rekall being treated but there are so many problems with that. for one thing if Quaid were dreaming then the whole movie would be told from his point of view and there are scenes without Quaid in them. Also there is a scene where the villain Vilos Cohaagen hires a rekall representative Dr Edgemar to try and capture Quaid. If Edgemar was telling the truth and Quaid's procedure went wrong, why would he bring in Laurie who tried to kill him earlier? if he were being honest he would have brought in someone Quaid could trust like Bob McClane who is the guy who Quaid spoke to at rekall about getting the memory. he has no reason to lie to him about his procedure. This movie only has one CGI effect in it: the x-ray machine the rest of the effects are done with prosthesis and makeup. i like this idea because 1990's CGI dates faster than milk back then. The prosthesis effects look great even today because they actually did them. there are some plot holes here and there but i don't care because the plot, characters, humor, and the action scenes are so great that they overshadow the few flaws (which are more like nitpicks). The ending of the film has some of the greatest gun play i have ever seen. Quaid uses a hologram to trick the henchmen so he can shoot the crap out of them and start the reactor to give Mars an atmosphere. However the villain shows up and tries to warn him that it could destroy the planet (even though he probably is lying to keep himself in power since he's the dictator of Mars). To sum it up Cohaagen sets off a bomb that starts sucking them into the poisonous atmosphere of Mars but Quaid starts the reactor just in time to save him and his girlfriend Melina and kill Cohaagen in a hilariously over-the-top fashion where his face explodes. So Mars has an atmosphere and Quaid is a hero who saved the planet. Earlier i said that there is a possibility that Quaid is dreaming and it's part of his rekall procedure. but he asked to be a secret agent on mars not a rebel working against the corrupt government run by a terrorist dictator. and while his former self Carl Hauser was a secret agent working for Cohaagen pretending to be part of the rebellion, that isn't what Quaid really asked for. he asked to be secret agent who saved the planet as in for the government. but in the end who cares? the movie is so awesome that i can't get enough of it. It is one of Schwarzenegger's best films and you really should check it out.

If this film had been billed as comedy instead of science fiction I would have given it a higher rating. But, alas, it seems that the director was only trying to appeal to the most unsophisticated audiences possible; and in that regard I guess he succeeded. The acting was terrible throughout. Arnold was his usual wooden self with some of the worst dialogue imaginable. Even his patented tough guy one-liners were predictable and lame (he says "consider that a divorce" after shooting Sharon Stone, his pretend wife, in the head). And most of his actions scenes, which comprised most of the movie, were simply laughable. It seems to me that Arnold's best acting work is as a robot.Sharon Stone wasn't much better unless her goal was to portray a cartoonish, sleazy bitch that no one could take seriously. If that was the case she pulled it off pretty well.It actually scares me to see so many reviewers rate this piece of trash 10 stars. What were they watching! How low are their standards! I suppose if all it takes are a bunch of loud explosions, lots of breaking glass, and completely implausible chase scenes to make one happy, then this film delivers on all counts. But is that what it has come to?After viewing this gigantic failure I Googled Philip K Dick to see if he was still around to witness this atrocious portrayal of his work. He wasn't. It was sad to see that he died so young (53), but at least he didn't have to witness this insult to his talent and imagination. Oh well, we'll always have Blade Runner!

A construction worker decides to get a virtual holiday. In this next future the film portrays the way to do it it's just to "implant" a remembering in your brain. You will remember that you have been on holiday, you'll feel that it's true but you have not the real experience, it's just a few neurons connected. "But, what it's always the same in all your holidays" the seller of the vacations ask to Quaid, the construction worker. He doesn't know but the smiling seller doesn't make him wait: "you, you're the same in all your travels". Quaid is offered to make his vacations really special. He's going to go to Mars, visit the planet, but not as a tourist but as a special agent who is going to fight against terrorist and save the planet from destruction.The plot is really interesting, it's not a specially complicated story, you don't get lost but there are twists enough to surprise you and make the ride a joyful one.Technology has changed the world, so much that even in so recent past as 27 years ago they didn't foreseen the miniaturization degree that communication devices could attain. You see into the movie a few screens with a depth box behind them, the ruler of Mars even get into the phone connected with a cable to the device on the wall.It's nice the hologram device able to replicate a person, and of course the costume-robot Quaid uses to enter into Mars.Excellent way to let a couple of hours go away, and even if you watched it a few years ago it's quite interesting to review it again, how fast time runs, you'll think.

This is probably my second-favorite Arnold movie, after the first "Terminator". It has non-stop (and well-staged) action, splattery violence, pitch-black humor, classic one-liners, impressive special and makeup effects....but also a well-constructed, puzzle-like story that plays with concepts of memory, identity and reality, a pointed political allegory, and a perfect pace with virtually no lulls. Whenever I watch this movie I always feel like this IS Mars (and not Mexico!); I also think Sharon Stone was sexier here than in "Basic Instinct". A crowd-pleaser which also gets you thinking - you don't get that very often. *** out of 4.