Total Recall (1990)

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[CoolioD1]

One of Arnie's best films. If not his best.

[CoolioD1]

Also has one of the greatest audio commentarys ever.

[IndustriousAngel]

A real crazy film! Paul Verhoeven completely took off and there are many memorable scenes and characters in "Total Recall" - good effect work too in some places, plus Arnold beating up Sharon Stone (or vice versa) - all this should guarantee for a fun film. However, only a B from me because the story is only so-so and doesn't make much sense plus the science is wrong in some parts which alway rubs me the wrong way in a "realistic" SF film or story. For those interested how our body would REALLY react when exposed to a (near) vacuum, here's an answer.Oh, and this was based on (more like "inspired by") a Philip K. Dick story but you wouldn't guess it as usual.

[75Live]

Yeah this is one of my favorite fun movies to watch. Good effects especially for the day. Entertaining story, good action, Arnold being Arnold. Definitely one of his best.

"get your ass to Mars"

A-

Edited January 12, 2012 by 75live

[Crusader]

That audio commentary is brilliant I still prefer T2 and Predator but yeah this is up there as one of Arnie's best In fact the ultimate Arnold trilogy would consist of these 3 movies

[fishstick]

Fuckin awesome movie. remake will suck donkey ass.

[Warhorse]

I gave it a B, but still an awesome movie. And damn, I'm not a lesbian, I swear, but I thought Sharon Stone looked way hotter in this movie than her more famous role.

[Master Scottb]

I've always loved this movie. The violence, the one liners, Verhoeven's style, and Arnold being Arnold made this a really fun movie to watch. It is my love for this movie that makes me reluctant to see the new one with Colin Farrell.

Edited August 4, 2012 by scottb

[Hatebox]

I rewatched this a couple of days ago. Still holds up remarkably well, and it's a real shame studios no longer have the guts to make big movies with such adult sensbilities. Comparing it to the recent remake would make a good critical examination into how blockbusters are being neutered to cater to as many markets/people as possible.Probably Arnold's best non-Terminator film, and definitely his most fun.

[BiffMan]

I'd actually watched this one not too long ago (decided to rewatch the original rather than go see the remake in the theater) so it was pretty fresh in my memory, but figured I should go ahead and watch it again with more of a critical eye toward the Arnold Factor. Overall this is still a pretty entertaining movie and has a lot going for it, but I do have to say that it falls kind of flat compared to some of his previous movies. The action isn't as tense as Predator or as crazy as Commando, it didn't entertain as well as The Running Man, and it's not as funny as Twins. It's not a bad movie by any stretch, and it does a lot of things, it just doesn't do many of them very well.

Arnold's not quite as "on" as he has been in most everything else. He's acting pretty well, he just comes across a lot more flat than he has been in his prior films aside from Red Heat or Raw Deal. I'm not sure if that's the result of the complexity of the plot or if he just wasn't as into the director (or vice versa) as he could have been. He's not phoning it in or anything, there's just not all that much spark. That said, he has quite a few excellent scenes, some good over-the-top action/gore, and lots and lots of "Aaarrggghhhaaaggghhh". I've not touched on that yet, but Arnold's distinctive pain/action yell is as much a hallmark in his movies as "I'll be back" or a hard stare or shooting someone in the head. I love it and find myself disappointed when they don't manage to fit one of those in somewhere. It's almost his version of the Wilhelm Scream. Perhaps somewhere down the line, he'll let a particularly good one become public domain and we can hear it in all sorts of movies for years to come.

After all this time, I'm still not sure exactly how to call the reality of the events. It's possible that it's exactly like it seems and the attempted trip at Rekall triggers his capped memories and he then goes on a rampage, shoots a bunch of people, goes to Mars, shoots a bunch more people, and then activates an alien device to bring an atmosphere to Mars. In movie-speak, we call that "plausible" these days. Also possible that from the moment he goes under at Rekall, we're inside his fantasy and everything from that point forward is us along for the ride on his trip. There's ample evidence for both... Seeing things going on outside of his experience (chats with the bad guys and whatnot) would certainly make it seem like it actually happened. The various hints like "Blue Skies on Mars" being the name of his trip or the fade to white at the end could have you thinking they're going all Blade Runner on us and trying to get us to question the reality. Then there are bits like the girl of his dreams being a character later that could serve either interpretation. Personally, I'm going with Door C and saying that the filmmakers were haphazardly attempting to straddle the line between both possibilities to instill ambiguity that the real villain is the inconsistency of the script. It's not Prometheus-level bad or anything, but it does smack more of them not really having fully planned out what they wanted to do, as opposed to deftly placing hints or sowing the seeds of doubt.

Ahnold Quotient - 10

Pretty strong amount of AQ being tossed around in these scenes. From the arrogance of Hauser to the bloody violence just for the sake of bloody violence, this one really lets the Ahnold flag fly. Couple that with some (hopefully) intentionally cheesy sequences (bug in skull removal) and dialog ("Consider that a divorce") and we're definitely hitting all the beats with this one. Toss in a smattering of Arnold not really seeming completely invested in the movie and I think we have our first good example of the archetypal Schwarzenegger movie. Woot!

Rewatchability - Sure, why not

Wouldn't really go out of my way to pop it in, but wouldn't argue it if it was suggested by someone or the Blu-ray looked at me funny. It's a good ride and it's classic Arnold, it's just falling further down the list of my favorites the more of his other movies I rewatch.

[4815162342]

"Get Your Ass To Mars!"/10

[The Stingray]

One of Arnie's best for sure.

[Jack Nevada]

Entertaining but not my favorite Arnie movie. Or my favorite Paul Verhoven movie.

[RobinHood26]

How can you not like this movie? Classic Sci-fi action pics and one of the last big movies to not have CGI and its aged wonderfully. Tied with Predator for my favorite non Terminator Arnold film. 

 

A- (92)

Edited September 21, 2015 by Jay Hollywood

[RobinHood26]

.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Jay Hollywood

[Thrylos 7]

Paul Verhoven was a genius those days, this and robocop are just two examples . Great adventure and just like commando too bad we never got a sequel .

[JohnnyGossamer]

Hmm... This is second only to RoboCop for me in respect to Verhoven. And, so far as Arnold's concerned, second only to Terminator. Great surrealist, cartoon violence and brilliant set decor. An awesome voyage into the weird.

 

A.

[The Futurist]

Probably the most violent blockbuster ever made. This film is so bloody it s not even funny.Arnold using corpses as shield in the subway is classic.The scene where he escapes from the total recall chair, he kills all the scientists and it is a glorious butchery.A+.Great story, great Arnie, great Sharon, great everything.

[Deep Wang]

Probably the most violent blockbuster ever made. This film is so bloody it s not even funny.Arnold using corpses as shield in the subway is classic.The scene where he escapes from the total recall chair, he kills all the scientists and it is a glorious butchery.A+.Great story, great Arnie, great Sharon, great everything.

Actually, Hot Shots Part Deux is the bloodiest movie ever. It took the title from Total Recall.