Introduction:
For about a decade director
Paul Verhoeven was a wild-man of Hollywood films. When Robocop literally exploded on the screens in 1987, it introduced
his satirical, blood spattered, very R rated world. And viewers loved it (well
until he did Showgirls, but that’s
another story). Verhoeven tackled three sci-fi flicks in that run, and Total Recall was right in the middle.
The question is, did Verhoeven overreach with this film, or did he hit that
over-the-top sweet spot?
Summary:
Douglas Quaid (Arnold
Schwarzenegger) is your typical construction worker with a sexy wife, Lori
(Sharon Stone). Since Quaid lives in the future, he has a dream of traveling to
colonies on Mars. No seriously, he has this dream all the time. He sees a commercial
for a company called Rekall that can actually implant memories in your mind. So
you can remember the great vacation to Mars you’ve never actually taken. Quaid
heads over to Recall, and they convince him to try the deluxe package, where
they implant a fantasy version of the vacation – where you are a spy on a
dangerous secret mission: essentially a futuristic James Bond. Quaid loves the
idea and goes for it.
Well, there is one little
problem, as Quaid undergoes the procedure, his mind snaps. His brain is flooded
with memories of being a real secret agent, with a real objective. He starts to
backtrack and realizes that Quaid isn’t a real person, his real name is Hauser
and he is on a mission that involves a dangerous rebel leader on Mars.
Meanwhile a relentless hired gun named Richter (Michael Ironside) pursues him,
and a man named Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) seems to be playing both sides of the
table. Hauser also meets the girl of his dreams (literally) when he runs into
the sexy Melina (Rachel Ticotin) on Mars. Can she help him make sense of all
these memories, or is it going to take a case of Total Recall to find a solution to this puzzle.
Good Points:
- Some wonderfully executed
action scenes
- A propulsive and exciting
score by Jerry Goldsmith
- A fun plot that twists,
turns and doubles back on itself
Bad Points:
- The satirical undercurrent
may undermine the film for some viewers
- Not the least bit accurate
in its portrayal of Mars
- If you don’t like Arnold,
then you won’t like this movie
Overall:
Verhoeven takes Arnold and
the viewers on quite a ride. The script always keeps you guessing with which
direction it actually is heading. The violence is over the top but visceral.
The sci-fi imagery is a lot of fun, and there is a lot of humor and satire in
the film. It is really a well-balanced thrill ride that is still as
entertaining now as it was when it came out.
Scores
(out of 5)
Visuals: 5
Sound: 4
Acting: 4
Script: 4
Music: 5
Direction: 5
Entertainment: 5
Total: 4
In Depth Review
 |
Doesn't matter if you call him Quaid or Hauser,
he's still Arnie all the way. |
In recent years I’ve seen a
bit of a backlash against Total Recall,
with some viewers calling it cheesy, silly and just plain dumb. I’m not sure if
these were people that were clamoring for a remake that we eventually got in
2012. But after that film landed with a bit of a thud, the backlash seemed to
have calmed down a bit. But really my question to all those folks who declare
this 1990 film “cheesy” is this: have you ever seen a Paul Verhoeven film
before?
First and foremost this is a
Verhoeven flick from beginning to end. Doesn’t matter if Arnold Schwarzenegger
is in the film. Doesn’t matter if this is based on a story by Philip K. Dick.
Doesn’t matter that you’ve got Jerry Goldsmith cranking out an awesome sci-fi
score. Verhoeven was in charge and so the movie was going to have all his
quirks, his satirical look at life and that crazy over-the-top ultra violence
that was his hallmark. Either you can get on board with that or you’re gonna
find the movie to be… well cheesy I guess.
 |
I've got a headache this big, and it's got virtual reality
written all over it. |
Total Recall
has some excellent visuals going for it, especially when you consider the film
was made in 1990. We hadn’t quite hit the full bore CG effect boom that would
be ushered in by Jurassic Park, so
most of the effects work you see in the film is practical stuff. The scenes are
Mars are the visual highlights with some really cool miniatures and matte
paintings adding scope to the film. The production design gives Mars a real
lived in quality, especially in the slum areas Quaid ends up visiting. There is
a feeling of oppression in the design and look of these areas. I especially
like the use of red lighting, particularly in Cohagen’s office. Red is a key
color in the film, showing up several times in various production elements (and
not just in the gore being spattered about). You could take this as a visual
cue that all the red is tied to fact that Quaid is not living these events but
dreaming them.
Beyond the literal “red
planet” motif, there is also some very interesting work for the alien
technology that we see in the film. The size and geometric look of it reminds
me of the giant beehive in Mysterious
Island, in some ways. It is a sharp contrast to the human colony settings,
and the ones used on earth.
The movie does take some
extreme liberties with its portrayal of Mars. The way the atmosphere affects an
unprotected human is all wrong. The red lighting and even the shade of red used
by the production team is way off. However most of this can be explained away
if you buy into the fact that Quaid is imaging all of this. He wouldn’t have a
firm idea of what Mars is really like, except what he knows from movies.
 |
Johnny Cab is a glimpse of our future - now I'm
really scared! |
For the scenes on earth, Total Recall goes for a more near
future look. Nothing is really too out of touch from our world. But there are
neat little touches that tell us that we are in a world where technology
advanced enough to give people some additional creature comforts. Every women
I’ve known who’s seen this movie, comments on the receptionists nail color
changing device. Johnny Cab (voiced by Robert Picardo of all people) is an immediately
memorable character. In some ways it still has that 80s vision of the future,
something that reminds me a bit of the classic Bubblegum Crisis series. It all adds to the film’s charm.
Sound effects are pretty
solid in the film. Nothing super crazy in the design department. Since the film
occurs in the near future, most of what we hear is familiar sound effects from
our own time. But the explosions and gunshots pack a real punch, and what else
can you ask for from an action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Total Recall
represents some of the best action music from Jerry Goldsmith’s long career.
The most interesting element is his use of electronic sounds to supplement the
orchestra and provide a bit of a futuristic sound to the score. This is a
favorite of mine from my favorite composer, so I wrote a whole blog about the
music that you can read here. Suffice to say it supports the film wonderfully,
and even has a couple of satirical moments of it’s own.
 |
Exotic locals, dangerous locals and seductive women
yep, it's Bond in space! |
At some point, the
combination of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven had to happen. You had
one of the biggest action stars of the 80s with a director who understood how
to film a great over-the-top action scene. How could this not work? For me this
is one of Arnold’s best performances. He does a good job with all the aspects
of Quaid, from the construction worker who is almost content with his life to
the man on the run from a shadowy organization out to kill him. He actually
looks afraid in this film, something that we really hadn’t seen too much of in
films like Commando or Terminator. This role allowed Arnold to
be confused, afraid and even a bit helpless at times. The exact opposite of
what a super spy is supposed to be. But I also love when he plays Hauser in the
recordings. That guy is such a jerk, really a 180 from the Quaid character we
know. You can tell Arnold is just have a good time in this film, and that kind
of energy really helps carry the audience along for the ride, and matches the
energy that Verhoeven injects into the film.
Matching his enthusiasm is
Ronny Cox as Cohaagen. Between Robocop
and Total Recall Cox was one of the
best villains of the late 80s and early 90s. Not as smooth as say David Warner
or Alan Rickman, Cox still had a sense of command about him. In this film he’s
a bit of a blowhard, but he is still in control (or likes to think he is). He’s
a great bad guy you love to hate. Matched with him is Michael Ironside as the hot-tempered
Richter. Ironside has a real intensity in this role, almost going over the top,
but remaining believable as a guy who just hates Quaid. The fires of jealousy
burn strong, because Quaid was sleeping with his girl.
 |
| Sharon foreshadows her skills for "Basic Instinct". |
And when that girl is Sharon
Stone, well who can blame him. Stone as Lori really steams up the screen in
nearly all her scenes. You almost get the feeling that she is actually more
dangerous than Richter or Cohaagen. She has a couple great fight scenes
including one with Melina. It’s a shame Lori makes her exit about halfway
through the film, a little more of that bad girl wouldn’t have hurt.
Rachel Ticotin as Melina
turns out to be Quaid’s dream girl. She plays the role just as the script
describes her, a combination of demure and sexy. She is one tough girl, and
shares in the action and danger of the second half of the film with Quaid.
Ticotin gives the part a lot of personality and you genuinely like her.
The script to Total Recall was probably the initiator
of the virtual reality film craze that eventually hit in the late 90s. While we
can probably go back to Tron as the
grandfather of these movies, Total
Recall was one of the first mind bender flick made for a large audience.
When the film came out it sparked lots of discussion and I knew several people
who saw the film twice just to see if there were clues to the reality we were
seeing in the film. Essentially it was the Inception
of 1990.
 |
| Red: the color of blood, oppression and Mars. |
What helped the film was the
satire that kept the film from getting too serious. Sure there were plenty of
Arnold one liners in the script, but there were also moments like the whole
Johnny Cab sequence, or the bizarre fat woman costume that Arnold uses to sneak
onto Mars. There is also a touch of social satire, not quite as obvious as the
material in Robocop. But I like how
a guy like Quaid, who has a really great life, can actually be so dissatisfied
with it that he would risk a lobotomy. Depending on how you view the ending, he
may end up brain dead.
Total Recall works as well as it does because of the way Verhoeven keeps the plot
and action moving. Things do twist around, and the audience it kept guessing,
but the ride is constantly fun. There is also a bizarre visual, intense action
scene or funny one liner around the next corner. You can sit back and take in
the explosions and blood. You can try to figure out if this is all a dream. Or
you can realize that Total Recall is
a solid piece of entertainment by a crew and cast at the top of their game. For
me, it is the best of Verhoeven’s sci-fi trilogy (including Robocop and Starship Troopers), and certainly superior to Hollowman. Revisiting it, I was surprised how much fun the movie
was, and how well it held up.
 |
| In the end, we all got our asses to Mars. |
Part of Hitchcock's World: Blogathon: Journey Across the Cosmos Through Film.
