Total Recall

More sci-fi movies from Schwarzenegger? I am not too sure if I want to see anymore sci-fi after watching The Running Man. I mean The Terminator series is great, but now I am thinking that was one shot greatness. Then again, “Total Recall” gets high praise from a lot the general public as being a fantastic action movie with interesting sci-fi elements. And I really can’t go a month devoted to Arnold without seeing this one. All the details after the jump, like usual.

Douglas Quaid (Arnold) wakes up from a nightmare, where he is gasping for breath on Mars. This dream is reoccurring and for some reason he has this fascination to go to Mars. But when he wakes up and joins the real world his wife (Sharon Stone) is there to calm him down. Quaid decides, instead of going to Mars, why he doesn’t just implant a memory of him taking a vacation there. He goes to Rekall Inc. and gets that procedure done. Too bad it goes horribly wrong; it seems he is already been implanted with memories. He later finds out that the last 6 weeks of his life have been a lie, instead he is a secret agent for Mars working for Cohaagen, or is he? He’s been pumped with so many memories Quaid isn’t sure what is true and what is all just an illusion. But he has to get to the bottom of it all before he gets assassinated by one of Cohaagen’s men.

I also have Sharon in my dreams as my wife.

This is by far one of the most flip floppy stories I’ve watched in a long while. Especially when it has to do with reality and illusions, last great film I’ve seen tackle this element was “Inception”. But to see Arnold pull off one of these roles is impressive. I thought he did a great job carrying out his role as both Quaid and his evil counter persona Hauser. Sadly this is the only good acting from the movie; because it also is filled with terrible acting at times. To be more specific, I find it laughable when any of these actors are trying to act out pain. Their facial impression and screams make it so unbelievable. But this is just a minor complaint, especially when this movie is so good.

Why is it so good you ask? Simple, the action and mindfucks that come with this movie is truly spectacular. Let me start off with the action, this might be only second to Terminator 2. There are gun fights everywhere, explosions and amazing fight scenes. I was on the edge of my seat all the way through this movie. Secondly, the story always had me questioning what was real or not. I’ll agree that at a few times it seemed a bit predictable. But most of the movie I wasn’t sure what was the truth and what was just a memory. It is great that the story unfolds on pace with Quaid, you don’t know any more than him.

Mars looks amazing!

I was rather shocked on how well the special effects held up. This movie was released in 1990, and the movie still looks good. Mars landscape looks nice, especially the way it was shot. And the cities on Mars did look a bit over the top, but it is a sci-fi world. They needed to look a bit over the top to keep the movie looking fresh. So yes the movie isn’t an eye sore to watch, which a pleasant thing as always. One small thing though, whenever Quaid used the mirror hologram thing, it did stand out a bit so you could tell if he was a hologram. But this was only obvious when he had to fade out during that scene, so that was more the lack of technologies fault.

One thing really freaked me out thought. It was whenever anyone was outside the Mars dome; their heads would blow up due to the lack of oxygen. Forgetting the fact this wouldn’t happen theoretically, when the heads swelled up and the eyes stuck out. It made me uncomfortable to watch it, until it happened to Quaid and it made me giggle like a school girl. His face just makes light of the situation.

Creepy, but funny.

Sadly there aren’t a lot of one liners in the movie, I guess it was there to keep a more serious tone. I would of loved a few. But that is only because I was expecting it whenever Quaid made a kill, I was just hoping for something cheesy … and nothing good came out of his mouth.

Overall I enjoyed Total Recall a fair amount. Even with its small flaws, I can consider this a good action movie and not just an Arnold action movie. Though I doubt anyone could play a better Quaid than Arnold. Actually to think about it, it would have been cool to see Bruce Willis or Colin Farrell as Quaid. WAIT A MINUTE, they are making a new one?! Awesome. Lastly, if I woke up from a dream and had Sharon Stone as my wife. I’d still think I’d be dreaming, one of those two tier dreams. I mean look at her, she is stunning!

Arnold Rating:

One-liners: Very few, very lacking. But it keeps the movie serious, which is good … I guess.

Action: Amazing, lots of it and it is all good. This movie’s action is only a notch below Terminator 2 and Predator.