Total Recall

Love.this.film!

Although I've always wondered how Cronenberg's version would have turned out...

The Cronenberg question will always muddy my love for total Recall a bit. It's a really fun film, and like Verhoven's other great American action films it can actually work on an intelectual level (mostly satire again), but imagining what Cronenberg might've done with the material hurts.

fuck cronenberg.

he never would have written that excellent hologram scene near the end of the movie. "you think im the real quaid...hahahahahahaahahaha...I AM"

Also, i for one didn't feel the movie kicked into high gear till Arnie "got his ass to mars"

I wonder if cronenberg would have kept Benny in the movie had he done the film.

If Cronenberg had made it I bet Kuato would have been coming out of that dude's scrotum sack.

Verhoeven delivered on every level with this one. If he hadn't been involved not only would we be missing his film, but we'd also be missing his delightful commentary with Arnold. That would be devastating.

Arnold: "It's one thing to shoot somebody, its another thing to shoot somebody in the back, and its another thing to shoot a woman in the back"

Verhoeven: "Ehhhh a woman with three breasts!"

Arnold: "The three breasts exactly."

I'd like to believe Cronenberg's ideas with duality (A theme in Total Recall), were fleshed out in A History of Violence.

you know what theme was fully fleshed out in Verhoven's movie?

ASS KICKING

Total Recall is quite excellent...but not as good as Robocop or Starship Troopers.

Don't forget about the fleshed-out sub-theme of ASS KICKING:

HUMAN SHIELD

Wasn't Bruce Beresford attached to this at some point as well?

Directors come and go, but I've always wondered what this would have been like with somebody other than Arnold in the lead. If somebody else was there, I might actually question the themes and conventions in the movie, instead of just waiting for Arnie's quip switch to go off, and it becomes him saving the planet. As it plays now, to me anyway, it's more of a satire on American action movies of the time and Arnie's own personallty than anything else. Still love it.

As far as the identity crisis theme goes, the scene that always sticks out is when he's about to go under, at Rekall, and the female composite on the monitor is Rachel Ticotin. There's a few other bits of dialogue around there that kind of hammer the point home that what your seeing is complete bullshit from here on out. There is evidence to the contrary, and that's my point, with Arnie in the role I never even think he's just some doofus on a virtual vacation, he actually is a secret agent and it's all real.

Arnold does hava a lot of fun with the role, especially the pre Mars stuff where he's supposed to be an every day blue collar schlub. Wish they would have spent a little more time with this, instead of hustling him off the Rekall so quickly.

Where do you all stand? Is the shit going down on Mars for real?

Yeah, it's probably all a dream. And agree the fun is all in the beginning. Once he teams up with Kuato and the resistance, it's a come down.

The secret weapon here is Michael Ironside. Great villain.

Total Recall is my favorite Schwarzenegger flick, and one of 3 movies that I refer to as my "number 1 favorite movie of all time" Couldn't decide on either of three, so just made them into a union.

The main theme is one of the greatest themes ever. Jerry Goldsmith made an amazing score. Can't go wrong with all the awesome action in it. Verhoeven had a great one,two punch with Robocop and Total Recall.

Can we just rename the "Films in Release or On Video" board to "Popular Films I Don't Like to Make Myself Feel Smart"?

It was intentionally made ambiguous, but according to wikipedia, the commentaries have Verhoeven and Arnie say they think it's a dream.

This is easily my favorite Arnold movie.

And I tend to fall on the side that says it's all real. Mostly because I just hate the whole "it's all a dream!" cliche. I know the film leans towards dream, but that doesn't mean I have to believe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIG-qXkXtKc


Best Line of Dialogue

Of course, if it is a dream, then the end of the movie is Quaid being lobotomized.

Exactly. That's no fun. Quaid is Arnold's most likable character. Who wants him to be lobotomized?

I've always taken it as being real as well. "I AM QUAID!"

10 BEST THINGS ABOUT TOTAL RECALL

I can never get enough of these ^ gifs.

Verhoeven is the king of the satirical scifi ultra-violence subgenre. His triad of ROBOCOP/TOTAL RECALL/STARSHIP TROOPERS is unsurpassed.

It's both. They cheated.

• Arnold sees Melina in the Dream at the beginning. (It's real.)
  
• You see Melina at Rekall before he goes under. (It's a dream.)
  
• They explain the whole story within the dream before he goes under. (It's a dream.)
  
• The 'ya blabbed Quaid' guy and Sharon Stone with their hesitating looks when Quaid isn't looking. (It's real.)

If everything that happens after the injection is a dream, how did he know about Melina before he went there? If it was a schizoid embolism, why did he schizoid out the exact story in his mind?

On the commentary Arnold is pretty sure it's real and Verhoven is pretty sure it's a dream.

I wouldn't want a guy like Quaid porkin' mah old lady!

I love this movie, although it does tend to lose a bit of momentum once it shifts to Mars. The practical effects almost rival what was done in 'the Thing'. The real trumph of this movie is that it works BOTH ways, 'real' or 'dream'.

I remember that Jonathan Frakes was looking at doing a sequel to it a few years ago. Does anyone know what his take on it was going to be?

Exactly, as Ahnold would say on the commentary. these are plotholes, not intriguing twists. It doesn't make sense. But apart from that I love the movie.

Easily the most quotable Arnold one-liners.

Screw you!

Consider that a divorce!

See you at the party Richter!

Nice knowing you!

I could go on and on.

What's the techie guy say, "Blue sky on Mars, that's a new one." Something like that. There's plenty of evidence that it is all bullshit, but like I said before, casting Arnold kind of negates all that.

Which would be the best DVD release of this to get? I'm finding quite a few different ones.

Beat me. I've only ever owned the Artisan not so special edition which boasts one of the worst transfers I've seen.

I went through the same thing, then settled on the ten dollar version that came with T2.

I've got the circular one. Cool idea. but in practise it's annoying.

I always thought it was real, one because I like a happy ending now and then, and two the scene right after Quaid goes to Rekall and they try to implant his 'vacation.' When the scientists start freaking out, Arnold is out cold and we're no longer seeing things from his viewpoint, so I take it to mean that that scene is real, the vacation was never implanted and everything that follows really happens.

Technician: Sir, the oxygen level is bottoming out in Sector G. What do you want me to do about it?
Cohaagen: Don't do anything.
Technician: But they won't last an hour, sir.
Cohaagen: Fuck 'em. It'll be a good lesson to the others.

I really wonder how many times people in power (anywhere) think or speak like this. Cohaagen - my favorite asshole.

Because of ROBOCOP & TOTAL RECALL, I'm always a little surprised that Ronny Cox doesn't do anything villainous in the BEVERLY HILLS COPS flicks (and I've seen them plenty of times).

He had to be back home in time for corn flakes.

EDIT: By the way, I watched Deep Blue Sea again recently and saw Ronnie Cox make a totally silent cameo as Samuel L. Jackson's boss while Saffron Burrows tosses Alzheimer's statistics at the audience. How can you cast Cox and not let him say anything!?

I love this movie. I side on the theory that it's really happening because I don't like the "it's all a dream" thing either.

EDIT2: So that air-making machine... It's supposed to be a positive thing, but Cohagen (give the people eh-uh!) STRENUOUSLY OBJECTS to it being turned on. At first you think it's just because he's a greedy bastard who would lose out if the machine is turned on. But when everyone is horizontal from the wind tunnel and his life is at stake, the guy is STILL adamant that the machine shouldn't be turned on. Like he really believes that it would have a negative effect on Mars. He dies holding to his message. I respect that.

I mean honestly... how long could Mars survive by melting the ice underneath its surface for air?

I was under the impression that Cohagen and company get rich by selling air as well as using it as a control in case the peasants get uppity.

Thus, an atmosphere means they lose both.

You bigot! They weren't all black! Heh.

Anyway, I did mention that I was aware that Cohagen would lose all his power should Mars get free air. I was just kinda jokingly theorizing as to why the guy was still harping on that even in the face of certain death.

Well yeah, he just really doesn't like black people. Hope Kanye West doesn't hear about how Cohagen treats people on Mars.

I think it's a dream, but there are plenty of reasons to support both theories.

My main reasoning? Before the "air machines" blew the mountaintop, Melina and Quaid would have been irreversibly fucked when they were wigging out on the hill. Weak, I know.

Anyways, I love the flick. Verhoeven is some sort of weird filmmaking god. I still really need to see his old Dutch films.

Apart from a bad case of 80's-hair this film's aged great. God, it never ceases to entertain me. Arnie using that one guy as a human shield on the elevators is one of the most gleefully and needlessly violent scenes ever.

As for what's actually happening, I'm pretty sure that it's all the trip he paid for. Apart from Quaid having his entire trip described to him in detail and Melina being on the monitor at Rekall I noticed, for the first time, that when the technician asks him if he wants to "standard-grade" some alien stuff and it flips through a bunch of pictures, one of the pictures is an exact rendering of the alien reactor seen later in the film. Seems pretty conclusive to me.

I can never hear the words "two weeks" without thinking of this movie.

I've owned this on DVD for so long and foolishly never listened to the commentary. Now I think about it, it could well be too awesome for me to comprehend.

Every time I hear about this movie I'm reminded of the time I met the guy who played the doctor. Of course at the time, I knew him from Picket Fences.

Verhoeven and Arnold's commentary pretty much put the nail in the coffin as far as "Is this the trip he paid for?".

Verhoeven even went so far as to suggest that people undergoing cortical stimulation see a bright white light when they get a lobotomy.

Well, he does have a degree in mathematics, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

If I remember correctly, Christopher Reeve was once considered for this movie. Food for thought.

You have to listen to Arnolds commentary on the first Conan movie too. Gold.

Bumping this thread as talk of a remake got me thinking.

I always thought it was a dream simply because he got exactly what he wanted from recall. That and the fact the package he buys is called blue sky on mars. I fully expected the end of the story to be him waking up having killed the bad guys and got the girl.

What i love most about this flick is that for an 80's actioner it actually gets you thinking.

ARE YOU SAYING SHE LIKED IT?!?!

Another note worth mentioning. In a book I picked up covering all of Arnold's films, it said a number of scenes were trimmed to avoid an NC-17 including a close-up of Benny getting drilled and a more violent escape from the memory implantation room. I've always held out hope for a "director's cut" similar to the Robocop one but my wishes still remain unanswered.

No I'm sure she hated every minute of it.