Total Recall (1990)

[Ash]

Ok, I borrowed Total Recall from a buddy of mine and watched it for the first time in at least a year or two last night.

Now I've seen this one many times and it is definitely one of my favorites.

As you well know, this film liked to toy with you to make you wonder if what was happening was real or not.

Was Quaid really strapped into that chair at Recall the whole time or was he really Hauser who worked for the vile Cohaagen and led a double life as a spy?
Was everything implanted memories or was it real?

I have never read the original story by Phillip K. Dick but I have seen the film at least 10 times since its release in 1990.

The film never really comes out and tells you what's what in the end....that is left up to us...the audience.

What do you think?

Was it all REAL?
Or was it all memories implanted into Quaid's brain at Recall?

Of all the times I've seen this film I have never really had closure as to what was really/not really happening.

Maybe one of you can shed some light on it for me.



Post Edited (04-16-04 06:08)

[TheEvilDoctor]

Well, like you said before it never becomes really clear wether he's in that chair and just 'experiencing' his vacation. There are several hints that he is though. Like the person 'intruding' into his memories to tell him he's in danger and that he's still in the chair. Why would they want to implant a memory like that in an adventure like this? It would break down the authenticy of his memory if something like that came along.  Also everything they decided would happen, happens (he saves the world, gets the girl etc) but still, they don't show Quaid waking up in the Recall facility when the movie ends.

I would like to know more too, because it's been a while since I've seen it (don't own it on dvd sadly...... but I wanna go out and get it now because of you :) so my memory might be a bit rusty.

[JohnL]

I thought I read somewhere (this board maybe?) that on the DVD commentary, the director pretty much says that the whole thing is a dream.

[ulthar]

I think the makers of the movie left that for each individual to decide.  For my part, I have always favored the "it's an artificial memory" take, as it is just TOO much like the vacation memory he was buying.

Pretty cool flick, on many levels.

[trekgeezer]

Memory tricks aside , I  hate this movie.  Something about it seems mean spirited .  I mean Quaid is supposed to be the innocent good guy (or thinks he is), yet shields himself from gunfire with innocent bystanders?

And I could never get over the ridiculousness of the ending where they almost get the eyes sucked out of their heads and when the atmosphere gets up to pressure their eyes aren't even blood shot and they have suffered no ill effects whatsoever.    I'm sorry but this ruined the whole thing for me.

[Neville]

I agree with ulthar. Philip K. Dick loved alternate realities, it is one of the things that almost always appear in his books, and the makers of the film tried to reconcile both possibilities in the ending and at ceretain points of the story. For instance:

1) When Quaid is sitting in the chair and the man at Recall explains him the storyline of his "dream", we see the scenario of the climax in the background monitors.

2) Quaid asks  the man from Recall about "past accidents" using the chair. Has this been incorporated into the Recall plots? If it is so, those guys are really edgy. But again, the whole movie is quite edgy.

3) There is the possibility that Quaid is insane or unsatisfied with his life to the point he has psychological problems. He beds a blonde (who is Sharon Stone!), but fantasizes with a brunnette, has a crappy job and is patronized by his workmates. Part of the Recall "dream" may use this to create scenes where he does what he really would want to: savagely murder those who try to control him and fulfil his fantasies of travelling to Mars. The scenarios seen in the beginning, when Quaid's routine is explained, are later the settings of some of this fantasies: he fights his wife in their apartment, he murders his workmate on the premises he visits everyday on his way to work, and the scan / scalator he also uses becomes the scenario for a shootot. Being a psycopath could be the reason why Quaid uses a bystander as a shield, and even the cause of the chair malfunctioning, if you want to believe that. Actually. Quaid could be living a dream the whole time and desire to stay instead of waking up.

4) In the epilogue, Quaid questions himself. Is this real or not? The scene fades to white instead of fading to black, which is the usual thing. Verhoeven could be implying that Quaid is waking up then or that there is somethin "unusual" in the scene.

[AndyC]

Actually, most of Total Recall was written for the film. The original Dick story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, is different and quite a bit simpler, with a real twist ending. I highly recommend it.

Just the same, Total Recall does borrow elements from some of Dick's other stories, and captures the spirit of his work pretty well. I think he would have approved.



Post Edited (04-17-04 09:05)

[JohnL]

One thing that's always bugged me about this movie; If I understand the idea of Recall as used in the movie, they don't offer VR vacations, where you live the experience in real-time, or even as a dream. They implant the memories of the trip into your mind, so it seems like you've actually been there. How would that be satisfying to anyone?

Consider this; You go on a trip and have a great time, you come home, unpack and plop down in your favorite chair to think about your trip. Now imagine skipping the trip itself and going straight to remembering it. Would you be happy with that?

[ulthar]

How would you know the difference, if the implant was good enough?

[Scott]

This is possibly my favorite Arnold film of all time. Great subject and a excellent film.

[Desslar]

Fun film, but it came out a few years before Jurassic Park kicked off the second special effects revolution (1st being Star Wars) and thus it looks a bit rocky on repeat viewings.  I don't care for scenes where it is painfully obvious that they are shooting on a set.  I felt this particularly strongly when they are in that town on Mars (the place where the oxygen gets cut off).

[Scott]

I must apologize. CONAN THE BARBARIAN is the best Arnold film ever with TOTAL RECALL and RUNNING MAN following.

TERMINATOR, PREDATOR, and ERASER are ok. Still haven't seen the latest TERMINATOR film, nor THE SIXTH DAY.



Post Edited (04-20-04 08:58)

[Desslar]

Scott wrote:
> TERMINATOR, PREDATOR, and ERASER are ok. Still haven't seen the
> latest TERMINATOR film, nor THE SIXTH DAY.
> Post Edited (04-20-04 08:58)

T3 is the best serious action film Arnold has done since, well, T2.  Sixth Day is better than Eraser but the action is fairly tame.

[Jim Hepler]

"yet shields himself from gunfire with innocent bystanders?"

The guy was already dead.  Just felt I had to toss that in.  Verhoeven HAS mentioned that the reason the movie fades to white instead of black as that is like him waking up.

[Scott]

Thanks Dessler, I'll put those two on my list.