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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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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?

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

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

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).

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)

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.

"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.

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

   I loved this movie when I first saw it in a theater. I kind of hate in now. IT DOES seem mean-spirited. I bought it on DVD at Walmart a few months ago, and I wish I hadn't! I hadn't seen it in a few years. I still repeat "Two Weeks" the way the fat lady did, when ever somebody mentions something  take two weeks, however.

>DROPO wrote:

>I still repeat "Two Weeks" the way the fat lady did, when ever somebody >mentions something take two weeks, however.

I thought I was the only one who did that!

My wife and I will watch this on occasion - we decide at the beginning which side of the fence we'll take, either (a) it's all a dream or (b) it's all real.

Makes for good repeat viewings.

Disclaimer: These are simply some of my views. Things that have crossed my mind over time and mutipal viewings. I am willing to consider or except other explanations and have an open mind to what others beileve is there interruptions of events.

I have written this down in note form as 1.) I am not a good writer and 2.) it was easiler for me to keep track of certain points of interest while keeping the plotline somewhat in order.

Now I suggest to you to OPEN YOUR MIND...Open your Mind.......open your mind. 

Tagline: What would you do if someone stole your mind?

Teaser trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3TXc5Befzo
An interesting Teaser trailer. I must say, very thought provoking.

"Your mind it is the centre of life. it is everything you hear. everything you see. everything you feel. it is everything you are. how would you know if someone stole your mind."

Reality versus Dream

let me just get this out of the way. I believe in the end he's a vegatable, he's dreaming, he's created his own reality within his mind etc. Obviously because of this I'm going to go into more detail as to why I think it's a dream. While not spend too much time that it could be reality.

I do disagree with this point of view.

I don't give consideration. I don't adhere to the possiblility that one thing makes it a dream or one thing makes it a reality. The material is too strong. It's based on Dick's book and directed by Verhoeven too smart individuals this film is not that simple to evaluate.
 
For Example: The idea that sweat automatically makes it reality is silly considering within that same scene Dr. Edgemar is also describing events that will transpire over the rest of the film. essentially telling Quaid how is dream will play out.

[Quaid points a gun at Dr. Edgemar's head]
Douglas Quaid: All right, let's say you're telling the truth and this is all a dream. I could pull this trigger and it won't matter.
Dr. Edgemar: It won't make the slightest difference to me Doug, but the consequences to you will be devastating. In your mind, I'll be dead, and with no one to guide you out, you'll be stuck here in permanent psychosis. The walls of reality will come crashing down around you. One minute, you're the savior of the rebel cause; next thing you know, you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy. You'll even have fantasies about alien civilizations as you requested; but in the end, back on Earth, you'll be lobotomized! So get a grip on yourself, Doug, and put down that gun!

Or seeing Melina just before he's put under at rekall that this some how tips the scale in favour of it being a dream. Consider this, He's already seen Melina in his dream(s) at the begining of the film. I would suggest a few things. One he's being drugged as he sees her image on the srceen. Two, it's from his point of view and no one elses which three could suggest a hallucination brought on by the drug that they have given him.

Another point to be brought up in the "going under" sequence at rekall is the storyline created for him - Called Ego trip; alien articfacts, secret agents, a basic description of a women that looks and acts like Melina and this bit of dialogue.

Bob McClane: What is it that is exactly the same about every single vacation you have ever taken?
Douglas Quaid: I give up.
Bob McClane: You! You're the same. No matter where you go, there you are. It's always the same old you. Let me suggest that you take a vacation from yourself. I-I know it sounds wild. It is the latest thing in travel. We call it the Ego Trip.

which just so happens to fellow his so called real identity Hauser and the mentioning of Blue Sky on Mars is a big give away. Verhoeven is laying it on pretty thick here.

Intentional.

Verhoeven consistently gives weight to the idea that it could all possible be going on within Quaid's head once he's at rekall. Also there's more evidence pointing towards it being a dream rather then reality but there's a reason for this as well.

The reason

The use of Arnold Schwarzenegger the actor being in the lead role which would suggest the capabliity of Arnold's character Quaid/Hauser begining able to do the things he does in the film with a certain amount of believability. That goes in toe with any Arnie film you watch. Therefor making Verhoeven task less difficult in the reality side of things a more demanding in the dream angle said of things.
   
The film starts with are main character Quaid he's dreaming he's on Mars with Melina which just so happens to be the women of his dreams HA HA. There walking along when Quaid looses his footing and falls braking open is protective helmet exposing himself to mars elements.

So are real journey begins or so where lead to beileve. Quaid/Hauser attempts to find away out of this nightmare that as his wife says he keeps on having. The fear of being unable to breath yadda yadda yadda. So for the rest of the film where lead by his imagination his need to create breathable air on mars and therefor escape his nightmare. Maybe a little far fetched, I know.

You have to consider the context of how each scene fellows each scene.

things to consider, points of interest.

Dr. Lull: [after Quaid goes crazy at Rekall] Listen to me, he's been going on and on about Mars. He's really been there.
Bob McClane: Use your head, you dumb b***h! He's just acting out the secret agent portion of his Ego Trip.
Dr. Lull: I'm afraid that's not possible.
Bob McClane: Why not?
Dr. Lull: Because we haven't implanted it yet!

At rekall they don't eraser your memory they add to it. What better place to start ones ego trip then in the chair that's giving you your new memories. Of course, one can also look at this dialogue and simply say no, that's what's really happening to him.

Dr. Edgemar: What's bulls**t, Mr. Quaid? That you're having a paranoid episode triggered by acute neuro-chemical trauma? Or that you're really an invincible secret agent from Mars who's the victim of an interplanetary conspiracy to make him think he's a lowly construction worker? Stop punishing yourself, Doug. You're a fine, upstanding man. You have a beautiful wife who loves you. Your whole life is ahead of you. But you've got to want to return to reality.

I like how right after this dialogue is spoken. His so called Wife plays it so unsincerely it's such a juxtaposition of what's reality and what's not. Mind f**k to the fulliest.

Consider this. How many times does Quaid/Hauser get hit in the nuts or grab in the nether-regions. Would this be considered a fear one brings to his dreams.

I read somewhere along the lines that he's isn't necessary dreaming he's already been to rekall had his ego trip and has come out of it delusional or psychotic.
 
Harry: Hey, Quaid.
Douglas Quaid: Harry.
Harry: How was your trip to Mars?
Douglas Quaid: What trip?
Harry: You went to Rekall, remember?
Douglas Quaid: I did?
Harry: Yeah, you did. I told you not to, but you went anyway.
Douglas Quaid: What are you, my father?

Your best friends is out to get you. Your wife's trying to kill you (multipal times). I thought that was defaintly an interesting slant on the film.

A few weird things to think about.

Why if the future is so tech heavy. Why is Quaid seen still using a basic jack hammer. Wouldn't manual labour be at least a little less intensive in the future. It Brings to mind the image of Johnny Cab. Why wouldn't there be a more futuristic approach to the jack hammer as there is to the cab, there must be a reason for this?
 
An observation Why does it seem Quaid/Hauser after he comes out of rekall. He isn't able to understand how devices in the future work. One example there maybe more is Johnny Cab.

Douglas Quaid: Where am I?
Johnnycab: You're in a Johnnycab.
Douglas Quaid: I mean, what am I doing here?
Johnnycab: I'm sorry. Would you please rephrase the question?
Douglas Quaid: How did I get in this taxi?
Johnnycab: The door opened. You got in.
[Johnnycab rolls his eyes]

He's seems genuine surprised that there's a none human driving the vechile and later on when he's being chased by Richter he isn't able to give directions. Certainly he must know that in order for the cab to go anywhere you must give it directions it's an automated machine for crying out loud.

Second observation is the XRay detector.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWIHv7a6luY

What! he thought he'd be able to run through it without setting off alarms. He simply could have dumbed the gun yet there he is running through it with gun in tote. The technogoly seems to be more advance then he gives it credit for once he leaves rekall, maybe this is just me trying to see something that really isn't there. Possibly.

Vilos Cohaagen: Kuato wants what's in Quaid's head, and he might be able to get it 'cause they say he's psychic; and I have a plan to keep this from happening. Do you think you could play along?
Richter: Yes, sir.
Vilos Cohaagen: Great, 'cause otherwise, I'll erase your ass!

Aha! Doesn't he mean Hauser's mind

also

What's the plan? must be Dr. Edgemar? or Bennie or both. but really he just wants Kuato dead right?

There's something I don't get here?

Richter: You wanted to see me sir.
Vilos Cohaagen: Richter, you know why I'm such a happy person?
Richter: No, sir.
Vilos Cohaagen: Because I have one of the greatest jobs in the solar system. As long as the turbinium keeps flowing, I can do anything I want. Anything!
[gets up from his chair]
Vilos Cohaagen: In fact, the only thing I worry about is, one day, if the rebels win, it all might end.
[In Richter's face]
Vilos Cohaagen: And you're f**kING MAKING IT HAPPEN! First, you tried to kill Quaid and then you let him get away.
Richter: He had help from our side, sir.
Vilos Cohaagen: I know that.
Richter: But, I thought...
Vilos Cohaagen: [interrupting] Who told you to THINK? I don't give you enough information to THINK! You do as you're told, THAT'S WHAT YOU DO!

Why is Richter on Earth? I understand Cohaagan need to flush out the rebels and to get to their leader Kuato by using his best buddy Hauser. He implants a new identity for him on earth? not mars? with a new wife and best friend to watch over him. I guess here's my problem or question. Richter is there to push him back to mars. I simply see no other use for Richter on earth. Cohaagan hasn't told him much of anything basically stating in as many words your a dog do as your comanded or i'll find someone else to replace you. Okay, Why doesn't Cohaagan tell Richter before the s**t hits the fan that under no circumstance is Quaid/Hauser to be touched only prodded into going back to mars in all due time. There's an overkill to Richter's intention from the start obviously because Quaid is banging his Women (Stone). Cohaagan doesn't have a leesh in his dog. Seems far fetched. It's not subtle at all and gives me the impression it's in Quaid's mind. Reason It's easy for him to feel that's its okay to cheat on his wife, hey, she cheated on me first.  Am I being to hard or have I missed something that explains this away.

A scene of interest. A point of contention. Could it be real?

Kuato: What do you want, Mr. Quaid?
Douglas Quaid: The same as you; to remember.
Kuato: But why?
Douglas Quaid: To be myself again.
Kuato: You are what you do. A man is defined by his actions, not his memory.
 
In this scene Kuato is using his power of telepathy on Quaid/Hauser's mind. We get a strange perspective at first, a bird like view. After much thought I've come to the conclusion that Kuato isn't able to get a specific scenario or situation that has happened in Hauser's past because his mind is just to jumbled up with Quaid's. The images of the reactor which is the secret Cohaagan wants to keep away from the rebels but uses to flush out Kuato is showen but still not given away. As Kuato asks Quaid to OPEN YOUR MIND once again going deeper into Hauser's memory. People are heard to be talking about the signifcance of this device and what it might be made to do. The listenier is Richter he's stepping in for Quaid's side of his memory (NEW). the explainier is Cohaagan steps in for Hauser's side of his memory (OLD). It's a very strange scene that Quaid could never have been part of or Richter could never have been in. I've always enjoyed this scenes ambiguity. It's also one of the strongest scene which makes me beileve it all may very well be happening. Funny that a dream-like sequence could make me think it all could be true.

I think i'm going to stop for now I think my head might blowup.

If you watch it with the Verhoeven/Schwarzenegger commentary track, Verhoeven states that the film was clearly meant to all be a dream and stated that's why he faded to white at the very end of the film when Arnold and the hot brunette chick kiss after they create Mars' new atmosphere.

But I do like that he still left it open to interpretation in the end. I've always been split about it but I've always noticed the odd glances he gets from his co-worker at the construction site when he mentions that he's going to the Recall corporation to get the Mars trip implants.

Great call.....Also, just as he's leaving from home for the first time his Wife Lori (Sharon Stone) gives him a strange glance not unlike the glance he gets from his co-worker Harry.

I've notice these two glances many times while watching the film. I've never really put it down as to what exactly Verhoeven is trying to get across other then laying the mystery on bit more thicker. I guess one could argue he was trying to suggest or interrupt these two individuals knew that if Quaid/Hauser where to go to Mars in person as he suggests to Lori (Stone) or go to Rekall as he suggests to Harry he might compromise Cohaagan's plans.

I have a box set of Arnie movies that includes Predator, The Running Man, Total Recall and Commando.  I watched The Running Man for the first time in many, many years, a few nights ago.  I thought it was one of Arnie's sillier movies, trying too hard with the one liners.

My curiosity is up for Total Recall.  The idea that the whole thing had been a dream never occurred to me until I read this thread.  I think I'll give it a go tonight and see.

Wfhenever the air-conditioning breaks down at work and weird noises start to come out of the air vents, some nerd always winds up shaking his fist at the ceiling and saying, "Damn you Cohaagan!" That nerd is usually me.

 :bouncegiggle: Awesome.

Me and a guy at work are always randomly quoting Arnie movies. People must think we are mentally ill. Which we probably are...

You guys have company in the looney bin.  Friends and I are often randomly yelling things at each other like, 'Get to da chappaaahhh,' 'Gif me da wepahn,' or 'you're ghostin' us, muthaf***a...'

Okay, I have now watched Total Recall with the notion that the entire movie was a dream, and surprisingly, it makes a LOT of sense now.

The movie opens with Arnie waking from a dream about Melina on Mars.  If we assume that this, itself, was a part of an implanted memory, everything flows naturally from this.  Even his life as a construction worker is a part of the memory - or is it?  My guess is that in 'reality', he is a construction worker who wanted a memory implant about Mars, and he got one that was very elaborately sewn into his life.  But even then we can't really tell.

Amusingly, it even accounts for the inconsistencies pointed out above, like the sweat from the head of the ad presenter, and the lack of eye damage after the atmosphere pumps out and things go back to normal.  I told this to a friend, and he said with sly cynicism, 'Maybe that's just Verhoeven's excuse for inconsistencies in the plot?'   :teddyr:

But yeah, now the movie makes a lot more sense.  It bugs me that it's another one of those 'it was all a dream' movies, but this one is different as that it was cleverly done, and wasn't deliberately pointed out in the movie like so many others.

seems to me this movie was the inspiration for Inception(2010)

Funny you should say that, as I was thinking about Inception as a similar kind of movie in which the nature of reality vs. dream is left very ambiguous.