Total Recall (1990)

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone

Primary genre: Science Fiction

Secondary genre: Action

Nominated for: Best visual effects, sound, sound effects editing

Awarded for: Best visual effects

“Total Recall“ was (and perhaps still is) an infamous film loaded with all the traits of director Paul Verhoeven: excessive violence (gore is a more accurate description), sharp social and anti-authoritarian commentary, an unlikely hero and casual nudity. Based on Philip K. Dick’s short story (“We Can Remember it for You Wholesale“), “Total Recall” might seem initially like a mindless Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick of one liners (check), babes (check), explosions (check) and gun fights (double check) but it extends beyond these superficial elements taking place in Mars which is always a cool setting in science fiction.

Populated with fantastic themes open for philosophical and ethical discussions, “Total Recall” asks what is the meaning of someone’s identity in a world where memories and experiences are commodities that can be erased or fabricated in a whim? These embraced by the public, alterations result in our hero doubting his own reality leaving the audience to pick up the pieces of this convoluted (in a good sense) storyline of double crosses and ambiguous proceedings wondering whether Quaid does things based on his own free will or not. It is a fantastic script (co-written by Dan “Alien” (1979) O’Bannon) that blurs the lines between truth and implanted memories in one of the most effective science fiction stories in cinema.

Paving the way for “Dark City” (1998) and “The Matrix” (1999), Verhoeven’s film explores and visually represents such concepts touching upon anti-corporation and fascism ideas. This politically, morally and visually unattractive future serves as an analog for manipulating reality for the common people through news and the media at the behest of those in power. The Martian resistance is branded as terrorists and their indiscriminate slaughter is described as a minimal force use order restoration. These not as distant as you might think topics remain highly pertinent in the time of social media, where the line between a person’s average life and more curated online life becomes fogged.

The large scale production design reflects these notions too. Production designer Jan Roefls employed a brutalist, distant and concrete based architecture to resemble a society being torn apart from a socioeconomic gap between those with power and those without. This world is indifferent towards the suffering of the Martian colonists as long as the supply and demand chain of Mars is steady. It is for this reason precisely why the man made environments in the red planet are under blood like hues associating this new “dystopia” with hell; its residents resembling more demons than humans due to cheap dome protection and poor air circulation.

Arnold plays an everyday man for a change at the height of his fame before the mega-hit that “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) will become, and although he seems casual at the beginning, once the action starts rolling, you know you are in competent hands. Verhoeven maximises the large budget to infuse the several face offs between Quaid and Richter’s men with gore, a trail of bodies and no subtlety (e.g., “human” shield moment) adding a perhaps the first fight between women in Hollywood with actual choreography. The stunning Sharon Stone is a standout in her 90s aerobics costume kicking ass when the occasion calls for it catapulting her in superstardom and Rachel Ticotin brings a tough and believable vulnerability as the tough Melina.

We have to give credit though to the incredible work of Rob Botin’s (e.g., “The Thing” (1982)) on special make up effects which blew minds away during its release and established the film’s creative approach to grotesque mutants, asphyxiations and “traveler’s masks”, all bearing such craftmanship that unfortunately is not being experienced today under the barrage of faceless CGI “monstrosities” and graphic filters.

“Total Recall” has an edgy script which thirty years (and more) afterwards remains thoroughly relevant. Its relatable hero, an excellent supporting cast and Verhoeven’s frenetic direction of the on-screen absurdities (and multiple fatalities) make this not only one of the best Schwarzenegger films but one of the best science films of all time.

Science fiction at its finest (and bloodiest)

+Brutal and relentless

+Sharon Stone is a standout

+Fascinating themes of alternate realities, memory implants

+Anti-corporate and anti-fascist ideas

+Brilliant special make up effects

+Reflective production design

-(Almost sadistic) in its violence