TOTAL RECALL. Directed by Paul Verhoeven; written by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon and Gary Goldman; produced by Buzz Feitshans aand Ronald Shusett for Tri-Star. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone. Rated R.
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Total Recall is a good example of both what's right and what's wrong with science fiction.
On the right side, it's got an interesting story which takes universal themes and "dresses them up" in a futuristic setting that's meticulously realized.
On the downside, however, are some plot contrivances, some flimsy science and a whole lot more blood-curdling violence than is really necessary.
Two tried-and-true sci/fi themes make up the storyline. First, there's the idea of manufactured consciousness. Construction worker Quaid (Schwarzenegger) learns he may or may not once have been someone else—a secret agent/henchman based on Mars.
When he travels to the red planet to get to the bottom of the mystery, he confronts the second big idea. After getting established, Earth's colony worlds (like the colony countries centuries before them) will long for independence from the mother planet.
Schwarzenegger is his usual likeable self here. He's perfectly at home with action sequences and sarcastic banter, but more awkward with serious sentiment.
Both of his female leads, Ticotin and Stone, are also attractive and good in a fight. He's opposed by some entertaining villains, led by Ronny Cox, who plays the same type of ruthless tycoon as in Verhoeven's Robocop.
The sets of both Mars and Earth interiors are impressive and believeable, as are the Mars landscapes. But where the special effects people really outdo themselves is in the makeup department.
Mars' thin atmosphere (though not exactly a vacuum, like the movie implies) can't block dangerous UV radiation, you see. The result is a whole slew of grisly mutations, the more outrageous of which are compensated by degrees of psychic powers—in direct proportion to the grossness of the deformity.
Your level of grossness tolerance, in fact, will determine how much, or even if, you like Total Recall. It's worth seeing, if that tolerance is pretty high.
June 27, 1990