Amazon.com essential video: This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com: This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon
An enjoyable couple of hours. Sci-fi actioner set in the year 2084 in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a construction worker who discovers that his memory has been erased and that he had a secret life on Mars that he cannot remember and which follows Schwarzenegger's quest as he travels to Mars to find out what he has forgotten, all the while trying to avoid people who are trying to kill him because of what he now knows. A good sci-fi B-movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring the ever irrepressible Schwarzenegger in the kind of sci-fi action role that he does so well. The memory erasure plot is intriguing and throughout the film there is never an uneventful moment. The special effects aren't half bad either and the make-up department did a really great job for some of the supporting characters playing deformed mutants. But be warned: the film is very violent (as per usual for Paul Verhoeven!). An enjoyable couple of hours.
Bargain... I have read other reviews of this Blu-ray and many people are upset with the quality of the disc...so I was actually surprised that it looked as good as it did. I saw NO blocking or few artifacts so I'm not sure what going on with other peeps equipment - I am using a PS3 with a Panasonic AE-900U front projector and a 40 foot HDMI cable. The picture can look soft at times and fairly sharp at others so perhaps it's partially the source material. At any rate for 13 bones plus change it's a bargain given the high price of other Blu-ray movies. I don't own the regular DVD (I have it on laserdisc) so I don't regret buying this version.
GIB DIS PEEPLE EAAIR! Total Recall is EASILY one of the funniest and most violent science fiction movies around! It's also one of the overall best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies of all time. It's so good that I can't possibly write a review comprehensive enough; I'll just honor Arnold and Total Recall as best I can.
Arnold is married to Sharon Stone - at possibly her sexiest shortly before exploding onto the scene in Basic Instinct - but wants to go on vacation to Mars because of recurring dreams in which he cavorts with a mysterious and gorgeous brunette named Melina (Rachel Ticotin at her most delicious). Instead, he goes to a company that does mind implants, providing retroactive vacations to various parts of the solar system. It's just too bad that they interfere with previous government sponsored brainwashing.
Eventually he learns that he was a former agent on Mars, gets a video from himself in the past in which he tells himself to remove a spherically shaped tracking device from his own nose, despite the fact that the device is three times the circumference of a nostril. He also tells himself, "Git yo as* to Mahrs."
It is on Mars where he sees the following: a mutant lady with three boobs, a knife and machine gun wielding midget hooker, oxygen-depletion that has led to horribly disfigured freaks, and a philosophical, prophetic, baby mutant that grows out of another man's chest, clearly inspired by Danny Devito in Arnold's previous movie Twins.
And the great thing is he manages to see all of this as secret agents are chasing him and trying to kill him. One memorable scene has Arnold on a crowded escalator where he uses some poor guy as a meatshield during a gun battle, tossing his carcass aside after it's served its purpose. It's as bloody and gory as scenes come, and a signature of the explicitly violent and/or sexual content master Paul Verhoeven.
With the mystery uncovered, and the bad guys defeated, one last bit of drama subsides as Arnold has to somehow use an alien device to unleash hell on the Mars atmosphere, delivering relief to all the planet's inhabitants.
There are a ton of groin shots, perpetual single-bullet head shots, a decapitation, and a mechanical but realistic, removable, exploding fake face/head helmet thing. I know it sounds unlikely, but you just have to trust me. Of course, there are several classic Arnold one-liners. For instance, just after he executes his former pseudo-wife, Arnold deadpans, "Consider dat a divohrce." The best of all one-liners is when he kills someone with a drill and yells, "SCREW YOU!!"
If you watch this and fail to find something interesting, then you simply don't like movies.
NMy Blu-ray looks awesome I'm not sure about the reviewers here who claim that this is a terrible Blu-ray quality transfer because they see blocking, spotting and other artifacts. I've watched my Blu-ray disc 3 times in the last week and I see nothing wrong with the image quality. Great details, great colors, no blocking or compression artifacts. I wonder if the reviewers who see image quality issues on their disc have the settings on their TV or DVD player set wrong, or it they just have a crummy TV. I'm playing my disc on a PS3 into a Sony SXRD 55" projection LCD TV. I have everything set at 1080p/24 and my TV is set to 120Hz connected via HDMI, and the image is stunning. Some of the reviewers here who say their Blu-ray looks like a poor transfer state that their disc has an audio commentary with Arnold or they have a metal case. Well, my Blu-ray has NO commentary (the only extra is the "Vision of Mars" featurette) and it came in the standard Blu-ray case, so either they have an earlier version of Blu-ray or they're looking at a standard-def disc. The only questionable image quality comes at the beginning of the film where the Lionsgate logo plays. This looks like it was captured from a VHS. But overall, the film looks great and I see a definite image quality boost above my standard-def DVD. Total Recall is one of the better Schwarzenegger movies, especially if you like Sci-Fi stories. Of course, Sharon Stone looks great too, so that's reason enough to own this disc. Aside from 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, it also has DTS HD High Resolution ES Audio. I hear a difference (a fuller sound from the HD audio), but neither my PS3 or receiver handle this audio format, so I'm not sure what I'm missing. I highly recommend this Blu-ray disc.
Arnold and Stone!!!!!! Stone before she turned into Hollyweirds biggest nympho. Arnold, before he was the Governator. Great special effects for its time. A fantastic story set on Mars. The mutated humans are freaky cool. Great directing, great acting, great everything. Arnold made some pretty bad movies but he also made some of the best ones ever. Total Recall is definitely one of the better ones out there. A must see for action, sci fi fans. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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