Total Recall

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Total Recall is an American science fiction film.

Released on June 1, 1990, it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film was directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, Jon Povill, and Gary Goldman. It won a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects.

Total Recall was based on the story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick, whose work has served as the basis for many other films, such as Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.

At the time of its production, Total Recall had the largest authorized budget for a film produced by a Hollywood studio.[1] The film’s success confirmed Schwarzenegger as a major box office draw and relaunched Sharon Stone’s career.

Contents

Plot

The movie is set in the year 2084. Douglas Quaid is a construction worker who has been experiencing dreams about exploring the planet Mars with a sexy brunette. After seeing an ad from Rekall, a company that sells imaginary adventures by implanting memories, he decides to buy a "vacation" on Mars from them, one in which he will take a vacation from himself by becoming a spy. Rekall calls it an "ego trip." Before buying the vacation, Quaid is cautioned by a co-worker that Rekall are "lobotomizing people," in reference to failed memory implants which caused the recipients to suffer permanent brain damage. Quaid disregards this warning.

After the procedure starts, Quaid has a violent outburst and tries to break free, yelling incoherently about people who are coming to kill everyone. At first, it seems as though he was merely acting out the "spy" portion of the memory implant; however, when it's confirmed that they hadn't implanted that memory yet, the doctors at Rekall realize that someone else had previously erased his memory. After narrowly subduing him, Quaid is returned home with no memories of ever going to Rekall, but then he is attacked by his friends and even his wife, Lori. She tells him that everything he remembers, including their marriage, is false—only implanted memories. While evading his assailants, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to be a former friend of his who had been asked to deliver a briefcase if he ever disappeared. The briefcase contains false IDs, money, weapons, devices, and a computer. Thanks to a video case he left to himself beforehand, Quaid starts piecing together his past on Mars as a secret agent. Pursued by Richter, a man working for Mars' administrator, Vilos Cohaagen, Quaid travels to Mars to discover the truth.

On Mars, Quaid finds out that Cohaagen rules an airtight city via his monopoly of air production, and that the poor workers in the city's slums have been turned into mutants from living within cheaply-produced domes that do not adequately shield against cosmic rays (which Mars’s thin atmopshere does not shield against). He soon makes several allies, such as a cabbie named Benny and the woman from his dreams, Melina, who reveals that his name is actually Hauser, and that he used to be one of Cohaagen’s men but then switched sides and tried to join the underground resistance.

Quaid is later confronted by Lori and Dr. Edgemar, the man from the Rekall commercials, who try to convince him that the adventure he's been having, his experiences to this point and his future as the leader of mutant resistance has been part of the "vacation" he bought at Rekall. Quaid is now trapped in the ego trip and needs to let them help him recuperate from the paranoia episode he is having. He offers Quaid a pill to wake up to the truth, the alternative being lobotomization since he's still hallucinating in the Rekall facilities. Quaid is almost convinced until he notices the doctor is sweating out of fear. Quaid shoots the doctor in the head and a group of hitmen then storm the room and capture Quaid. Melina arrives shortly after to rescue him and in the subsequent fight, Lori is killed by Quaid himself.

Melina and Quaid then flee and eventually meet resistance leader Kuato, who is revealed to be a mutant growing out of his own brother's stomach. With Kuato's psychic help, Quaid sees a mysterious alien machine in the Martian mines, but then Cohaagen's forces storm the resistance hideout. Kuato is killed and Quaid and Melina are captured, with the help of Benny, who is a traitor. Cohaagen then reveals that Lori really was Richter's wife and Hauser willingly had his mind wiped in order to gain Kuato's trust; the whole incident, with the exception of Richter's maniacal pursuit of Quaid, was planned. Cohaagen provides another video that Quaid's alter ego, Hauser, left for himself. Cohaagen also reveals that the alien machine is real, and that he's decided to eliminate all the rebels by cutting off the air supply to their section of the city. He orders Quaid's mind to be restored to Hauser's and Melina's mind be altered to be subservient. Quaid refuses to go back to being Hauser, and manages to escape with Melina. They hurry to reach the alien machine and activate it. As Melina and Quaid rush to the alien machine, Quaid kills both Richter and Benny on the way. Quaid activates the machine over Cohaagen's protests that it will destroy the planet. In the struggle to activate the machine, Cohaagen is blown out of the compound onto the airless surface of Mars where he dies of asphyxiation and decompression. Quaid and Melina almost die from exposure to the atmosphere as well, but the alien machine activates, creates a breathable atmosphere that saves them and the mutants just in time to see blue sky on Mars.

As Melina says that it is like a dream, Quaid wonders if the whole thing has been real or if he is still in an implanted fantasy. Melina replies "Well then kiss me quick before you wake up." Just as they kiss each other, a bright flash of white light illuminates the screen, and the credits roll.

Cast

Themes

The film explores the question of reality versus delusion, a recurrent theme in Philip K. Dick’s works. The plot calls for the lead character and the audience to question whether the character’s experience is real or being fed directly to his mind. There are several visual and informational clues which point in both directions. Verhoeven and Dick play up the intentional ambiguity to the very end and no definitive answer is ever given. Thus, the viewer is left wondering whether or not the events actually happened, if the entire story is simply the memory purchased at Rekall gone terribly awry, or if in fact Rekall had simply delivered on its original promise of “action” and “adventure.” This theme has been revisited since in similarly-themed films such as The Matrix, eXistenZ, The Thirteenth Floor and Vanilla Sky.

Recall or Reality?

On the special edition DVD commentary, director Paul Verhoeven explains that he deliberately filmed every scene to present "two realities," that is, that the entire movie supports either scenario depending upon how the viewer interprets it. However, Verhoeven also points out that the casting of Schwarzenegger (as opposed to other actors who had been considered for the part, including Richard Dreyfuss and Patrick Swayze) leans more towards the adventure being real, as audiences would not want Arnold in an action film that turned out to only be a dream.

Early on in the film it is suggested that if one’s mind cannot adjust to the implanted reality, resulting in a schizoid embolism, a lobotomy is the only solution. Verhoeven has suggested that if the film is a dream, then the white light that ends the film is in fact the cutting into Quaid's brain as the lobotomy is administered.

In the end Verhoeven states quite clearly in the special edition DVD commentary (on which Schwarzenegger also comments) that Quaid may indeed be on the table at Rekall living out a fantasy. He points out that the imagery on the screen at Rekall show the alien machine (which was a complete secret on Mars), the girl of his dreams that he asked for and a blue sky over Mars. Verhoeven points this out as Quaid is going to sleep. When Quaid/Hauser is confronted by his wife and the Rekall spokesman, Verhoeven is quick to point out that the spokesman goes on to detail the entire second half of the movie. Of course, Quaid himself notes that he dreamt about Melina before ever going to Rekall, which is true: in the first scene of the movie he has a dream in which he is climbing on the surface of the planet in a protective space suit, the glass helmet of which later breaks, turning his dream into a nightmare. He is climbing with a companion, but it is not Lori (whom he wakes up next to), but Melina. On the commentary Schwarzenegger disagrees with Verhoeven on the meaning of the ending.

Earlier in the movie, shortly before Quaid is about to be implanted with Rekall memories, a technician holds up a memory capsule and exclaims, "oh look, here's a new one, blue sky on Mars!" At the end of the film viewers do indeed see blue skies on Mars.

Production and distribution

Dino De Laurentiis was originally listed as the producer, and between 1983 and in 1984 David Cronenberg was attached to direct with studios in Rome and locations in North Africa. According to Cronenberg every major director had looked at the project but fell out with Shusett who wanted a pure action adventure, described as "Raiders of the Lost Ark on Mars." Cronenberg quit the production after writing 12 screenplay drafts that were all rejected by De Laurentiis. When the adaptation of Dune flopped at the box office, De Laurentiis similarly lost enthusiasm for the project.[2]

Much of the filming took place in Mexico City. The futuristic subway station and vehicles are actually part of the Mexican public transportation system, with the subway cars painted gray and television monitors added. In an interview with Starlog magazine, Schwarzenegger stressed the challenge of acting in the film, "Because you’re not coming in with the same character that you’re going out with. Hauser’s an interesting character, but Quaid’s just this big program..."Template:Citequote

The film was initially given an "X" rating. Some violence was trimmed and different camera angles were used in some of the more over-the-top scenes for an "R" rating.[citation needed]

“Total Recall” was translated as “El Vengador del Futuro” (“The Avenger of the Future”), in Latin America.[3] In Spain and Portugal it was called “Desafío Total,”[4] which means “Total Challenge.” In Turkey it was called “Gerçeğe Çağrı,”[5] which means “The Call for Reality.” In Italy it was called “Atto di Forza,” which means “Act of Strength.”[6]. In Poland it was called “Pamięć Absolutna,” which means “Absolute Memory.” In Israel it was called “זיכרון גורלי,” which means “Fatal Memory.” In french Canada it was called “Total Recall : Voyage au centre de la mémoire,” which means “Total Recall : Trip to the Center of the Mind.”

Reception

The film grossed $261,299,840 worldwide, a box office success. Some critics, such as Roger Ebert, gave the film positive reviews.[7] However, despite the reduction from "X" to an "R" rating, some considered the film excessively violent.[8] As of December 2007 the website Metacritic reported, based on seventeen reviews, a weighted average rating of 57 out of 100.[9]

Due to the success of the movie, a sequel was written with the script title “Total Recall 2,” and with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character still Douglas Quaid, now working as a reformed law enforcer. The sequel was based on another Philip K. Dick short story, “The Minority Report” which postulates about a future where a crime can be solved before it’s committed—in the movie, the clairvoyants would be Martian mutants.[10] The sequel was not filmed, but the script survived and it was changed drastically and contained greater elements from the original short story. The film was eventually directed as a sci-fi noir thriller as Minority Report by Steven Spielberg and opened in 2002 to box-office success and critical acclaim.[11][12]

Other media

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)
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The movie was novelized (ISBN 0-380-70874-4) by Piers Anthony. The novel and movie correspond fairly well, although Anthony was evidently working from an earlier script than the one used for the film, and was criticized for the ending of his book which removed the ambiguity whether the events of Total Recall are real or a dream. In addition, the novel had a subplot wherein the aliens planted a failsafe device within their Mars technology, so that if it were misused or destroyed, the local star would go nova and therefore prevent the species from entering the galactic community. It coincided with a comment earlier in the novel that astronomers were noticing an abnormal number of recent supernovae, giving some indication that the aliens seeded their tech as part of some galactic experiment in technological maturity. Instead of mentioning that he dreamt of her earlier in the film, Melina mentions she was once a model, explaining how Quaid could have seen her on the screen at Rekall.

A video game was made based on the movie, featuring 2D platformer scenes and top-down racing scenes; a version was released for popular 8-bit home computers (Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC), and the popular 16-bit home computers (Amiga and Atari ST). The game was developed and released by Ocean Software. There was also a much-maligned NES version which was notably different from the others, being developed by a different team (Interplay).

Comedian Andy Samberg played (a) Kuato in a skit on Saturday Night Live.

The ending of the South Park episode "Asspen" references Total Recall.

Many shows and movies, such as Family Guy and Knocked Up reference the three breasted prostitute seen in the brothel on Mars.

In the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse, band member Nathan Explosion attempts comedy and straps a deformed person named Kuato to his chest.

Awards

Academy Award Result
Best Sound Nominated
Best Sound Effects Editing Nominated
Special Achievement in Visual Effects Won

Television spin-off

In 1999, there was a television series named Total Recall 2070; however, the show had far more similarities with the Blade Runner movie (also inspired by a Philip K. Dick story) than with its own namesake. The two-hour series pilot, released in VHS and DVD for the North American market, borrowed footage from the film, such as the space cruiser arriving on Mars.

See also

References

  1. ^ Trashcity.com Review 2002
  2. ^ Review at Moria.co.nz, 2005
  3. ^ Total Recall listing on Dvdventas.com
  4. ^ Total Recall’s Spanish entry at Estoescine.com
  5. ^ Total Recall’s Turkish entry at Beyazperde.com
  6. ^ Total Recall’s Italian entry at FilmUP
  7. ^ Review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1 June 1990
  8. ^ Review by Janet Maslin of the NY Times, 1 June 1990
  9. ^ Metacritic. Total Recall. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  10. ^ Overview of Total Recall DVD audio commentary at DVDtimes.co.uk
  11. ^ Minority Report box office reports. Box Office Mojo.
  12. ^ Home Video (DVD & VHS) Out Sells Feature Films, Video Games and Movies in 2002. audiorevolution.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.

External links

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