Total Recall is like Star Wars meets North by Northwest; it's an absolutely relentless thriller with magnificent chase sequences set in a sci-fi universe that encapsulates upon the first frame with vivid special effects and creative fantasy. How this little action-cinema staple slipped under my radar for all these years is beyond me. This is one of those films that, like The Matrix, is so involved in the fantasy angle of it's story that you could almost call it live-action anime for all it's creativity. Although I have not read the Philip K. Dick story that it is based on, I will say that at least whoever crafted the screenplay did a great job of turning it into memorable and exciting Hollywood popcorn entertainment. Even though the film is only groundbreaking in it's visual effects, everything else services the audience well.
In 2084, humans and aliens have colonized Mars, let alone figured how to make space travel feasible. Doug Quaid is an everyman construction worker, who happens to have an "untapped" talent for quick reflexes and martial arts. A dream where he travels to Mars with a beautiful woman continuously eludes him. Against the wishes of his strangely objective friends and wife, Quaid enlists in a "virtual-vacation" program called "Rekall", which uses false memories to create an idyllic environment for rest and relaxation. The program backfires though, when Quaid begins to have a seizure, forcing him to recover an identity he never realized he originally had.
Even though this film was made over 20 years ago, the Oscar-winning special effects still amaze me, in all their practicality. It's funny how films had a knack for appearing vivid enough to be called fake, but were still believable within the context of the story. CGI has squandered a lot of creativity for many practical filmmakers, but it also has it's attributes in other departments. At the time this was made (according to the DVD extras) Total Recall had it all, in terms of all aspects of visual and artistic design team. This is an amazing-looking film, that also happens to have some fantastic action and incredibly strange-looking creatures (there's even what I consider a hyper-sexualized version of the Star Wars cantina scene, complete with a three-bosomed femalian). Bottom line, Total Recall has it all in terms of your full-circle action movie: Explosions, cheesy one-liners, and eye-popping effects. A lot of the story may seem like more of the same, but that's not always a bad thing.
8/10
Peace,
- Jon
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