Directed by:
Paul VerhoevenCinematography:
Jost VacanoComposer:
Jerry GoldsmithCast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Marshall Bell, Mel Johnson Jr., Ray Baker, Michael Champion (more)VOD (5)
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When a man goes for virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real, or does he? (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
Today I felt like watching something from the work of my long-time favorite director, and when I realized that I hadn't yet written a review for the movie that, along with RoboCop and James Cameron's Terminator series, completely captivated me at the beginning of the nineties. I was obsessed with action movies back then, and this quartet repeatedly brought me joy. I admit that this classic has noticeably aged (but compared to me, it still looks great), so the action sequences and special effects fell short of today's standards, to the point of being hilarious at times. Still, it didn't spoil the experience for me in any way. Paul Verhoeven's style of filmmaking resonates with me, so his cerebral excursion combined with an interplanetary trip still entertained me after thirty years. If I changed my original rating, I would be a hypocrite because I still really liked it today, I had fun, and I could reminisce about some exciting (and wild) times. When I compare it, for example, to a movie like Tenet... / Lesson learned: More of a reflection this time: Is it possible that the Recall company actually exists? There has been a strange increase in cases of women who remember what happened five, ten, or twenty years ago. It makes you wonder.
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This whole Dick adaptation has one little hitch. Namely that they didn’t cast a more restrained actor than Arnie for the main role. I like him a lot, but he doesn't really fit into the paranoid adaptation of Dick's work with his character, even though he tries his best. Otherwise, everything is as it should be. Pace, effects, direction, and vision of the future. Along with the unbeatable Blade Runner, this is clearly the best movie adaptation of P. K. Dick.
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Sometimes all a successful sci-fi movie needs is to set the scene and intensify the music. Paul Verhoeven takes a somewhat questionable approach, unleashing his twisted taste and giving Arnold Schwarzenegger the feeling that he's acting in a cleverly packaged trick on the viewer against all the evil members of society. Nope, not like this. The blood is better suited to Robocop and the unconventional marital crisis is better suited to more open satire.
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I just read the sci-fi novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Blade Runner) and all of a sudden I got the urge to brush up on some of the film adaptations of Dick’s books. However, I saw Minority Report quite recently and Paycheck not long ago too. Blade Runner is almost impossible to find these days (well, perhaps not impossible, but certainly difficult :) and Verhoeven's Total Recall seemed the only suitable candidate. I have to say, I did well because I hadn't seen it in a few years, so I was very happy. Seeing Arnold’s shooting and wisecracking again("Sue me, dickhead!" and “Consider that a divorce!" are the best) is now a balm for my soul. Then there's Sharon as the perfect (almost perfect) wife any man would want. From a story point of view, there is almost nothing to criticize, because probably no other science fiction with this kind of surfing between dream and reality has even been created. Jerry Goldsmith's music is amazingly magical, perfectly matches the overall atmosphere, and, in the end, it (might just) take a share in expressing the movie’s message.
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In a nutshell, Total Recall is a great movie. I'd even go so far as to say that after Blade Runner, it's the best film adaptation of a Dick novel, this time with a superb performance by the brilliantly perverse Paul Verhoeven. His direction is dynamic and his relish in lots of blood and violence that is typical of him is irresistible in a way. The story is properly Dick-esque, dark with an ambiguous ending and that's how it should be. The visual effects are fantastic for their time and were deservedly rewarded with an Oscar. And I must not forget to highlight Jerry Goldsmith's imaginative soundtrack, which is impossible not to listen to and which is one of the best that the Master has composed. A sci-fi gem for the connoisseurs.
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Gallery (207)
Photo © TriStar Pictures
![Total Recall - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/157/877/157877012_e17e4e.jpg)
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