Total Recall sees Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger, so relieved my iPad can spell his last name!) becoming bored with his blue collar existence and heading to Rekall, a company that implants memories. After choosing a trip to Mars, the machine breaks and Quaid’s true personality emerges, that of a secret agent. He is then hunted by his false friends and family, heading to Mars to save the planet. But is this really going on is it just the false memory? The film never truly decides one way or the other, leaving it up to the viewer whether any of what occurred is ‘real’.
This film isn’t all philosophy though; it’s also a great action adventure, featuring some very inventive fight sequences. One in particular featuring a holographic device is very imaginative.
Schwarzenegger plays Quaid very well the perfect point between his serious and comedic appearances. He also gets in a few classic Arnie one liners, such as “screw you!” while killing a man with a giant drill. The other performances are neither terrible (although the villains do occasionally ham it up a bit) nor fantastic, simply proving unmemorable.
The special effects of the film are truly amazing, from the miniatures used to create the Mars sets to the designs of the robots and mutants; people who have been distorted physically and given psychic abilities by disasters on Mars. They look just as real as the human characters and you may forget they are wearing make up at all. I think to many people this film is remembered for the prostitute with three breasts, and even they look real!. The sets also contain great little touches, like the ‘windows’ that are actually televisions. There is always something going on in the background.
This new release comes with several new features and many recycled from the DVD. The most interesting is an interview with the film’s director, Paul Verhoeven, discussing the film’s legacy 20 plus years on. He also discusses the choice of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead and how this affected the theme of the film, making it slightly more comical. He goes on to compare Schwarzengger to the choice of the lead in the new remake, discussing how Colin Farrell is a more serious actor fitting with the new darker theme. He also goes in to the production of the film and the special effects. There are other features which go in to this but this one feature makes them obsolete. There is also a new commentary from Verhoeven and Schwarzengger, providing additional insight in to the film. You also get a feature analysing the difference in picture between how it was when originally made and now it has been remastered.
Overall Verdict: A intriguing film about what is real that also proves to be a great action adventure. By not answering which reality is the real one, it begs for rematches to notice hints one way or the other.
Special Features:
30 minute interview with the film’s director, discussing every aspect of its production (new to Blu ray).
Commentary with the director and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Various making of features.
Comparison between the original print and the remastered edition.
Reviewer: Matt Mallinson