Review
Total Recall revels in the state-of-the-art special effects and frantic violence characteristic to most of director Paul Verhoeven's American productions. Though based on a story by the creator of Blade Runner, author Philip K. Dick, Total Recall is more of an action movie than a philosophical rumination on identity. Still, the film gets a lot of mileage out of the questionable notion that "you are what you remember." The screenplay was finally credited to seven screenwriters; it had bounced around Hollywood for a number of years with different directors and stars before it reached Verhoeven. The director's brand of high-octane, cartoonish violence is a good fit with the material, though his style may have been better suited to 1988's more satiric Robocop. The movie received a special achievement Academy Award for its impressive effects. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Synopsis
In Paul Verhoeven's wild sci-fi action movie Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a 21st-century construction worker who discovers that his entire memory of the past derives from a memory chip implanted in his brain. Schwarzenegger learns that he's actually a secret agent who had become a threat to the government, so those in power planted the chip and invented a domestic lifestyle for him. Once he has realized his true identity, he travels to Mars to piece together the rest of his identity, as well as to find the man responsible for his implanted memory. Verhoeven has created a fast, furious action film with Total Recall, filled with impressive stunts and (literally) eye-popping visuals. Though the film bears only a passing resemblance to the Philip K. Dick short story it was based on ("We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), the movie is an entertaining, if very violent, ride. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
