Total Recall

"Total Recall" is an extraordinarily violent and gory extravaganza, but even though it is quite needlessly graphic in some places - Quaid's, Melina's, and Cohaagan's suffocation after they are exposed to the poisonious Martian atmosphere; the deaths of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire during scenes of gunplay; the severing of limbs; the stabbings and impalings and so forth - the film is admittedly staged superbly and directed by Paul Verhoeven in an exciting way at all times and it is enjoyably well paced. The visual effects are also of a high standard - they feature some realistic shots of Mars - and the reactor sequences towards the end look terrific. This is a marvellous and incredibly entertaining popcorn movie overall which has been brilliantly made by experts in this highly competitive genre.

Man, it's almost like Saw with it's torture-porn thing... only the over-the-top gore actually fits beautifully into the story in the most entertaining way possible, even when it is so 80s cheese that it's almost comical. But the ultra-violence is part of the fun of these types of films. It's part of the reason why people love them... and it's over-the-top in a way that can't really be done today. It's also pretty stylistic and fun and that brings you into the world that the story is trying to create, while at the same time it leaves the viewer thinking that they are watching one heck of a mystery. Like Blade Runner, if you wanted to, you could walk away thinking that it's all an illusion, that what you thought was real was fake... if you wanted to be that deep. But let's face it, no one really bothers to debate that because what we are watching is an action sci-fi movie that is so well done, we don't want it to be as deep as it really is.

Aside from maybe "Predator" (1987) this is probably my favourite outing from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He ("Quaid") goes off to have an harmless implant of memories from an holiday on Mars (that he hasn't had) only to find that his life starts to unwind very quickly afterwards. Even his girlfriend "Lori" (Sharon Stone) becomes a would-be assassin and he is soon under attack from just about every other quarter too. Why? Well, that's what we now explore as he decides that he - helped by a video iteration of himself - must travel back to the red planet and get to the bottom of things. My flaw - well Ronny Cox is just dreadful as "Cohaagen" which does prove important towards the end of the film, but for the main part it is an action packed and well directed vehicle for a very much on-form star. It's one of the first films I recall that started messing about with timelines. We are not quite sure what happened when or if, indeed, at all - and Paul Verhoeven keeps that tempo running well right from the start of the film. Arnie has a chance to deliver some quite fun one-liners and the visual effects enhance, sparingly, the production rather than impose themselves on it. It has dated a little, some of the sets do look a bit static, but thirty-odd years on, it's still standing up well and is well worth seeing.