Total Recall (1990) Film Review

Paul Verhoeven has been controversial over the years.

Films like 'Basic Instinct', 'Elle' and his early works like 'Turkish Delights' have caused furore because they deal with subject matters such as sexual violence and misogyny in an off-beat way.

However his sci-fi quadrilogy, of which Total Recall is very much the centrepiece, tones it down a bit . The reason for this was to clearly appeal to the blockbuster market. Even though in 'Robocop', a rapist gets shot in the crotch with the slapstick panache of a Farrelly Brothers film. Many would see this humour as very 'Dumb and Dumber'. But I would disagree with this view wholeheartedly.

Verhoeven is a master satirist and much smarter than his films let on. His movies like to play with the audience, and to subvert our expectations.

What hasn't changed throughout Verhoeven's whole filmography is his ability to aim a spotlight and an all-knowing smirk at societal constructs - such as capitalism, false advertising, social angsts and fears of crime, the dominance of technology- and just have a good laugh at them.

'Total Recall' is a classic for many reasons. We can talk about the wonderful make-up effects by Rob Bottin, the action, the set-designs, the 80s vibe, the performances. But what makes it so special to me is that it has a lot to say about product branding and advertising. Like 'Robocop' ("I'll buy that for a dollar"), the cheap tricks of the smarmy, over-confident salesman to convince the protagonist confused and dissatisfied Douglas Quaid (played brilliantly by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to live out a fantasy on a computer generated Mars is farcical. What is more, he will live this fantasy as a secret agent. The salesmen calls this 'The Ego Trip', a name that is self-servingly parodic. The farcical nature of this scene is re-inforced soon after when Quaid suffers a kind of meltdown during the process and tries to escape.

Scenes like this are indicative of the goofiness of the film as a whole. It is full of quips, funny one-liners, outlandish imagery (for example, the infamous three-boobed prostitute) .

Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance is superb and he knows exactly the type of film he is in. He matches the light-hearted and fun tone. In the scene where they try to implant the 'Ego Trip', his writhing and shouting is downright hilarious and over-exaggerated. His performance is excellent throughout; he shows that he is an actor who can do both action and comedy very well. He is also the king of the one-liners -"consider this a divorce", " see you at the party later" are said with such timed perfection after he disposes of his antagonists. He is very much in Commando mode here but with a difference- he doesn't know what the hell is happening to him. He is caught up in a conspiracy instigated by the evil capitalist Coohagen (played by the great Ronny Cox) and he is struggling to make sense of things. He's not in control but somehow he bounces through and becomes a hero. This reluctant hero act makes him sympathetic and is quite removed from Schwarzenegger's usual macho swagger. At times the film reminded of the 'Truman Show', especially at the beginning. Douglas Quaid's life is not real and everyone around him wants to keep him in the dark.

The other performances in this film are on par with Schwarzenegger. Michael Ironside as the devilish and hot-headed Richter, one of Coohagen's henchman, is superb. Sharon Stone, in one of her earlier roles, as Quaid's wife is having fun as a femmes fatale. She is both tricky and seductive , but like Schwarzenneger, never removes herself from the satirical nature of the film. None of the actors are self-serious. That's one of many reasons this film is an absolute delight.

Another delight is the violence. It is over the top. The scene where Arnie uses a poor bystander as a human shield sums it up perfectly. The blood squibs are in overuse but the point is to create a sort of hyper-reality, a cartoonish fever. Same as when there is no oxygen on Mars, a person's head is shown to expand and explode. Underscoring all this violence is a chase plot that reminds the audience of adventure movies. So violence and adventure are joined in a fun popcorn movie, but dotted with oddities and Verhoeven's own brand of perversities. The adventurous nature of the narrative is emphasised by the old-fashioned score by Jerry Goldsmith, which reminded me of Planet of the Apes or Indiana Jones. It all comes together to highlight Verhoeven's mischievous humour which continues in his future sci-fi films 'Starship Troopers' and 'Hollow Man'.

But whatever you think of it, it works and i'm here for it!