Total Recall is Everything You want Out of a 90s Cyberpunk Classic
If martians from the future ever invade earth and ask us to sum up sci-fi action in one word, what would you say? Well if you’re a real cyberpunk, only one word would come to mind: Arnold. The second word? Schwarzenegger. The third? Okay, you get where I’m going.
Total Recall is one of the most bonkers additions to classic sci-fi action movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He plays Douglas Quaid, a bored construction worker who goes in for a memory implant in place of a vacation. He then gets wrapped up in a spyful conspiracy where he can’t trust anyone and is not even sure who he really is. Throw in some weird mutants revolting on mars and you got Total Recall.
Even though released in 1990, the Paul Verhoeven movie squeezed under the wire for a certain type of action movie we don’t see anymore. The concepts were out there, the effects were practical and the hero was bulky. The acting was sometimes good but not always. If we’re talking about Robocop and The Terminator, then we have to talk about how Total Recall is a cyberpunk movie you’ve gotta see.
The Brain Butchers of Rekall
Based on the Philip K. Dick Story We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, Total Recall delves deep into the intellectual discussion about memory and identity.
Quaid is bored with his job and his wife, played by the exquisite Sharon Stone. He doesn’t have a lot of money or time, but what he does have is Rekall.
Rekall is a place where customized memories are implanted directly into your mind. You can fake a fancy two week cruise with supermodels. In reality, this didn’t happen nor did it take long to not happen.
Not everyone is convinced that Rekall is harmless. Quaid is told that Rekall messes with your mind too much. Stone even goes so far as to call them brain butchers.
When the Rekall people begin to implant memories in Quaid, his spy alter ego Howser is awakened. He throws an Anrold-sized fit and has to be sedated. That’s where the adventure begins. His friend isn’t his friend and tries to murder him. Same with his wife, who was a plant for the organization on Mars they both supposedly work for.
What’s insane is how the implant in Quaid’s mind not only messes with his psyche, but the audience. At one point in the movie, the owner of Rekall randomly appears on Mars to tell Quaid the system has run amok and he is in danger of lobotomization. Even the way the movie ends, with everyone being saved seems a bit too cheesy. The movie ends in a flash of white light. This could be either Quaid’s lobotomization or just how the movie ends. Did any of this actually happen? Verhoeven plays it ambiguous on purpose to keep the fan conversation rolling.
Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger on Arnold Schwarzenegger
As the plot of Total Recall begins to roll on, Quaid realizes he’s not who he thinks he is. After many near death experiences he holds up in a hotel. A handler drops off a briefcase with information to everything he needs. Once he is in a safe and secluded place, Quaid starts the video and sees himself, only it’s not Quaid. It’s Howzer, tough guy number one for the organization that controls Mars.
He explains how it rolled out and he switched sides to help the rebellion. So on the surface we have a man’s whole world being shaken up like a game of boggle. But the reality is we are watching a treat usually only reserved for the Mark Ruffalo’s and Tom Hardy’s. Schwarzenegger plays against himself.
Okay so it’s not exactly Shakespeare (can you imagine if it was?!) but it is very entertaining. You have Howzer laying it on direct and weird, trying to be funny to level the situation. Then you have Quaid who doesn’t seem to actually believe what’s happening, but doesn’t seem to have a choice. So he might as well believe the identical stranger who’s telling him to shove a robotic roto-rooter up his nose and pull a tracking device from his skull.
Oh yeah, the organization low-jacked Quaid. He sticks this thing up his nose and pulls it out. I want to say it’s like pulling a tooth out of your own mouth, but that’s not a strong enough visual nor can it convey the zaniness of yanking a glowing superball out of your own noggin. I don’t know how they got it up there, but it’s up there.
Mars Sucks
In true cyberpunk tradition, Total Recall shows all the degradation and violence that happens whenever big corporate interests are in control of foreign locations. But instead of it being oil in the middle east or railroads across the american plains, it’s Mars. Every young nerd’s first curious thought is about the strangeness of Mars. It’s right next to us, but seems so far away. And this movie kind of ruins it.
It doesn’t ruin Mars for the viewer, but it does for everyone who lives there. The organization was previously in charge of safety and security to its colonial inhabitants. But the early martian domes were built too cheaply, resulting in mutation among early settlers. Dump on some bad pay scale and human rights violations, and that’s a cocktail for rebellion.
You have a once beautiful world being ruined by corporate overlords who cut corners and murder anyone who disagrees. So, the usual.
You feel better at the end when Quaid starts up an ancient machine that creates an earth-like atmosphere, but up until that point Mars really sucks. It’s cramped, stale and violent. If you stay too long, you’re either gonna have Michael Ironside trying to put a lot of bullets in you or a little martian dude who will forever be your wingman because he is growing out your belly.
Is Two Weeks Too Long in Total Recall
Okay, we have to talk about this bonkers scene. While sneaking into Mars, Quaid disguises himself as an old lady only staying for two weeks. But in the future of Total Recall you don’t have Mission: Impossible-like prosthetics to glue to your faces. You have future tech, and boy is it buggy.
The lady just starts freaking out, saying “two weeks” over and over again. Can you imagine watching this in 1990 as this older lady just losing it about how long she is on Mars. Is it too long? Not long enough? I don’t know without more information. How bad is her job that two weeks in a hellscape isn’t long enough?
Once it’s revealed to be Arnold in an old lady robot helmet, it all makes sense. In true cyberpunk fashion, the tech doesn’t always work well. But it does work when it comes to the big surprise Quaid has waiting for the troops.
He tosses her and her head explodes, taking the fight to the organization for a change. It’s this weird thing where the tech doesn’t work right until it becomes suicidal. Earlier, when Schwarzenegger tells Johnny Cab to go to hell, Johnny goes into the wall. Maybe the robotic elements of this future are as half-assed as the martian domes? Maybe there is just enough artificial intelligence to become depressed and lash out?
Over 30 years, Total Recall has proven time and time again why it’s another sci-fi classic from Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s up there with The Terminator and supasses The Running Man in entertainment value. Whether you watch it on Mars or not, Total Recall is another classic of cyberpunk cinema.
