Total Recall

Total Recall (1990) creates more of a dilemma than the other films that Verhoeven has crafted, as there are two distinct paths to a review of it—as an Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, and as a Verhoeven picture. If viewed through the former lens, it would have to be considered one of Arnold’s very best pictures, somewhere behind Cameron’s first Terminator flick, which perfectly matted Arnold’s imposing frame onto a narrative that likewise suited his speech. Further, the meta-questions regarding epistemic reality and ontology at the halfway point of this film would place it at the top of Arnold’s filmography, as the entire oeuvre of Schwarzenegger would then be metatextually revealed as disparate dreams valorizing the very persona of Schwarzenegger as monolithic hero.

If viewed through the latter lens, though, as a Verhoeven film, it’s slightly less successful since Verhoeven’s trademarks are distilled and only there peripherally, such as the absurd three-breasted woman and the hints at a dreamscape rather than reality that Schwarzenegger’s Douglas Quaid is experiencing. Some of these ontological questions receive consideration but whereas the sociopolitical and propaganda messages behind Starship Troopers are overt, here they seem more implied and distantly contemplated. The shift between Quaid’s loyalties to the underprivileged and devotion to the bourgeois society are perfunctory, for example, and never granted much depth.

Still, there’s much joy to be found in Arnold’s performance, which carries an understanding of how best to utilize the Schwarzenegger persona, externalizing confusion, mystification, and glimpses of ironic humor. Moreover, Michael Ironside displays a typically wonderful performance, full of psychotic anger and brewing jealousy over letting his mistress (Sharon Stone) serve as Quaid’s wife if the pre-awakened scenes. The film never really lets up and the ride is always enjoyable, with trademark moments throughout, such as the robot taxi, Quaid/Hauser’s double-crossing,, and quality chick fights (and what film isn’t bettered by Arnold’s cackling with obliviousness DVD commentary—here’s where I use a guy as a human shield!). The special effects still hold up nicely, and the fade-out at the end reveals that there’s still a subversive streak behind Verhoeven’s Hollywood cinema, should one choose to examine it. Largely, though, it’s a high quality Arnold film and a good Verhoeven film with glimmers of his traditional sarcasm and subversive streaks.

Total Recall: 8/10