The fact that it blew its own premise the moment Arnie got cast was a dumb move for a start. The whole idea is that this is someone you doubt is an action hero or not. That doubt is supposed to stick with you throughout, what is reality and what isn't and so forth. But Arnie right after a series of successful action films? Of course he's a real action hero, who'd think otherwise? Although I gather the film was originally written for Richard Dreyfuss, and later William Hurt, to star. Either of those wouldn't blow the premise from the get-go at least. Follow up by a film with some tremendously silly effects (the eye-popping), set pieces (the whole Kuato thing made me laugh when I shouldn't have), frankly painful one-liners ("Screw Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!") and large chunks that was basically Arnie being chased around by Michael Ironside (who was the bright point of the film for me) and occasionally remembering that there was some sort of thing about whether stuff was real or not, then shrugging and going back to the silliness.
I recall being tremendously disappointed in the theatre, and predicting the painfully obvious closing line well in advance (as did the people with me).
I apologize in advance as some thoughts here may be all over the place. And I might have not finished some thoughts as I don't want to bore everyone with me gushing over this silly Arnold movie.
I would agree with that assessment when I originally watched it. I was really into Arnold movies when I originally saw it and of course that's the reason why I saw it. Dumb action movies was what I enjoyed (because I was playing stuff like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom) and I never thought that there was more to it. There is no way this whole movie is just a dream, right? I was also younger so I didn't think that much about movies and just enjoyed them for ooo action! (Though, now that I am older, the violence in the film does make me a little uncomfortable at times). I mean I will gush over this movie because of the insight I got from the commentary.
Maybe Paul has brainwashed me, but I was thoroughly convinced by his commentary track that the movie is smart and I can't help but see the movie in the dumb action movie way anymore. To me it is because of this insight I think it is a smart movie. Like how they explain that the guy at Rekall tells the plot of the movie. There is a fade to black at Rekall, and after that we are supposed to be kept guessing. Like the fade to white is supposed to symbolize a lobotomy. Maybe I was just not paying attention, but when I was spoonfed these things it clicked for me.
I mean, commentary tracks have do this for me with stuff like The Thing or Escape from New York... my opinion of them elevated after I watched the commentary and heard how they worked on the film. The work they put into it and how they do it is what leads me to believe they are smart movies. It's why I love the Thing even though I hate horror movies.
This is a movie I have purchased 3 times so far. DVD, Blu Ray (the original release lacks the Arnold and Verhoeven commentary) and Mind Bending Edition (latest version with color correction and the restored commentary. I am also glad that Total Recall did not get a sequel so it gets to stay open ended because Minority Report was originally supposed to be a sequel to Total Recall and that would mean the events of the movie were real instead of a dream, and I prefer it believe that it was a dream.
Have you seen the remake? I think if you have issues with the 1990 one, the remake only makes them worse as it doesn't even try to make you doubt the movie at any point except at the very end with a pan to a billboard of Rekall. Though maybe you will prefer Colin Farrell to Arnold, but I'm not a fan of Colin Farrell so he did not do anything for me in that film.
No one in the film compares to Michael Ironside though. "See you at the party."
TL;DR, I guess Paul Verhoeven brainwashed me with his commentary track, but that is why I believe Total Recall is a smart movie. I'm not saying it is a genius movie, but it's pretty smart of a dumb action movie, you know?
Also, Anon99, I have a friend who hates Total Recall and think it's stupid but I still get along with them, so please don't think I hate people that don't agree with me on movies. :P
Admittedly, I'd probably enjoy the team commentary version better than actually watching it straight.
I think the commentary is enjoyable in it's own right because of the insight you get and because Arnold doesn't know how to do movie commentary and just does a sport commentary. He does a literal commentary.
last edited at Aug 20, 2016 8:18PM
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