Total Recall

1990 Sci Fi

In Paul Verhoeven's wild sci-fi action movie Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a 21st-century construction worker who discovers that his entire memory of the past derives from a memory chip implanted in his brain. Schwarzenegger learns that he's actually a secret agent who had become a threat to the government, so those in power planted the chip and invented a domestic lifestyle for him. Once he has realized his true identity, he travels to Mars to piece together the rest of his identity, as well as to find the man responsible for his implanted memory. Verhoeven has created a fast, furious action film with Total Recall, filled with impressive stunts and (literally) eye-popping visuals. Though the film bears only a passing resemblance to the Philip K. Dick short story it was based on ("We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), the movie is an entertaining, if very violent, ride. more..

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox,Michael Ironside

Reviews

  • One of the most complex and visually interesting science fiction movies in a long time.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    11 May 2013

  • Starts out as mind-bending futuristic satire and then turns relentless -- it becomes a violent, postpunk version of an Indiana Jones cliff-hanger.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    11 May 2013

  • Top-flight muscleman entertainment that is not afraid to have a brain or two in its head.

    Kim Newman - Empire

    11 May 2013

  • A first-rate action movie, slickly done and with so many imaginative bonuses that, for a time, it feels like a classic in the making. It's not, but it's still solid and entertaining

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    11 May 2013

  • Both female roles are unexpectedly meaty, so much so that the film loses something once the far more lively Stone is dispatched. Hour one (more satirical) is better all around, though the falloff isn't fatal.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    11 May 2013

Awards

  • Eric Brevig

    Academy Awards (1991)

  • Best Costumes

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1991)

  • Best Foreign Film

    Awards of the Japanese Academy (1991)

     
  • Best Special Visual Effects

    BAFTA Awards (1991)

     
  • Jerry Goldsmith

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1991)