| Total Recall (1990) Cast:Arnold Schwarzenegger,Rachel Ticotin,Ronny Cox,Michael Ironside,Sharon Stone Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Douglas Quad a seemingly innocent construction worker who gets an artifical vacation only to find out a secret identity puts him into a struggle between assassins and martian rebels, all of this leads to a mindbending conclusion that finds Schwarzenegger saving the planet from it's oppressive government. Total Recall is excellent science fiction, thanks to a taut script and a story full of intriguing ideas, as well lots of action which make the movie very enjoyable and at times surreal. Of course the one flaw the movie has working against is the overblown approach when it comes to gore. In Total Recall Verhoeven piles on so much graphic gore and mean spirited violence that the movie at times becomes more concerned with spectacle then telling the excellent story. However despite this flaw Total Recall is in general a classic Sci/Fi /Action combo which on a whole satisfies. The carnage is sometimes out of control but generally this slight flaw hardly gets in the way of the energetic story. Plus the movie asks a lot of questions concerning what is a man's identity and what exactly defines him. It's here where Total Recall packs the most punch. Paul Verhoeven ***1/2 |