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[GAMEPROFF]

Yesterday, I have seen Total Recall to celebrate Arnold Schwarzeneggers 70th birthday, this was the first time I saw this movie in like 6 years.

I completely forgot what an amazing movie it was, the great effects and all the imaginative stuff that goes on, the agent toys, the mutants (yeah, I am talking about that mutant ), the great performances of Michael Ironside, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone - I just love the fight scene in their kitchen

and the great retrofuturistic look. And yeah, the taxi-robot looks super silly nowadays but I think that was even the intention back then.

But just take a look at this:

The effects in this movie are just terrific.

This movie has such a great great personality, something modern action movies totally lack. Everything is nowadays just way to clean and has no soul, has to appeal to everyone. Action movies just went way downhill after the 80s. Just look at my top action movies with Schwarzenegger: Terminator 2, Predator, Total Recall, Phantom Commando. While some of the share a Sci-Fi setting, each one of them is very unique and different, but top notch and everyone of them do their own thing in a excellent way.

To go back to my topic, after I finished the movie I saw that there where actually some discussions on some message boards, that its not clear if the events in the movie actually occur or if they are just the dream that gets implanted into Douglas mind. This was never a thing for me, I always considered everything to be actually happening - Douglas beeing a agent made sense to me but now reconsidering the events of the movie and even the alien artifacts beeing shown at Rekall in the beginning of the movie made me wonder, what actually the canon version is supposed to be.
I think the only thing that is missing from Rekalls promises was the Space-Monster, but I am really not sure.

Whats the consens on the move and its events?



Before we forget the greatness that was us given by legolambs, here is Total Recall - The Musical

 

[LakeEarth]

Yes.

Spoiler

It's whatever you want the answer to be.

 

[Volimar]

It was an hallucination. He was in Recall being lobotomiized.

 

[shira]

That's why it's a great movie

 

[A-V-B]

Well, the woman he created before "going in" was the woman he actually met, so it was a Total Recall experience, right?

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Who can say?

 

[Amneziak]

It was

Spoiler

n't

 

[Superblatt]

While I'd like to believe this happened, I'm fairly certain he was sitting in the Recall chair the whole time.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Well, the woman he created before "going in" was the woman he actually met, so it was a Total Recall experience, right?

But he dreamed of her before and choose her look because of his dream.

He even said that its like he knows her IIRC

 

[Graphics Horse]

think the only thing that is missing from Rekalls promises was the Space-Monster, but I am really not sure.

If you didn't see the two headed monster, you need to open your mind.

 

[LakeEarth]

Well, the woman he created before "going in" was the woman he actually met, so it was a Total Recall experience, right?

He was dreaming about her before Recall, suggesting he knew her previous to the initial memory wipe.

The part where the program is called "Blue Skies on Mars" though...

 

[Anung]

It was a dream. The flash to white at the end instead of fade to black was because he got a lobotomy.

 

[A-V-B]

He was dreaming about her before Recall, suggesting he knew her previous to the initial memory wipe.

The part where the program is called "Blue Skies on Mars" though...

Ah, I didn't remember that part. Gotcha.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

It was a dream. The flash to white at the end instead of fade to black was because he got a lobotomy.

Welp. That makes sense

 

[Hellraizah]

I listened to the remake a couple of days ago.

I think I should do like you and wash my memories by listening to the original.

 

[bonesmccoy]

But he dreamed of her before and choose her look because of his dream.

He even said that its like he knows her IIRC

Also, his buddy - who later turns out to be a hilariously doughy assassin - gives him the side-eye when he mentions going to Rekall.

 

[rrc1594]

Sharon Stone tho

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

It's been a while since I've seen it but I've always been in the "it's all a dream" camp. Mostly because of the ending with the slightly unsettling Jerry Goldsmith score. Never read the short story though.

 

[Douglas Quaid]

You think this is the Real, Quaid?

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Also, his buddy - who later turns out to be a hilariously doughy assassin - gives him the side-eye when he mentions going to Rekall.

Exactly

It's been a while since I've seen it but I've always been in the "it's all a dream" camp. Mostly because of the ending with the slightly unsettling Jerry Goldsmith score. Never read the short story though.

I just read the Wikipedia summary and its something completly diferent

 

[AndrewDean84xX]

A dream.

 

[A-V-B]

You think this is the Real, Quaid?

Get out of here, Arnie!

 

[DaBargainHunta]

The DVD commentary with Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed it was a dream (I can't remember if the commentary track carried over to the Blu-ray releases). That kind of sucks because I wanted it to be real, but it makes more sense as a dream. I'm not sure about the lobotomy part others posted above. That seems kind of dark.

 

[Weiss]

Definitely a dream.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

The DVD commentary with Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed it was a dream (I don't know if the commentary track carried over to the Blu-ray releases). That kind of sucks because I wanted it to be real, but it makes more sense as a dream. I'm not sure about the lobotomy part.

Welp. There it is.

To bad :/

 

[tuffy]

It's wonderfully ambiguous, but the "blue sky on Mars" offhand remark from the Rekall employee and how the intervention doctor spells out what's going to happen in the rest of the film ("one minute you'll be the savior of the resistance, and the next you'll be Cohagen's bosom buddy") puts me in the "all a dream" camp.

 

[KernelPanic]

Always thought it's a dream, but they leave it vague so the audience can make it whatever they want.

The story plays out exactly like he asks at Recall(the girl, he wants to be a secret agent etc)

The book it's based on is called "We can Remember it for you Wholesale" as well, kind of gives it away.

 

[timberger]

It's wonderfully ambiguous, but the "blue sky on Mars" offhand remark from the Rekall employee and how the intervention doctor spells out what's going to happen in the rest of the film ("one minute you'll be the savior of the resistance, and the next you'll be Cohagen's bosom buddy") puts me in the "all a dream" camp.

Intervention doc was working for Cohagen, so he'd know Quaid was Cohagen's pal previously before he was wiped. And his mind was wiped because he found out about the alien terraforming machine, so him making "Blue skies on mars" part of his fantasy could also have been part of his memories coming back as he was going under like with the woman he describes.

That's the great thing about this movie, you can really take it either way because everything in it can work for the dream or reality explanation. It's really well put together... unlike the laughable remake.

 

[Revolutionary]

It's intentionally ambigious.

Spoiler

It was a dream.

 

[Version 3.0]

Why lobotomy? He got everything promised. Seems like a successful memory implant to me.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Intervention doc was working for Cohagen, so he'd know Quaid was Cohagen's pal previously before he was wiped. And his mind was wiped because he found out about the alien terraforming machine, so him making "Blue skies on mars" part of his fantasy could also have been part of his memories coming back as he was going under like with the woman he describes.

That's the great thing about this movie, you can really take it either way because everything in it can work for the dream or reality explanation. It's really well put together... unlike the laughable remake.

Yeah. Since Cohagen is the boss of Rekall, he just could have adopted the memory of Houser for a Ego-Trip. Its a fucking insane story, so why not?

This all makes me appreciate this movie even more.

Why lobotomy? He got everything promised. Seems like a successful memory implant to me.

But in the beginning, the lobotomy was established as a accident, that can happen

 

[jstripes]

Why lobotomy? He got everything promised. Seems like a successful memory implant to me.

Wasn't there an error with the machine implanting the memory? Could be he got the memory implant he wanted, but in the process his brain got fried.

 

[Parallax]

The DVD commentary with Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed it was a dream (I can't remember if the commentary track carried over to the Blu-ray releases). That kind of sucks because I wanted it to be real, but it makes more sense as a dream. I'm not sure about the lobotomy part others posted above. That seems kind of dark.

wasnt verhoeven wishy washy on the ending because he wanted to keep the door open for a sequel?

 

[Machine]

 

[LakeEarth]

Why lobotomy? He got everything promised. Seems like a successful memory implant to me.

This is a good point. Even if you believe it is just a dream, there's nothing forcing you to believe the doctor that he's currently having a psychotic episode. We don't really know how elaborate these memory implants can get.

Wasn't there an error with the machine implanting the memory? Could be he got the memory implant he wanted, but in the process his brain got fried.

They establish that people have been lobotomized during the memory implantation. But him going nuts on the chair, the doctor telling him he's still in Rekall, all could just be part of the dream's "plot".

Someone earlier mentioned the "fade to white" at the end means he was lobotomized, but it could very easily represent him waking up normally.

 

[Skellig Gra]

I would say dream but I have no definitive proof other than the straightforward plot points about him signing up for it.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

So sieht's aus.

 

[super-heated plasma]

If it was a dream how would he know and have memories of what the Rekall people were arguing about after they sedated him and then stuck him in a cab?

 

[hobozero]

If it was a dream how would he know and have memories of what the Rekall people were arguing about after they sedated him and then stuck him in a cab?

I mean technically you could say that about every post-recall scene that arnold isn't in

 

[RoadHazard]

I listened to the remake a couple of days ago.

I think I should do like you and wash my memories by listening to the original.

I watched that recently, didn't think it was all that bad. Sorry.

 

[The Shadow]

If I remember correctly, the director even said it was a dream. Except there's one small problem...

We haven't implanted it yet

That scene takes place when Quaid was out cold. People keep forgetting that scene and it pretty much solidifies it as being real.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Thats not his token

That scene takes place when Quaid was out cold. People keep forgetting that scene and it pretty much solidifies it as being real.

What do you mean?

 

[ElFly]

No, it was all real

also, we almost get total recall 2: minority report

Of course, as many of you are aware, the first plan for ‘Total Recall 2’ was to adapt Dick’s “The Minority Report” as a follow-up with Quaid/Hauser now working for the newly established “PreCrime” police division. And eventually he has to go on the run again, because the precognitive mutants from Mars who can foresee murders have a vision that he will kill a man, which turns out to be a set up. The script for that idea was eventually turned back into a straight adaptation of the short story and made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.

 

[Volimar]

What do you mean?

If it's all a memory implant, he wouldn't be aware of things happening where he wasn't present or conscious for, so why would the movie show them?

 

[The Shadow]

What do you mean?

There's a scene when he "wakes up" at Total Recall, going nuts, and says, "You blew my cover! I am not Quaid!" and then they inject a shit load of tranquilizer in him. If it was a dream, the very next scene should be him waking up, not a conversation when he's completely out cold.

 

[Raziel]

Like Inception, if there's a definitive canonical answer to whether it's a dream, I don't want to know.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

If it was all real, it doesn't really explain how it came to be that Quaid was on earth working as a construction worker living the simple life.

 

[Drazgul]

There's a scene when he "wakes up" at Total Recall, going nuts, and says, "You blew my cover! I am not Quaid!" and then they inject a shit load of tranquilizer in him. If it was a dream, the very next scene should be him waking up, not a conversation when he's completely out cold.

The Shadow knows.

 

[Tom_Cody]

I just rewatched the movie recently.

It's really a great touch of ambiguity.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

No, it was all real

also, we almost get total recall 2: minority report

...damn. I want this.

If it was all real, it doesn't really explain how it came to be that Quaid was on earth working as a construction worker living the simple life.

They say it. Memory transplant.