Total Recall – Steelbook

Summary

“Consider that a divorce!”

A few months ago I got the itch to revisit one of my favorite science fiction films from the Nineties – Total Recall. I had watched about half of the movie and was enjoying it immensely, but I was tired and decided to go to sleep. The next morning I saw that the film was receiving a brand new 4K UHD release by Lionsgate. I decided that I could wait a few months to revisit the film so I could see how the new release handled the picture. When I saw the beautiful artwork on the steelbook release of the film, I knew it had to be mine and preordered it immediately. A few days ago my steelbook arrived and it was just as attractive as I had hoped. My little sister was in town from Los Angeles so we decided to stay up late and watch the film together. We both had a blast revisiting the film. The new 4K disc is a big leap forward from the very well done Blu-ray from 2014.

Total Recall is a 1990 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The screenplay was written by Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, and Gary Goldman from the short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” by novelist Philip K. Dick. Philip K. Dick is one of my all time favorite authors. The adaptation is very true to the source material’s first sequence of events, but this is a case where the screenplay is actually better than the original material. The script extends beyond the original short story, adding additional paranoid elements and plot devices, making the actions taken by Quaid much more violent, adding in the villains, and by taking Doug to Mars – which never happens in the short story. They are very different, but it still stays true to the spirit of Philip K. Dick’s writing. The screenplay exceeds the boundaries of the original to create an engrossing storyline that reaches a fever pitch and a satisfying conclusion that I consider to be incredibly satisfying. 

Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has dreams that feature Mars and a brunette woman. His wife Lori (Sharon Stone) tells him to disregard those dreams, although he can’t seem to shake them. On a train to work he hears an advertisement from Rekall. Rekall specializes in memory implants. Instead of actually taking a trip to Mars, someone can simply purchase a memory package of a fantastic vacation for a fraction of the cost. He decides to go for it and have the memory implanted of Mars. Arriving at Rekall a clever salesperson named McClane (Ray Baker) talks Quaid through his options and helps Quaid fill out some questionnaires. Eventually they land on a plan that includes the excitement of being a secret agent on Mars. As Quaid begins to undergo the procedure, he wakes up violently screaming about Mars. McClane runs into the room and asks what is happening and the technicians explain that Quaid has not received the implant yet. They have tapped into some actual memory from Mars. Worried, the technicians put Quaid into a sleep and try to remove his memory of coming to Rekall. They put him in a cab. When Quaid awakens, his world has completely changed. He soon finds himself under attack from those who he believed were his friends.

I absolutely love Total Recall. Like Verhoeven’s Robocop, Total Recall has aged well. At the time of its production, Verhoeven was consistently the target of media attacks for the violent content in his films. Those folks obviously did not share his same sense of dark humor. It is hard to pigeonhole what Verhoeven was attempting to do in his films. With Total Recall the director seems to indulge in violence simply out of an urge to entertain and bring a smile to the audience. In the special features, when he discusses the sequence on the escalator where an innocent bystander is used as a human shield and shot to bits onscreen, Verhoeven laughingly says that he looked at the bystander as “meat.” Verhoeven obviously had no qualms about the violence in his films and consistently pushed his sequences as far as he could go without becoming grotesque. This technique helps his films feel completely fresh over thirty years after their initial release. His comedic bent in his films was often overlooked and that is a real shame because I believe that Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers are all very funny in their own ways. 

Total Recall was filmed in Mexico City. That location was chosen because Verhoeven wanted the film to revel in brutalist concrete architecture to create his vision of the future and there were several good examples of that type of architecture in Mexico City. The unique locations lend a lot to the world building of the film. Longtime collaborator cinematographer Jost Vacano lent the film the trademark Verhoeven look. Carolco gave the film a generous $65 million dollar budget which allowed Total Recall to be as big as it needed to be. With that vast budget, Verhoeven was able to enlist the iconic Jerry Goldsmith to compose a score for the film. The film was also able to create some massive set pieces and build some amazing miniature effects. This was one of the last films that would make great use of miniatures before the onslaught of CGI would flood into future releases. I love the organic feel that comes from those effects in comparison to the green screen effects that have become all too prominent now. Rob Bottin provided some truly remarkable creature effects, including the fantastic work done to create Kuato. Some of these effects have aged a little bit and look a little bit off, but overall I really enjoy the way that everything looks.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is great in the film as Quaid. It is difficult to describe the acting of Arnold, considering his unique accent and physique, but the man was always able to carry a film on his huge shoulders. Quaid was originally written to be a much softer character, but with Arnold’s physique he was rewritten to be much more physically capable. Arnold is very likable in the role and it is definitely one of his very best films. Another stand-out cast member in the film is Sharon Stone. She earned her stripes here with a badass turn as the femme fatale Lori. A couple years later she would turn in an iconic performance for Verhoeven in Basic Instinct. Michael Ironside is enjoyable as Richter, the agent on the trail of Quaid. Ronny Cox is awesome in everything and I was happy to see him as the capitalistic and diabolical Cohaagen. Rachel Ticotin was well cast as the demure, sleazy, and athletic Melina. 

The direction by Paul Verhoeven is fantastic and the film moves at a breakneck pace from large scale action setpiece to setpiece. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is wonderful. There is not a misplaced note. Total Recall is one of the best pictures from the Nineties – a true science-fiction action classic deserving of all the fandom it has received in the last thirty years. Highly recommended.

Video

When Carolco was purchased by Studio+, its entire library ell under control of StudioCanal. They have recently released several of the Rambo pictures and Cliffhanger on UHD with Lionsgate as the distributor. Lionsgate had released Total Recall on Blu-ray in 2014 and the results had been impressive. It blew away the prior Blu-ray presentation. The new 4K UHD presentation of Total Recall arrives with a a new HDR10 enhanced HEVC/H.265 encoded image. This new presentation of Total Recall looks for the most part fantastic aside from a few small issues. The first difference that is noticeable between this presentation and the 2014 Blu-ray, is that the image at first glance appears darker than the prior presentation. This may be jarring at first, but I found once I put the film into calibrated mode that it looked great and more in-tune with the prior presentation. The second issue is that the film displays a few out of place banding and compression related issues. These are few and far between, but they do show up occasionally. I believe that fans overall will find this UHD presentation to be more than up to the task. Fine detail has been improved and the HDR lends itself to a more vivid presentation than prior releases. This is a firm upgrade over all prior releases. 

Audio

Lionsgate has updated the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track to a full blown Atmos track. This is a substantial upgrade in every way. The surrounds are engaged frequently by the action pieces and the fantastic score by Jerry Goldsmith comes through well. Dialogue is crystal clear. Fans should be pleased with the upgraded track.

Supplements:

The 4K UHD disc holds many of the supplements, but there are a few additional featurettes to be found on the special features disc included. It’s a really attractive package overall.

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven
• Total Excess: How Carolco Changed Hollywood – this piece which runs a little over an hour looks at the rise and fall of the studio responsible for some of the biggest films of the Eighties and Nineties. I really enjoyed watching this history of the company.
• Open Your Mind – Scoring Total Recall – this piece focuses on the score by Jerry Goldsmith.
• Dreamers Within the Dream: Developing Total Recall – concept artist Ron Miller discusses the various phases of the production design with concept art shown for the duration of the piece.
• Trailer

Blu-ray Disc 1

• Audio Commentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven
• Open Your Mind – Scoring Total Recall
• Dreamers Within the Dream: Developing Total Recall

Blu-ray Disc 2 – Special Features Disc

• Total Excess: How Carolco Changed Hollywood
• Total Recall: The Special Effects – this is a well made look into the creation of the miniatures and creature effects in the film.
• Making Of – this archival featurette looks to be an EPK. Fun.
• “Imagining Total Recall” Featurette – this archival piece is about thirty minutes long and goes into detail about how the script for Total Recall was crafted over forty drafts and how the film was created. Interviews with Paul Verhoeven, screenwriter Ron Shusett, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more are featured. This is a great archival piece!
• Trailer 

Overall Scores: 

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 5/5

Total Recall is one of the last great action films from the Carolco team. Paul Verhoeven is one of my favorite directors and this is one of his best films. The script by Dan O’Bannon, Ron Shusett, and Gary Goldman is a fine-tuned piece of work that had been through forty different drafts before it was filmed. The hard work paid off, because it is one of teh most satisfying science fiction films of that era. Arnold Schwarzenegger was approaching the peak of his career and would star in Terminator 2: Judgment Day one year later. He was one of the driving forces behind having the film made, and it shows in his enthusiasm for his performance. Sharon Stone is great as the femme fatale Lori. The special effects that largely relied on practical effects including miniatures and creature effects from Rob Bottin still look really cool today. This is one of my favorite films from the Nineties and the new release on UHD by Lionsgate is a fantastic package. With hours of great special features, including an hour long history of Carolco’s rise and fall, and a good looking UHD presentation, I can’t recommend purchasing this set highly enough. For my taste, the steelbook edition is not to be missed. The artwork on the steelbook by artist Kyle Lambert is striking with imagery of Mars set behind a pastiche of memorbale characters from the film. The plastic overlay that goes over the steelbook features the title of the film. It’s definitely one of the best looking steelbook that I own and in my opinion worth paying the few extra dollars to purchase via Best Buy.