El vengador del futuro

Years later, they made a repeat of this movie. Of course, it was not the same beauty. I watched the first movie again. Our childhood was also a very important movie. Visual effects still look beautiful. It's nostalgia to see the youth of the actors.

I first saw this in 1990 on a vhs i used to own. Revisited it recently. The three boobs n the comedic bulging eyes stayed with me from a tender young age. The film has lots of action, some violent scenes, good one liners n Arnie's fine acting at display. Surprisingly, this time he doesn't get to go shirtless or in a vest. The mutants mayb disturbing for some viewers. This was one of the earliest one to deal with a secret agent losing memory and all. Way before Bourne Identity and Jackie Chan's Who am I.

I've seen TOTAL RECALL many times over the years and I'm never failed to be impressed with it . Some people dislike it and I feel I must defend the movie

" Confused plot " - Sorry but I managed to understand the complex plot first time I saw the movie and was impressed that Hollywood had merged a high concept plot with a FX laden extravaganza , such a pity this didn't lead to more thoughtful action adventures . If you want to see a confused plot try watching a James Bond movie from the 1980s

" The violence " - Yeah this is a violent movie for sure but I do wish people would educate themselves to the work of directors before they criticize . Paul Verhoeven had previously made FLESH AND BLOOD and ROBOCOP so a futuristic adventure by Verhoeven that was awarded an 18 certificate isn't going to be confused with an episode of the teletubbies

What I liked from Verhoeven's directing is that he's made everything so recognizable , nothing is ridiculously futuristic looking and we see the characters wearing clothes that wouldn't look out of place in the 1980s . Verhoeven also brings little satirical stabs to the proceedings as he did with ROBOCOP and it's a great shame we see less and less of this European director working for Hollywood

Verhoeven even gets a good performance from Big Arnie , okay this body builder was never in danger of winning an Oscar but Arnie doesn't send himself up and nor do his wise cracks like in his other blockbusters but he does make for an affable - Though violent - hero . Michael Ironside gives the most memorable performance which considering he spends most of the movie running around with a gun is no small achievement .

One interesting thing I noticed about TOTAL RECALL after seeing it again last night is that it's unapologetic on being on the side of the rebels who are waging a war against the greedy Mars company . Anyone believe that if it was made today the rebels/terrorists would be the bad guys ?

Anyway this is along with the original TERMINATOR the best movie starring Arnie though most of the credit for this movie belongs to the screenwriters and director and it's a great pity Hollywood is reluctant to mix a high concept SF plot with a crowd pleasing action adventure

In 2020, Douglas feels he needs a break from the day to day life and goes to Total Recall – where memories are planted in your head to make you think you are someone else for a while – a holiday in your head if you will. However before he can be injected he begins to have flashbacks and suddenly finds that people are trying to kill him and that somehow he must get to Mars to uncover the reasons. However what is truth and what is fake and is the whole thing really happening or not?

Based on a Phillip K. Dick story this was always going to be intelligent – however it's surprising that Verhoeven manages to keep that core well. The plot allows his excessive violence but is also a great story that more than holds the interest with twists and turns and neither Douglas or us fully knowing what's going on. The action is great – even 10 or so years on, and the tension just stays solid throughout.

Schwarzenegger does his usual invincible muscles stuff and looks happy blasting crowds, but he is also OK in other areas too. Tictin is good but never repeated this success for herself. The baddies (or maybe not?) are the best roles – solid baddies like Ironside and Cox are just as good as they were in other similar roles and Sharon Stone is good as Douglas' wife.

Overall this continues Verhoeven's trend of making ultra-violence and clever plots and satire work well together (Robocop, Starship Troopers and this) as opposed to his trend of making trash! Everything about this film works well – whether it be the action or the acting or the plot – a surprisingly nice package for a violent action movie!

One of the best mind trips ever, I could only wish this movies was made ten years later. Even for 1990, this film had some of the most imaginative make-up I've ever seen in a movie. While it had Paul Verhoeven's classic shallowness, the film really touched new ground not only with science fiction but also with special effects. Talk a good few years for a director, he not only changed sci-fi with Robocop, he did it again with Total Recall. Verhoeven will never, ever win an Oscar for best director, but his movies will at least be entertaining in most respects.