Are you looking for Arnold?
Arnold is on Mars in the big hit, made by the visionary director Paul Verhoeven. The movie first aired in the dawn of the 90’s -the golden decade of the ridiculous action flicks.
This is one of the fanciest motion pictures made at the time of its release in terms of visual effects and money. It had a mind-blowing budget of $65 000 000 and earned $261 million at the box-office.
The movie has also been rewarded the Special Achievement Academy Award for its stunning (at the time) visual effects.
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The plot:
The sci-fi thriller takes place in 2084. It tells the story of the ordinary worker Douglas Quaid who has dreams about going to Mars. His hot wife Lori (look how sporty Sharon Stone is) makes everything possible to dissuade him.
Douglas ends up in a company called “Reccal” that sells memory implants for virtual vacations and he purchases a trip to Mars. Once the memories are inserted in his muscular head, he remembers that he is a secret agent with a mission to the red planet, fighting against an evil dictator.
From this moment, the action begins and Douglas goes to Mars on a brave endeavor and faces a lot of troubles.
The cast:
You know, given the fact that Arnold shines so bright in the movie, any other participating actors are just as important as the weather forecast in Kiribati.
With that being said, Sharon Stone in the role of Quaid’s wife is young and smoking hot. For that role, she went on a crazy training plan and even learned taek won do. The result is amazing-she looks fantastic on the screen.
The talented Michael Ironside is excellent as the villain Richter and Ronny Cox is also great as the fanatic governor of the Mars colony.
It would be a great shame not mentioning the fact that the hugely talented Jerry Goldsmith has composed the score for the movie.
He has created the music for such classic movies as “Star Trek”, “Rambo III”, “L.A. Confidential” and many other.
Lately, he admitted that his favorite work was the score he created for “Total Recall”.
This is a funny action movie because:
Any seriousness is being constantly ruined by Arnold’s crazy accent, face moves and in general, presence.
If you don’t believe me, just listen him saying “You blew my covaaa (cover)” at the beginning of the movie, or “You need to give those people eaaaah (air)”.
Not to mention one of Arnold’s trademarks-the glorious “aaarghhh”, that we hear every time when someone hurts the Austrian Oak and his muscles.
It is true that the visuals are spectacular. By the way, this is one of the first movies ever to use CGI. To be honest, however, the visuals were spectacular. Past tense.
As per today’s perspective, they look pathetic, which makes them very funny, yet enjoyable. The explosions, the shootings, the blasts and the costumes seem like they were invented in a practical class by a bunch of 16-year-old students.
The bizarre look of the Martians is also hilarious. The radiation on the planet has transformed their bodies to a very disastrous level. Some of their body parts are oversized or entirely modified. Welcome to the creep show!
Sure enough, no motion picture, no matter how big and sophisticated it is, can escape from the goofs.
Just notice the calculators on the wrists of the guardians who chase Arnold on Mars. That is right, from a closer look, the little gadgets they use to communicate with each other are nothing more than Casio calculators.
Another fun spoof is the scene in which a dozen of bad guardians encircle Arnold’s holographic image and start shooting at him at point blank range. Logically they have to kill each other from that range and given the fact that it is not Arnold but it is just his hologram. How the heck no one dies? How, Mr. Verhoeven?
Conclusion:
The movie is so iconic, that it received a remake in 2012 starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale but it was far less successful than the original one.
“Total Recall” is probably one of the most memorable sci-fi thrillers of the past century. The plot is interesting and engaging and the movie is a real roller coaster. The acting is very decent and the musical score is haunting.
Of course, huge credit goes to the masterful director Paul Verhoeven who has done a great job by making Schwarzenegger look adequate (as far as that is possible) on the screen.
This is also among the early Arnold movies, which has skyrocketed him to the big leagues in Hollywood.
During the whole time, you keep asking yourself “what the hell Mr. Olympia is doing off the stage and is he acting or is he for real?!”.
The answer should be “No one knows but it’s pretty fun, and this is what matters most!”
For sure, this blockbuster is a great way to spend the evening meeting up some friends and enjoying the acting of the almighty ex-governor of California.
However, if you want to impress a girl, go get her watch the “Twilight” saga instead.
The discussion is open. Is this the greatest Arnold movie ever?
Feel free to leave me a comment below.