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TOTAL RECALL (1990) FULL LENGTH MOVIE REACTION - WATCH ALONG (Patreon)

Published:
2023-11-19 10:49:30
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2026-06
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Total Recall (1990) Full Length Movie Reaction - Watch Along

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djKENTO

Verhoven doesn’t miss.

James Forrest

God, that was a great watch with you guys :) The thing I've loved about this movie since I first saw it is that it poses the most profound question of all; who are we really? How do we know who we are? It's all in our memories, right? It's all locked up there, in what we think we remember about ourselves. Except ... think about it for a second ... The whole of our lives we are constantly embellishing our memories, and we react based on what we remember, even the bits that we've added ourselves and we remake our understanding of ourselves based on that. But what if it was possible for someone else to add or subtract our memories? Who are we then? The brilliance of the film lies in that premise. Is Quato right? Are we the things that we do? But aren't those things dictated to us by who we think we are? Is he acting like Quaid because of his memories of who Quaid is, or because of deep, embeded values which have nothing to do with your mind? Did Hauser make a BIG mistake in making Quaid a good man, because he himself failed to understand that if you make Quaid believable ... that he might believe in the illusion? Or - and this is the truly mad question - was any of it real? When you think about it, the whole idea of memory implants is bonkers; is he supposed to come back from Rekall with his new memories of being a secret agent and then sink back into a normal life? How would that work? If he was unsatisfied with life before, how is he supposed to go back to it after that? So was it real, or was the whole experience really a bit of a mental breakdown caused by the complications in trying to make an implant like that work? What did the guy tell him? "This is the latest thing ..." so yeah, the latest thing. How well tested was it? It's a world where breathable air is a tradable commodity, so how do we know Rekall even bothered to do quality control before putting their product on the market? The idea that it's all a "schitzoid embolism" isn't crazy at all ... and Verhoeven, who actually is quite explicit in endorsing the dream scenario, actually ended the film on that strangest of things ... the fade to white. It's just a wonderful piece of cinema. Brilliant in excution - the Mars sets are staggering, as you've pointed out - with a supremely good cast. ironside as Cohagen's number two is especially brilliant; look out for him when you guys dip into Starship Troopers, he's great in that. But I first saw him on an 80's TV series (a short series) called V. PLEASE do yourselves a favour and check that out and review it, especially after Starship Troopers, which I'll explain better when you've seen that movie. But V was exceptional and although it looks dated it stands up even today as a superb show and a damned good time. They released what they called The Original Movie, which was a made-for-TV special then two series, only the first of which - The Final Battle - is worth your time ... but it is SOOO worth your time, with Ironside showing up and stealing the whole show. Ronny Cox, from RoboCop was, of course, outstanding as Cohagen, and he was cast because of how well he played the earlier movie's nasty as Hell, ruthless executive Dick Jones; Cox was always the Good Guy in stuff. Check out a somehow overlooked gem of a film called The FBI Murders, based on a true story, where David Soul plays a bank robber and Cox is one of the agents assigned to chase down him and his partner; that's a typical Ronny Cox movie before the mad Dutchman turned him into a bad guy! (Not to mention his turn in Beverly Hills Cop, another Must-See 80's flick!) But I loved Sharon Stone and Rachel Ticontin as well; Stone is, of course, magnificent in Verhoeven's crazy crime thriller Basic Instinct, but she shone outrageously and against the odds stole Scorsese's crime masterpiece Casino right out from under both De Niro and Joe Pesci ... not easy to do as I'm sure you've gathered. She proved what a fine actress she is. Ticontin turns up in a brilliant role a few years down the line, starring opposite Robert Duvall and Michael Douglas in a great film called Falling Down ... you must see and review that, doubtless it will be recommended to you countless times. There are a couple of great minor roles in Total Recall as well; most notably, the mutant who runs the bar is none other than Dean Norris who plays Hank in Breaking Bad! I remember being really surprised when, on a rewatch a few years back, I spotted that for the first time! Yeah I knew you guys would love this flick and I'm so glad you reviewed it and enjoyed it. There are various clues in the movie for both the "it was all real" and for the "it was all a dream" interpretation; crucially, as I said, it ended on the fade-to-white but Verhoeven also said the scene that made him want to do it is the one in the hotel room where the Rekall guy comes to the door ... I loved how much both of you got out of that particular scene! What a pleasure this afternoon has been! Keep 'em coming guys, I absolutely love your work on these and can't wait for the next ones!

Ed R

Great reaction on Total Recall. I'm a huge Philip K. Dick fan and there are many movies bases on his stories. If you haven't seen them already, you have got to watch the Blade Runner franchise. Those also play around with the idea of memory implants which is kind of terrifying. A few other Philip K. Dick stories turned into movies: Paycheck, Next, Minority Report and more. But Blade Runner is a masterpiece of science fiction. It's right up there with Alien in my opinion. And the recent sequel is quite amazing also.

James Forrest

Great call on Minority Report. Wonderful film.

TheMediaKnights
>>122594162

Blade Runner is coming soon! Can't wait to check that one out. Been hearing amazing things about both the original and the sequel 😄

TheMediaKnights
>>122562778

The movie keeps playing it's audience like a fiddle! It knows what the audience is thinking and when and it toys around with the concept of reality in such a graceful way. While allowing the viewer to make up their minds on whether or not it's real. It also poses the question "Does it even matter?" reality is subjective. So in the end if he believes this is his life and he lives day by day with that knowledge and acts according to what his "life" is. Doesn't that make it his truth? And if that's the case the biggest question is why would it matter if he himself is happy? So many questions that leave you at the edge of an existential crisis. We absolutely love when they're able to convey themes as complex as these and treat the audience with enough respect that we ourselves can come up with our own interpretation. Thank you so much for watching this with us! It's always a pleasure reading you guys!

djKENTO
>>122551871

You’d never be able to make a YouTube edit but Showgirls which is his most divisive film is a bananas watch. It’s so campy and hilarious.

Donna Castellano

Have you seen Starship Troopers yet? That was one of PV's films I didn't like on the first viewing but after subsequent watches, it's one of my favorites. It may be my favorite PV film. And I agree with the comment above on Showgirls. All of that craziness in that movie was definitely on purpose. After you see it, check out Kennie JD's reaction/discussion here on YouTube. She goes into detail about the behind the scenes. Given she's a make up person, she goes nuts over the beats too. 🤣.

David Anderson

You guys doing a YouTube edit?

Luetin

Greatly enjoyed the react on this. Great points about the miniature design, and the use of sound, there's also something about the blood packs they used in this era of film making. They always look really good and you don't see that, even in modern movies - whether its actually 'realistic' or not is another matter, but it conveys the impact, which I think is what matters visually for a visual format. The set design throughout this is insane - and rightfully blown away by the miniature sequence in his dream with kuato.. its amazing how they did this for 1990. Regarding dream or not - its a personal thing, you have to respect it either way, as always some ppl will get animated about these kind of details, same as the end of the Thing. For me personally, Ive always interpreted it as being in his mind. For several reasons. Primarily its the fact that when he goes to rekall, the agent actively tries to talk him out of going to Mars, Quaid insists, but its the AGENT who suggests the secret agent program, not Quaid. Later on when Cohagen explains the plan, he specifically notes that Quaid going to Rekall is not part of their plan. So why would the Rekall agent, suggest a secret agent program if its not part of Cohagens plan? Coincidence? its quite a stretch. Also when he is sitting down at Rekall they show two slides of alien artefacts that are almost identical to the alien reactor on Mars later. The doctor even says 'they date back a million years' - this is repeated by Cohagen later in the dream sequence that Quaid is meant to have heard for himself in reality - so how can this be in Rekall before his implant? Quaid sees this - and uses it later to create his adventure/delusion. Its far too big of a coincidence, and then of course Melina, we could allow that he did dream of her - and that he can describe her - but the photo fit in his rekall screen is LITERALLY her. Its not plausible to believe thats a coincidence - especially when remembering its not at all part of Cohagens plan. All the stuff at Rekall happens before his implant is triggered, and its nothing to do with Cohagen as he says himself. For me - as soon as we get the zoom in and sound drop from him being in the chair - thats the end of the real Quaid. Everything after that is his dream. The rest of the film even feels like a dream. Although the doctor who tries to talk him down drops a bead of sweat, the doctor himself says that Quaid himself is inventing and creating the story as he goes along - the bead of sweat is simply Quaids mind creating an excuse to remain in the dream. As for the cold and suspicious looks from his wife and work buddy at the beginning, I attribute these to just being the movie attempting to throw us off and maintain our curiosity early on. Anyway. Theres more things, but thats the crux of it for me :D

TheMediaKnights
>>122961604

You are so right about the blood packs! The impact that they convey is what get's the message across. It didn't even cross our minds to consider them "unrealistic" because they look good. Love your take on the film! They did such an amazing job at inserting a lot of points here for both arguments! We are under the impression mars was a dream as well. But we'll never know for certain! Absolutely love movies that allow us to make up our minds on what it all means 😄Thank you for watching this with us! It was a joy to read your insight!

Earl Grey

This was so much fun to rewatch, together with my wife and you guys. It was a fun one. Arnie is great. And Sharon kicked some butts. And groins. Lol.

Einherj

Starship Troopers when?