"I'll be Back!" I mean, "If it bleeds. We Kill It!" Oops, I getting his quotes mixed up again, sorry. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a action movie icon. His many portrayals of the action hero, robotic messenger of doom, or the larger-than-life jock shall live for a very long time in cinematic history. While Schwarzenegger’s film career has varied greatly, his presence on the big screen always seems to be consistent.
However, what if we decided to place Mr. Schwarzenegger in role that has him living a lie? Where he is in a futuristic world where the separation of the have's and have-nots couldn't be any more wider than the truth. Where lame lower-class workers of society save credits all year long just to have a fake mini vacation memory implanted into their cranium. What if one of these implantations was to go wrong for a man that is six feet two inches, weighs about 260 pounds and has a barrel-like chest sized 58”? What could possibly go wrong? Well, you'll get one unforgettable action ride of Sci-Fi suspense that will only last until the aliens are brought into the picture. Yes, aliens. Whenever a Sci-Fi movie needs help, like Professor Geerling so elegantly put it, "just put in aliens, that'll make it better!"
The observations from the 1990 Total Recall movie compared to the original short story of "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," by Philip K. Dick is the name changes of the main characters. Douglas Quail has a sort of lonely connotation of the below average male worker-bee of society. He’s the typical guy with an average life and with an average wife. However, much can be said about the wife and her condensing actions towards her loser-like husband from the short story. But that's a soapbox for another time and place. Mr. Quail is longing for more out of this world; he wants a trip to Mars! His finances won’t actually support an actual trip with his meager salary, so that's where the Rekal Incorporated comes into play. For only less than $1,140 Creds, he can enjoy a fully artificial vacation of his choosing all from the safety of his own mind. Where nothing can go wrong, right? However, in the movie, Hollywood decided to change Mr. Quail to Mr. Quid. This name conveys some sort of strength and power of fortitude behind it. A fitting name when you cast an icon like Arnold to play in this role. It is a name that is fitting for him, especially because of his physical attributes. He can invoke a stronger feeling of anger when McClane tries to offer him a different memory and he declines. He can show better brute force when fighting off the secret police who are out to capture him at any cost necessary. Arnold plays into his part well, but he does not quite capture the original essence of the story for me.
Overall, the fight scenes from the movie are intense. Sharon Stone's appearance as Lori Quid is unforgettable, and the suspense is warranted for a big budget action film. But I missed the mind talking conversations with Mr. Quail and the police. I wanted to see or hear the thoughts that Mr. Quail has during the chase and leading up to his surrendering for another chance at another life. The memory artifacts and how McClane describes how each one will play into his new memory of alien mice and saving the world. We didn't get to experience that on the big screen when you have Arnold playing Mr. Quail, I mean Quid. What we would assume is that he probably would have stepped on the alien mice and not given much thought of surrendering, but fighting until his death. The whole movie is, in a way, a huge tree that grew from a little seed that was dreamt up by Philip Dick. Oh what a journey, but it could have been so much more if Hollywood executives would have left it be. Am I right?
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