9:46 Madison: "This is like Jason Bourne before Jason Bourne." Actually, no, Bourne saw screen time before this movie. Damon's Bourne movies weren't the originals. There was a TV movie ("The Bourne Identity") in '88 starring Richard Chamberlain, based on the 1980 novel by Robert Ludlum. Early '90s classic. Philip K Dick's work has been adapted (rarely faithfully) LOTS of times for TV and movies. This one's a wild ride with some surprising depth, if you look just under the hood (is ANY of this real, or just an implanted experience?). Sadly, the 2012 remake just didn't recapture any of the charm or energy of the original.
Which wouldn't do anything like that to a person but yea, that's what they were going for. It's kinda like "Outland" the Sean Connery flick where peoples heads inflate like a beach ball in a vacuum.
Except when he first arrives on Mars it's talked about that the first colonists didn't have proper air filtration which mutated their kids (the mutants you see around), so in this movie there is something in the air which does mutate people exposed to it
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about when the three characters shot out onto the Martian surface. The extremely thin, low pressure atmosphere of Mars didn't balance with the Earth-developed internal pressure of their bodies. It had nothing to do with mutation.
"This is real, right?" That has been debated for years, and when asked about it the director said he and the writers deliberately left it vague, so you can interpret it however you like.
The entire plot of the movie is given by Bob the salesman, and then the climax is spelled out by Doctor Edgemar, from the walls of reality coming crashing down onwards! It’s not exactly what you’d expect from a big dumb action movie, which is why so many take it at face value. For me, I like to think it’s all a dream, but then we shouldn’t see scenes that don’t involve Arnie, as anything away from his POV wouldn’t be happening…
@@Daveyboy100880 And the last optional alien artifact to incorporate in his memory Quaid sees on the monitor before implantation is the reactor. Always thought that was by far the biggest indicator that it was a dream.
@@Daveyboy100880 That's the beauty of this movie. Whenever you convince yourself you know what it is, you find a detail that doesn't quite fit in, and your whole head spins into the opposite. It's like these flipping images visual illusion images.
this movie still has the best special effects in a movie imo. every time i watch it i can't get over how realistic everything looks for a movie of this type from that long ago. it makes me think cgi was a huge mistake, they should have just continued to use and improve on the methods used is this movie.
I have a soft spot for this movie, since I grew up near many of the filming locations in Mexico City. What a great use of practical effects and efficient set design.
It was a dream, watch it again when he's back at rekall and the guy assisting the lady loading up the memory says "blue skies on Mars.....that's a new one"
I call this part 2 of the Paul Verhoevan Masterpiece Sci-fi Trilogy. 1.) Robocop (1987), 2.) Total Recall (1990), 3.) Starship Troopers (1997). 3 of the most rewatchable movies ever made. I saw all 3 in the theatre, more than once. Starship Troopers is my favorite. After 25 years the Effects are still amazing, on level with Jurassic Park. "Rico's Roughnecks!"
This trilogy is similar to the John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness, In the mouth if Madness) as in they're three phenomenal movies by the same director and though they are unrelated, they share similar politcal and social theme's
if you go back and watch it again you'd see when he goes to recall the secret agent trip he got was called "blue sky on mars". basically the entire movie followed his secret agent trip exactly, he got the girl, killed the bad guys, and saved the entire planet, and the sky on mars was blue at the end. it's meant to leave you wondering if it was all his secret agent trip or a huge coincidence. i always imagine how awkward it would be if that was all his recall vacation and when he woke up he had to go back to his wife, who was actually his real wife all along. he would never be able to look at her the same after that.
Oh, Quaid and Melina weren't mutating. Mars has an atmosphere but it's so low pressure that it's very close to what we'd create in vacuum chambers here on Earth. So Cohaagen died of the near-vacuum and that was the film's depiction of how they imagined such a death would look like. And Quaid and Melina were dying of the same. But apparently the reactor produced *so* much atmospheric gases, in precisely the needed quantities, AND it circulated around and "filled up" the entirety of Mars, to give it a breathable atmosphere, AND approach something close enough to Earth-like, within 30s, to stop Quaid and Melina from dying like Cohaagen did!
The Quick And The Dead is a really fun film. Very well done, great performances. Have seen it many times. Westerns have room for all kinds of stories, just like there are all kinds of comedies and every other genre. Philip K Dick also wrote Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, which is the story on which Blade Runner is based. He’s written so many relatively unknown stories that have been turned into legendary films, a lot like Elmore Leonard. Saw Total Recall in the theater as a teen, along with all the Arnold films of the era. It’s one of his best, and another film I’ve watched many times over the last almost fourty (???) years. I’m not a fan of the director’s Robocop, but Starship Troopers is a fun future sci fi flick that took me a couple viewings “to get it.” It’s a film you kind of have to be ready for and in the right mood. Campy, biting, violent, gory, satirical sci fi.
Dr. Edgemar's voice (Roy Brocksmith) is unmistakable. I always hear him as the landlord from Seinfeld describing Kramer's mother: "Babs Kramer! NASTY woman! Many a night I had to throw her out on the street, drunken stumblebum."
This movie is packed full of Arnie prank call soundboard clips, I can't even watch without laughing. I went to see the re-release a few years back in the theater, my friend and I died laughing at almost every soundboard clip in this movie.
One thing that always stands out about this movie is the pacing. We always get a moment to breath after an action or chase scene, but it never lasts very long. Since the 'reality' of Doug's situation is left up to the viewer, it makes sense to try and keep us off balance.
Hi, Madison. I'm sure it's already been mentioned that Philip K. Dick also wrote the short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, on which Blade Runner was based. The man was a treasure trove of interesting sci-fi ideas.
12:20 “He likes goldfish cause he doesn’t like pets that think.” 🤣🤣🤣 Bahahaha literally everybody in the movie roasts Richter but you just topped them all! 🏆
The mind-bending plot along with director Paul Verhoeven's wacky style (also seen in _RoboCop_ ) instantly made _Total Recall_ a sci-fi classic, even during its release.
First off, congratulations for the book release Madison, very exciting, any plans for a hard copy? Total Recall. Now did it all really happen? The film did end with a "that's a new one, blue sky on mars" as promised at 'Recall'. The film is deliberately ambiguous with clues that point in either direction, real or fantasy we've been debating it for decades now. Total Recall is the middle movie of Paul Verhoven's darkly satirical Sci-Fi trilogy along with Robocop and Starship Troopers. All three taking place in corporate fascist worlds, they really are biting, very clever and well worth watching. Yup, Rob Bottin did the prosthetic and a puppetry, he also did The Thing too, good spot. I always took the cartoon outrageousness of the eye popping sequences as air expanding out of the body into a vacuum, not to be taken to seriously. Great reaction Madison, glad you enjoyed it, I'm off to catch up with your other videos I've missed over the last few weeks 🙂
Once of the ambiguities of the movie is the question of when the memory implant starts. When you have memory implant tech, literally anything could be an implant. The implant could start at the very beginning of the movie with Quaid's Mars obsession being part of the implant included to set up the whole deep-cover Martian spy storyline. Heck, in one sense movies are themselves memory implants. We "experience" the events of the movie in part by identifying with the protagonist and accompanying him through the story. Which raises the question - who is the memory being implanted into? Quaid? Or you?
I’ve always felt that it IS a dream the entire time. Every single aspect they discussed with him at Rekall happened. The tech guy even said ‘blue sky on Mars, that’s original’. The alien tech that changed the atmosphere even showed up on screen. Mileena was as discussed at his orientation, the entire plot too. Too many things to just accept that it wasn’t a dream. A guilty pleasure of mine lol
25:29 - And I don't know what I was expecting for your reaction to TOTAL RECALL but I have to say it was darn near perfect! As always highly enjoyable! I added the laserdisc to my collection when it first came out in 1990 (yes, same year as theatrical release) and probably watched it five times in a row .It remains on my annual must watch list to this day.
A great reaction, Madison. Phillip K Dick is an excellent author, as you said about, 'Minority Report' and this film his concepts really make you think, 'Blade Runner' from 1982 is another film taken from one of his stories, in that case it was 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep', the story that this was based on was 'We Can Remember it For You Wholesale', if you haven't seen 'Blade Runner' you really should do a reaction to it, I promise that you won't be disappointed.
LOVE THIS MOVIE!! David Cronenberg, master of body horror films, was attached to direct the project for Dino De Laurentiis, while the script was being handled by Ronald Shusset, Dan O'Bannon and Gary Goldman. Cronenberg originally wanted the film to be a psychological thriller rather than a Sci Fi Action Adventure film. Shusset protested this idea and wanted "Raiders Of The Lost Ark Goes To Mars." Tensions between Cronenberg and Laurentiis got so nasty, Cronenberg left the project and Laurentiis sold the rights to Carolco the same company that produced RAMBO, Terminator 2, Cliffhanger, And Cutthroat Island. Paul Verhoeven was picked to direct following his success making ROBOCOP. Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as Douglas Quaid, James Caan, Michael Douglas, Christopher Reeve, Matthew Broderick, William Hurt, Patrick Swayze, and Richard Dreyfuss were considered. The film was made at Churibiscu Studios in Mexico City. The film was a box office success making $270 million dollars against a $75 million dollar budget, which was very expensive at the time. It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The VFX were done by Industrial Light And Magic, Dream Quest Images, and Metrolight Studios.
25:00 - Those weren't mutation effects from being outside, that was just a very stylized version of decompression. Since Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere, there's no atmospheric pressure, which humans need. While in real life it would be very unpleasant, it wouldn't be quite so dramatic as what they depicted here. But that's why it reversed when the air rushed over them: it was building an atmosphere and pressure was increasing, reducing the swelling and pushing their eyes back into place.
One thing about his movies in the 90’s: Seeing them in theaters it seemed like much of the audience was waiting to hear the first “bone breaking” sound he inflicted on someone. And there’d be a collective gasp from audience.
One of my favorite things is the score by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith. He was given pretty free hand what to do, and really went to 11 scoring it. It's always great to just let composers run wild. Doubly so if you have a genius like Goldsmith.
Well some people debate whether the events were real or not. While Quaid is in Rekall they outline the entire plot of the movie including showing that Melina was a selectable love interest and the alien technology creating a blue sky on Mars. The Doctor showing up also tells the plot of the movie going forward from that point. The only crack in that theory is why did Quaid dream of Melina in the first place, unless that character was featured in some of Rekall's advertising. Now the question is; is the remake worth watching?
So, you mention that you were wondering if he was still in the dream at various points ... You are kind of supposed to keep thinking that, especially that when he is going into Recall and they are loading the program, the tech says "Mars with blue skies ... That's new" and at the end, what do you get? Mars with blue skies .... Philip K Dick also wrote the story behind Blade Runner ... he has amazing ideas.
In fact, when initial attempts were being made to make a film of Minority Report, they were originally intending for it to be a sequel to Total Recall, using martian psychics as the central items to the pre-crime division.
The director of this film also did RoboCop and Starship Troopers, he has a distinctive style 😁 Also at the end when they went out on the planets surface they weren't "mutating", that was mean to be a physical reaction to going into very low atmospheric pressure, and the internal pressure of bodily systems, gases, liquids, etc. expanding and causing swellings etc. At least, it was someone imagings of what would happen to a human body. When they returned to normal atmospheric pressure there bits would fall back into place, (internal injuries aside, that is).
Most of this movie were shot in Mexico City and the subway scenes were shot at the mexico city metro. During filming they had to speak spanish with the mexican crew :D
It's at least likely that the whole trip WAS all in his head. When they were about to implant the memory at Recall we hear one of the technicians say "That's a new one. Blue skies on Mars".
When the three characters were sucked out onto the surface of Mars near the end, they weren't actually mutating. They were suffocating due to the lack of oxygen and without any air pressure, their bodies were starting to expand. Thankfully, because Quaid had activated the alien terraforming equipment, an atmosphere was created soon enough for them to survive. Thanks for the cool video...! 👍🏻
Yes! Philip K. Dick wrote the short stories that became Total Recall, The Minority Report, and Blade Runner, along with 10 or so other lesser known story to movie adaptations. Good catch, Madison! 😉 There's a book out there you might enjoy called "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson from 1992 that explores that whole metaverse/avatar existence in a swashbuckling sort of way. A rip roaring good tale! There's even a samurai sword wielding pizza delivery guy. 😎
Is what is happening to Quaid just a fantasy taking place in his head while he is strapped in a chair at Rekall? I was long resistant to the idea myself. But over the years, I've become persuaded that this is almost certainly the case. Even so, the film is sufficiently ambiguous that people can argue back-and-forth about it and never resolve the question absolutely.
Great movie. You should see other great Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies The Running Man 1987 (A great underrated movie Came out same time as Predator ) , End of Days 1999 and The Sixth day. Don't watch the 2011 remake it is complete trash. You should also watch Robocop and Starship Troppers from the same director. See you in the party Victor :)
When they stand on a blue sky Mars at the end I used to think it was a happy ending, but since I read about the white light at the very end. I know think he was in the machine and dies at the completion of the simulated memory. Philip K. Dick has had an amazing legacy and impact on sci-fi. Just like in The Matrix Quaid was also offered a Red Pill in order to escape to reality. :)
Man in the high castle (series) comes to mind. He was exceptionally talented and created a lot of modern conceptions about scifi, human condition and consciousness we see in many movies.
Philip K. Dick movies include: Paycheck Minority Report Total Recall The Adjustment Bureau A Scanner Darkly Screamers Blade Runner All of them are worth checking out.
I think you'd get more out of the film "Soldier" with Kurt Russell (1998). A prequel to "Blade Runner" before replicants had been developed. Mostly a character study, and perhaps more useful to a writer.
Philip K. Dick has inspired a *lot* of movies -- mostly sci-fi. His concepts are being made into movies today. That's impressive for a guy who's been dead for 40 years.
One of the extremely rare times I'm satisfied being left with the "was it all a dream?" trope Personally my 3rd favorite Philip K Dick movie adaptation
Good reaction, Madison. And just a couple of slight corrections to some statements you made. (1) When you basically said [This 1990 movie is Jason Bourne before Jason Bourne]. Actually, that is incorrect, since the Jason Bourne series of novels by the great author Robert Ludlum were written many years prior to this 1990 movie. The Jason Bourne; novels were written from 1980 (and he had earlier novels in the same genre written in the 1970s). Also, as I understand it, there was also a Jason Bourne miniseries based on the novels that aired in 1988. (2) In the ending scenes of the movie when Arnold and the woman were pulled into the Mars surface, what they were experiencing was not mutations. They were experiencing a sort of vacuum effect along with the unbreathable atmosphere that they were temporarily subjected to. The mutated people who live in the protected structures, mutated over a few generations from low quality of air, medical treatments, malnutrition, and just generally living in a different gravity environment from Earth. Not the same thing.
This was one of my favorite films simply because of the "implanted reality" theme. But psychiatric implants were also used in 'Blade Runner' though implants were used to deceive the replicants, and also to identify them from real humans. It should be noted that in 2010, attorney, Andrew Basiago, claimed that DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) developed a transport device that could send humans to almost any destination. He further testified that he himself was transported with others to planet Mars during the 1970s. Basiago also reported that the U.S. had an active colony on Mars with a population of around 60,000 circa 1979!
Quaid and Melina didn't mutate, they were just temporarily deformed by the lack of atmospheric pressure on the Martian surface (the air pressure inside of their bodies pushing outward with nearly nothing holding it back). Maybe that's what you meant. Yeah, in real life they would have suffered some injuries, although they'd mostly return to normal, too.
It was the Ego Portion pf his Mars Trip memory. Remembert the sales pitch? By the End you get defeat the bad guys, get the Girl and save the Planet. Remember the male Recall techniciain's comment about a Blue Sky on Mars?
Another Philip K Dick adaptation you should consider is A Scanner Darkly about an undercover cop in the near future trying to discover the source of a particularly dangerous drug that causes potentially permanent psychosis in heavy users. It's semi-autobiographical in that Dick, himself, was an addict. He dedicated the book to everyone who had been harmed by drug use and listed his friends who had either died or otherwise been permanently affected by drugs, he included himself in that list.
Nice review! Pretty funny, since reminded me of watching this movie for the first time on laserdisc with a bunch of friends and we all had a different take on this movie, i.e. what was real or a memory etc 😀
Thee original Total Recall was filmed in 1987 starring Patrick Swayze. Arnold Swarchenegger wanted to be in that movie but the director thought Arnold was a terrible actor but that movie production went bankrupt. Then Swarchenegger bought the movie starred in the movie he bought.
About the shots that could Go through the body on the electric stairs scene, i guess it depends on the bullet, if those are design to expand (break in many parts for more damage) once they hit the body, i guess they won't go through 🤔🤔
The guy on the train that tells Quade about the mines, is the same guy in T-2 that the Terminator took his clothes in the biker bar.
The scene at the beginning, where he's working with the jack hammer, always makes me think of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.
9:46 Madison: "This is like Jason Bourne before Jason Bourne."
Actually, no, Bourne saw screen time before this movie. Damon's Bourne movies weren't the originals. There was a TV movie ("The Bourne Identity") in '88 starring Richard Chamberlain, based on the 1980 novel by Robert Ludlum.
Early '90s classic. Philip K Dick's work has been adapted (rarely faithfully) LOTS of times for TV and movies. This one's a wild ride with some surprising depth, if you look just under the hood (is ANY of this real, or just an implanted experience?). Sadly, the 2012 remake just didn't recapture any of the charm or energy of the original.
Quaid and Melina weren’t mutating in the Martian atmosphere, they were succumbing to the low pressure of the Martian atmosphere.
Which wouldn't do anything like that to a person but yea, that's what they were going for. It's kinda like "Outland" the Sean Connery flick where peoples heads inflate like a beach ball in a vacuum.
Except when he first arrives on Mars it's talked about that the first colonists didn't have proper air filtration which mutated their kids (the mutants you see around), so in this movie there is something in the air which does mutate people exposed to it
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about when the three characters shot out onto the Martian surface. The extremely thin, low pressure atmosphere of Mars didn't balance with the Earth-developed internal pressure of their bodies. It had nothing to do with mutation.
The liquids in your body start boiling at low pressure, thats why it expands
Philip K. Dick wrote from the 1950's to the 1970's. Total Recall is based on a 1966 short story.
The Screenplay, was written by Dan O'Bannon, who wrote Alien, and by Ronald Shusett, who also cowrote the screenplay of Alien, with Dan O'Bannon.
"This is real, right?" That has been debated for years, and when asked about it the director said he and the writers deliberately left it vague, so you can interpret it however you like.
I mean, he got the girl (of his dreams), killed the bad guys and saved the world...
And saw the blue sky on Mars
The entire plot of the movie is given by Bob the salesman, and then the climax is spelled out by Doctor Edgemar, from the walls of reality coming crashing down onwards! It’s not exactly what you’d expect from a big dumb action movie, which is why so many take it at face value. For me, I like to think it’s all a dream, but then we shouldn’t see scenes that don’t involve Arnie, as anything away from his POV wouldn’t be happening…
@@Daveyboy100880 And the last optional alien artifact to incorporate in his memory Quaid sees on the monitor before implantation is the reactor. Always thought that was by far the biggest indicator that it was a dream.
@@Daveyboy100880 That's the beauty of this movie. Whenever you convince yourself you know what it is, you find a detail that doesn't quite fit in, and your whole head spins into the opposite. It's like these flipping images visual illusion images.
Quaid, "See you at the party Richter!"
The look on your face during the entire first conversation with Kuato was perfect, lmao.
The frozen, disbelieving, horrified rictus of someone seeing yet another awesomely weird Rob Bottin effect!
This won the special effects Oscar against no compitition, as there wasn't anything even close to it that year.
this movie still has the best special effects in a movie imo. every time i watch it i can't get over how realistic everything looks for a movie of this type from that long ago. it makes me think cgi was a huge mistake, they should have just continued to use and improve on the methods used is this movie.
@@Jack_80 Amen.
@@glennwisniewski9536 Moron
@@flybeep1661 And I can see you're a real genius.
Tony (The Last Resort) is Hank from Breaking Bad.
I have a soft spot for this movie, since I grew up near many of the filming locations in Mexico City. What a great use of practical effects and efficient set design.
Sad not many reactors today recognize Sharon, she was such an icon back then. Also Michael Ironside is great in this one.
It was a dream, watch it again when he's back at rekall and the guy assisting the lady loading up the memory says "blue skies on Mars.....that's a new one"
I call this part 2 of the Paul Verhoevan Masterpiece Sci-fi Trilogy. 1.) Robocop (1987), 2.) Total Recall (1990), 3.) Starship Troopers (1997). 3 of the most rewatchable movies ever made. I saw all 3 in the theatre, more than once. Starship Troopers is my favorite. After 25 years the Effects are still amazing, on level with Jurassic Park. "Rico's Roughnecks!"
This trilogy is similar to the John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness, In the mouth if Madness) as in they're three phenomenal movies by the same director and though they are unrelated, they share similar politcal and social theme's
I should have bought a "Kuato" vest years ago. What a great way to open the front door on Halloween!
The best line of the movie: "I'll blow this place up & be home just in time for corn flakes" ..
if you go back and watch it again you'd see when he goes to recall the secret agent trip he got was called "blue sky on mars". basically the entire movie followed his secret agent trip exactly, he got the girl, killed the bad guys, and saved the entire planet, and the sky on mars was blue at the end. it's meant to leave you wondering if it was all his secret agent trip or a huge coincidence.
i always imagine how awkward it would be if that was all his recall vacation and when he woke up he had to go back to his wife, who was actually his real wife all along. he would never be able to look at her the same after that.
Oh, Quaid and Melina weren't mutating. Mars has an atmosphere but it's so low pressure that it's very close to what we'd create in vacuum chambers here on Earth. So Cohaagen died of the near-vacuum and that was the film's depiction of how they imagined such a death would look like. And Quaid and Melina were dying of the same. But apparently the reactor produced *so* much atmospheric gases, in precisely the needed quantities, AND it circulated around and "filled up" the entirety of Mars, to give it a breathable atmosphere, AND approach something close enough to Earth-like, within 30s, to stop Quaid and Melina from dying like Cohaagen did!
I saw this in the movie theaters and I still find myself going back and watching it. It never gets old perfection ❤ So creative and I love sci-fi
The Quick And The Dead is a really fun film. Very well done, great performances. Have seen it many times. Westerns have room for all kinds of stories, just like there are all kinds of comedies and every other genre.
Philip K Dick also wrote Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, which is the story on which Blade Runner is based. He’s written so many relatively unknown stories that have been turned into legendary films, a lot like Elmore Leonard.
Saw Total Recall in the theater as a teen, along with all the Arnold films of the era. It’s one of his best, and another film I’ve watched many times over the last almost fourty (???) years.
I’m not a fan of the director’s Robocop, but Starship Troopers is a fun future sci fi flick that took me a couple viewings “to get it.” It’s a film you kind of have to be ready for and in the right mood. Campy, biting, violent, gory, satirical sci fi.
making Tennessee proud with your novel . great insight and figured you would enjoy
I don't think they were mutating at the end. They were being deformed from being in a vacuum outside the dome. Blood boiling, etc.
Dr. Edgemar's voice (Roy Brocksmith) is unmistakable. I always hear him as the landlord from Seinfeld describing Kramer's mother: "Babs Kramer! NASTY woman! Many a night I had to throw her out on the street, drunken stumblebum."
Love this one! Thank you for reacting to this!
This movie is packed full of Arnie prank call soundboard clips, I can't even watch without laughing.
I went to see the re-release a few years back in the theater, my friend and I died laughing at almost every soundboard clip in this movie.
Thanks!
Thank you, Brian!🙏🏻💖
One thing that always stands out about this movie is the pacing. We always get a moment to breath after an action or chase scene, but it never lasts very long. Since the 'reality' of Doug's situation is left up to the viewer, it makes sense to try and keep us off balance.
PKD is a incredible creative mind. he was a wild man but what he put to paper is def crazy out there yet inspirational.
Hi, Madison. I'm sure it's already been mentioned that Philip K. Dick also wrote the short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, on which Blade Runner was based. The man was a treasure trove of interesting sci-fi ideas.
Most of them stripped of intent by rewriting for Hollywood films.
12:20 “He likes goldfish cause he doesn’t like pets that think.” 🤣🤣🤣 Bahahaha literally everybody in the movie roasts Richter but you just topped them all! 🏆
The mind-bending plot along with director Paul Verhoeven's wacky style (also seen in _RoboCop_ ) instantly made _Total Recall_ a sci-fi classic, even during its release.
First off, congratulations for the book release Madison, very exciting, any plans for a hard copy?
Total Recall. Now did it all really happen? The film did end with a "that's a new one, blue sky on mars" as promised at 'Recall'. The film is deliberately ambiguous with clues that point in either direction, real or fantasy we've been debating it for decades now. Total Recall is the middle movie of Paul Verhoven's darkly satirical Sci-Fi trilogy along with Robocop and Starship Troopers. All three taking place in corporate fascist worlds, they really are biting, very clever and well worth watching.
Yup, Rob Bottin did the prosthetic and a puppetry, he also did The Thing too, good spot. I always took the cartoon outrageousness of the eye popping sequences as air expanding out of the body into a vacuum, not to be taken to seriously. Great reaction Madison, glad you enjoyed it, I'm off to catch up with your other videos I've missed over the last few weeks 🙂
Thank you! Yes, my book will be available in paperback and hardcover as well.
@@MadisonKThames Jolly good. Not a fan of E.Books 👍
Once of the ambiguities of the movie is the question of when the memory implant starts. When you have memory implant tech, literally anything could be an implant. The implant could start at the very beginning of the movie with Quaid's Mars obsession being part of the implant included to set up the whole deep-cover Martian spy storyline.
Heck, in one sense movies are themselves memory implants. We "experience" the events of the movie in part by identifying with the protagonist and accompanying him through the story. Which raises the question - who is the memory being implanted into? Quaid? Or you?
"BENNY! Screw you!!"! and killing him with a giant drill is cinema perfection, lol.
As that is my name, it is by far my favorite line of the movie.
"See you at the party Richter !" , that cracks me up every time !
It isnt an Arnie movie without one-liners ...
@@gregorygant4242veremos na festa Richter
I’ve always felt that it IS a dream the entire time. Every single aspect they discussed with him at Rekall happened. The tech guy even said ‘blue sky on Mars, that’s original’. The alien tech that changed the atmosphere even showed up on screen. Mileena was as discussed at his orientation, the entire plot too.
Too many things to just accept that it wasn’t a dream. A guilty pleasure of mine lol
25:29 - And I don't know what I was expecting for your reaction to TOTAL RECALL but I have to say it was darn near perfect! As always highly enjoyable! I added the laserdisc to my collection when it first came out in 1990 (yes, same year as theatrical release) and probably watched it five times in a row .It remains on my annual must watch list to this day.
Philip K. Dick also wrote the story that inspired the movie "Bladerunner", Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep...
I think the reactions to movies that are outside her comfort zone are the most fun to watch.
Quick and the Dead is just a fun popcorn movie. Nothing deep, but a fun ride.
Great casting!
A great reaction, Madison.
Phillip K Dick is an excellent author, as you said about, 'Minority Report' and this film his concepts really make you think, 'Blade Runner' from 1982 is another film taken from one of his stories, in that case it was 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep', the story that this was based on was 'We Can Remember it For You Wholesale', if you haven't seen 'Blade Runner' you really should do a reaction to it, I promise that you won't be disappointed.
The movie "Paycheck" (Ben Affleck, Uma Therman, Aaron Eckhart) was also inspired by one of Dick's stories.
Also A Scanner Darkly, The Adjustment Bureau and The Man in the High Castle are Phillip K Dick books.
@@davidjones1619 As are, 'Impostor' 2001 and 'Screamers' 1995.
LOVE THIS MOVIE!!
David Cronenberg, master of body horror films, was attached to direct the project for Dino De Laurentiis, while the script was being handled by Ronald Shusset, Dan O'Bannon and Gary Goldman. Cronenberg originally wanted the film to be a psychological thriller rather than a Sci Fi Action Adventure film. Shusset protested this idea and wanted "Raiders Of The Lost Ark Goes To Mars." Tensions between Cronenberg and Laurentiis got so nasty, Cronenberg left the project and Laurentiis sold the rights to Carolco the same company that produced RAMBO, Terminator 2, Cliffhanger, And Cutthroat Island.
Paul Verhoeven was picked to direct following his success making ROBOCOP.
Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as Douglas Quaid, James Caan, Michael Douglas, Christopher Reeve, Matthew Broderick, William Hurt, Patrick Swayze, and Richard Dreyfuss were considered.
The film was made at Churibiscu Studios in Mexico City.
The film was a box office success making $270 million dollars against a $75 million dollar budget, which was very expensive at the time.
It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
The VFX were done by Industrial Light And Magic, Dream Quest Images, and Metrolight Studios.
Cronenberg! I didn't know that. Maybe that's why that one mousy old guy is in this that's also in Videodrome.
Play it now! Awesome movie.
25:00 - Those weren't mutation effects from being outside, that was just a very stylized version of decompression. Since Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere, there's no atmospheric pressure, which humans need. While in real life it would be very unpleasant, it wouldn't be quite so dramatic as what they depicted here. But that's why it reversed when the air rushed over them: it was building an atmosphere and pressure was increasing, reducing the swelling and pushing their eyes back into place.
One thing about his movies in the 90’s: Seeing them in theaters it seemed like much of the audience was waiting to hear the first “bone breaking” sound he inflicted on someone.
And there’d be a collective gasp from audience.
I completely agree with what you said about instant gratification versus hard work.
They weren't mutating. They were experiencing explosive decompression because there's almost no atmosphere on Mars.
One of my favorite things is the score by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith. He was given pretty free hand what to do, and really went to 11 scoring it. It's always great to just let composers run wild. Doubly so if you have a genius like Goldsmith.
This movie is a masterpiece and huge part of my childhood love your reaction to this.
Well some people debate whether the events were real or not. While Quaid is in Rekall they outline the entire plot of the movie including showing that Melina was a selectable love interest and the alien technology creating a blue sky on Mars. The Doctor showing up also tells the plot of the movie going forward from that point. The only crack in that theory is why did Quaid dream of Melina in the first place, unless that character was featured in some of Rekall's advertising.
Now the question is; is the remake worth watching?
Madison! The expressions on your face told the story of this movie. :)
So, you mention that you were wondering if he was still in the dream at various points ... You are kind of supposed to keep thinking that, especially that when he is going into Recall and they are loading the program, the tech says "Mars with blue skies ... That's new" and at the end, what do you get? Mars with blue skies ....
Philip K Dick also wrote the story behind Blade Runner ... he has amazing ideas.
PKD also wrote the story that inspired Minority Report.
In fact, when initial attempts were being made to make a film of Minority Report, they were originally intending for it to be a sequel to Total Recall, using martian psychics as the central items to the pre-crime division.
I think Arnold makes that Arnold sound more in this movie than any other:
"AAARRGGGLLLL AGGGGGLLLLLLAAARRRRR"
Philip K. Dick also did Blade Runner. The book was called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Sharon stone does an excellent job in the movie 'Casino' with Robert DeNiro
17:45 - 18:09 was priceless. 😅
The director of this film also did RoboCop and Starship Troopers, he has a distinctive style 😁
Also at the end when they went out on the planets surface they weren't "mutating", that was mean to be a physical reaction to going into very low atmospheric pressure, and the internal pressure of bodily systems, gases, liquids, etc. expanding and causing swellings etc.
At least, it was someone imagings of what would happen to a human body.
When they returned to normal atmospheric pressure there bits would fall back into place, (internal injuries aside, that is).
Congrats on the publication of you book Gone Owtlaw =)
17:44 LOOOOL, her face at that scene.
I like your style of review because I can tell that you're paying attention.
Most of this movie were shot in Mexico City and the subway scenes were shot at the mexico city metro. During filming they had to speak spanish with the mexican crew :D
It's at least likely that the whole trip WAS all in his head. When they were about to implant the memory at Recall we hear one of the technicians say "That's a new one. Blue skies on Mars".
I Honestly think the more I see this movie, that it was actually part of his ego trip. It was a dream the whole time.😮 great movie reaction
Great review, thanks for posting.
When the three characters were sucked out onto the surface of Mars near the end, they weren't actually mutating.
They were suffocating due to the lack of oxygen and without any air pressure, their bodies were starting to expand.
Thankfully, because Quaid had activated the alien terraforming equipment, an atmosphere was created soon enough for them to survive.
Thanks for the cool video...! 👍🏻
Phillip K. Dick also wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which was the basis for Blade Runner.
You need to watch True Lies if you haven't already.
This is one of my favourite movies. High concept psychological sci-fi masquerading as low-concept actioner.
Yes! Philip K. Dick wrote the short stories that became Total Recall, The Minority Report, and Blade Runner, along with 10 or so other lesser known story to movie adaptations. Good catch, Madison! 😉 There's a book out there you might enjoy called "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson from 1992 that explores that whole metaverse/avatar existence in a swashbuckling sort of way. A rip roaring good tale! There's even a samurai sword wielding pizza delivery guy. 😎
Is what is happening to Quaid just a fantasy taking place in his head while he is strapped in a chair at Rekall? I was long resistant to the idea myself. But over the years, I've become persuaded that this is almost certainly the case. Even so, the film is sufficiently ambiguous that people can argue back-and-forth about it and never resolve the question absolutely.
Fun fact, Sharon stone got bruises from slapping around Arnold saying, “It was like hitting a brick wall.”
Great movie. You should see other great Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies The Running Man 1987 (A great underrated movie Came out same time as Predator ) , End of Days 1999 and The Sixth day. Don't watch the 2011 remake it is complete trash. You should also watch Robocop and Starship Troppers from the same director. See you in the party Victor :)
When they stand on a blue sky Mars at the end I used to think it was a happy ending, but since I read about the white light at the very end. I know think he was in the machine and dies at the completion of the simulated memory. Philip K. Dick has had an amazing legacy and impact on sci-fi. Just like in The Matrix Quaid was also offered a Red Pill in order to escape to reality. :)
Apparently Arnie was a big fan of Robocop and wanted to work with Verhoeven.
Dick also wrote the stories that inspired Blade Runner and A Scanner Darkly. I’m sure there’s something else I’m forgetting.
Possibly "Screamers", starring Peter Weller. It's based on Dick's short story "Second Variety". Also, "Paycheck", that Ben Affleck flick, I think.
Man in the high castle (series) comes to mind. He was exceptionally talented and created a lot of modern conceptions about scifi, human condition and consciousness we see in many movies.
Philip K. Dick movies include:
Paycheck
Minority Report
Total Recall
The Adjustment Bureau
A Scanner Darkly
Screamers
Blade Runner
All of them are worth checking out.
One of the best sci-fi action flicks of the 80's due to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven, super cool ever now !
Blade Runner is also based on a Philip K Dick novel-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Captivating movie!
I think you'd get more out of the film "Soldier" with Kurt Russell (1998). A prequel to "Blade Runner" before replicants had been developed. Mostly a character study, and perhaps more useful to a writer.
It's a sequel, not a prequel..sort of
Philip K. Dick has inspired a *lot* of movies -- mostly sci-fi. His concepts are being made into movies today. That's impressive for a guy who's been dead for 40 years.
Rob Bottin did the special make up effects for this movie. He also created the creature effects for John Carpenter's The Thing
One of the extremely rare times I'm satisfied being left with the "was it all a dream?" trope
Personally my 3rd favorite Philip K Dick movie adaptation
Love your thoughts at the end!!
For similar kind of concepts (but different) from an 'old movie' please check: Demolition Man (1993).
Good reaction, Madison. And just a couple of slight corrections to some statements you made.
(1) When you basically said [This 1990 movie is Jason Bourne before Jason Bourne]. Actually, that is incorrect, since the Jason Bourne series of novels by the great author Robert Ludlum were written many years prior to this 1990 movie. The Jason Bourne; novels were written from 1980 (and he had earlier novels in the same genre written in the 1970s). Also, as I understand it, there was also a Jason Bourne miniseries based on the novels that aired in 1988.
(2) In the ending scenes of the movie when Arnold and the woman were pulled into the Mars surface, what they were experiencing was not mutations. They were experiencing a sort of vacuum effect along with the unbreathable atmosphere that they were temporarily subjected to. The mutated people who live in the protected structures, mutated over a few generations from low quality of air, medical treatments, malnutrition, and just generally living in a different gravity environment from Earth. Not the same thing.
This was one of my favorite films simply because of the "implanted reality" theme. But psychiatric implants were also used in 'Blade Runner' though implants were used to deceive the replicants, and also to identify them from real humans. It should be noted that in 2010, attorney, Andrew Basiago, claimed that DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) developed a transport device that could send humans to almost any destination. He further testified that he himself was transported with others to planet Mars during the 1970s. Basiago also reported that the U.S. had an active colony on Mars with a population of around 60,000 circa 1979!
Yeah, he's a nutcase.
Quaid and Melina didn't mutate, they were just temporarily deformed by the lack of atmospheric pressure on the Martian surface (the air pressure inside of their bodies pushing outward with nearly nothing holding it back). Maybe that's what you meant. Yeah, in real life they would have suffered some injuries, although they'd mostly return to normal, too.
Is there any chance for Star Trek reactions someday? 🖖
I'd be up for that, just none of the reboots please, lol.
The Next Generation 🙌👌
It was the Ego Portion pf his Mars Trip memory. Remembert the sales pitch? By the End you get defeat the bad guys, get the Girl and save the Planet. Remember the male Recall techniciain's comment about a Blue Sky on Mars?
Another Philip K Dick adaptation you should consider is A Scanner Darkly about an undercover cop in the near future trying to discover the source of a particularly dangerous drug that causes potentially permanent psychosis in heavy users. It's semi-autobiographical in that Dick, himself, was an addict. He dedicated the book to everyone who had been harmed by drug use and listed his friends who had either died or otherwise been permanently affected by drugs, he included himself in that list.
Their bodies were changing because of the pressure in the air NOT because of mutation!!!!!
or lack of
SEE YOU AT THE PARTY,Madison!
Sharon Stone was great in Casino.
"Eyeve neva beeeeeeen tew Mahhhhhhhz"!!!!
Physical special effects were so much more advanced than everything else back then...they're the one thing that still holds up in older movies.
Best line ever. "I'll blow this place up and be home in time for Cornflakes." Also, spoiler alert but it isn't real. He is in the machine still.
Nice review! Pretty funny, since reminded me of watching this movie for the first time on laserdisc with a bunch of friends and we all had a different take on this movie, i.e. what was real or a memory etc 😀
Thee original Total Recall was filmed in 1987 starring Patrick Swayze. Arnold Swarchenegger wanted to be in that movie but the director thought Arnold was a terrible actor but that movie production went bankrupt. Then Swarchenegger bought the movie starred in the movie he bought.
Cool reaction as always Madison, later sweetie 🥰❤️
About the shots that could Go through the body on the electric stairs scene, i guess it depends on the bullet, if those are design to expand (break in many parts for more damage) once they hit the body, i guess they won't go through 🤔🤔