Mars...mass media seems to have some sort of obsession with the red planet. Martians are part of the pop culture and people always talk about scientific achievments in relation to "making it to mars some day" or finding out if there was ever life there. As far as movies about Mars, it's a genre that boasts many stinkers, but there was one movie that combined three of the most unlikely artists possibly since larry, moe, and shemp to create the greatest Mars movie of all time.
Now, I will be the first to admit I have never read a Phillip K Dick novel. Frankly, movies are this century's books and I am perfectly happy wating for every Dick story to be adapted into movie form. There are a ton of "Dick purists" out there though that take issue with every movie from Blade Runner to Minority Report, both of which I enjoy. Total Recall manages to combine very intelligent science fiction with hardcore 1990's rated R violence successfully. Paul Verhoeven practically made a career out of that combination in the late 80s and 90s with movies like Robocop and Starship Troopers and a lot of work in Holland that I never saw but read on the internet also combined violence and intelligent social commentary.
As far as Arnold, what more can you say? He is the American dream. A foreigner with a huge accent defies all odds to become the biggest action star in the world (if he was second to anyone it would be Jackie Chan). In his prime, he chose the perfect projects to advance his career. Total Recall was clearly a big one for him. Verhoeven managed to weave a very, very, very intriguing Phillip K Dick storyline involving buying thoughts and experiences and questioning the reality you are experiencing with massive gun fights, massive gore and violence (verhoeven uses amazingly large squibs and blood packs in his movies, which kicks ass), Arnold one liners, and social commentary. Total Recall is laden with subtle commentary about corruption, greed, social class inequality, etc and not so subtle commentary about how awesome it would be if chicks had 3 tits instead of 2.
In the end though, Verhoeven isn't a stuck up pretentious director and just has fun with this movie, which translates into a great experience for the viewer. I mean who doesnt enjoy it when Arnold leaves the robot controlled "johnnycab" taxi without paying and in response to the objections of the robot Arnie replies with, "Sue me dickhead!". No one involved in this movie has a problem allowing it to be an Arnold project first, which I love. I am sure ultra hard core "Dick"-heads out there balk at the idea of Total Recall being a good science fiction movie just because it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, well I have one thing to say to them "SCREW YOU BENNY!!!"
1 comment:
Come on Cohaagen, give this people air!
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