This is topic Total Recall: The Unresolved Debate in forum « 80's Movies at iRewind Talk.


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Posted by Eddie Wilson (Member # 169) on :
 
Total Recall -- Yes its a 1990 movie, but its still good.

Anyways, This movie does not exactly tell what happened. Was the whole thing a dream, an implant, or was it real life? They wrote the movie so that people would debate over which it was.

What do ya'll think?

I would say that the prior life was real cause he dreamt of the dark-haired woman long before going to Recall. But then at Recall, he sees the woman on the tv screen when describing his female choice. That scene just blows my theory out of the running. who knows, maybe there is no truth.
 
Posted by EspecialK (Member # 2152) on :
 
I'm not sure either. I used to think the same thing as you but you bring up a very good point about Melina's character being the girl he chose when at Recall. Never really thought of that. My friends and I still debate over the movie. One of my all-time favorites.
 
Posted by jlp937 (Member # 1877) on :
 
This is a very good point. That is a bit confusing because they do show her picture when he is at the memory place. Was that place called Recall???? If he really was having memories that were being recalled that they wanted repressed why would they show him someone that was very evident in his life??? Maybe just to throw us off track and confuse us. Well it definately worked.

This is a very good movie because the idea of it was very original in its day. I think it is getting harder and harder to film makers to come up with original ways to keep the audience captivated. Don't like all of the stuff they use today I wish that they would go back to some old school stuff that seems more realistic.
 
Posted by Bionic Bigfoot (Member # 2490) on :
 
I enjoyed the movie very much. I try not to think to much about it...I just keep feeding my mouth more butter-drenched popcorn and chug down some soda and tell myself..."It doesn't matter if it makes sense or not...now when is Arnie gonna blow something else up?!?" munch munch chug chug!

Hey Eddie Wilson... where have you been, dude? I hope everything is well with you. Good to see you back in action. How 'bout them Cowboys? (ha) How 'bout them Cowboys in Arlington? (double Ha!)
 
Posted by Eddie Wilson (Member # 169) on :
 
Hey Bionic, It has been quite sometime since we've talked. Yea, the Cowboys stadium is crazy. Arlington is gonna have it all. Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, The Ballpark, and now the Cowboy's stadium. But I won't be happy until we get a Disney World. That would be the cherry on top. Its too bad that them Cowboys ain't doin' to well. That was a bad loss last night with the Eagles. Maybe next year.

Its good to hear from a fellow DFW'er. Talk to you later man. [Cool]
 
Posted by jlp937 (Member # 1877) on :
 
Bionic I have forgot to mention you in some of my recent posts and for that I apologize. You have also been very kind in responding to my posts. I see we share the Rewind Maestro title!
I love your post here about he drenched popcorn, I can taste it now. Let's have a party!!!!
 
Posted by Bionic Bigfoot (Member # 2490) on :
 
Hey jlp, as Bill Murray said in Stripes..."I want to party with you, Cowboy" (or in your case...cowGIRL!)
Looks like we are both MAJOR movie freaks!
I enjoy reading your posts. Keep'em coming.
Long live the '80s and as the people of Mongo would now say..."Long live Flash Gordon!" (don't get too excited now Isis. I know you got this thing for Flash. [Smile] )
 
Posted by Eddie Wilson (Member # 169) on :
 
Ok...I just watched the Special Edition DVD and on the director commentary, he states that the whole thing was an implant from Recall. When he goes in to get the trip implant at Recall, he suddenly starts freaking out and the nurse says she has not given him the implant yet. This is the start of the implant trip he wanted. The director makes it seem as though he never got the implant and that the rest of the movie was actually part of his past life. So the very first of the movie is all real life. He really was married to Sharon Stone.

But again, why did he dream about Melina at the first? I guess it was his dream girl and so thats how he got her in the implant.

[ 17. November 2004, 21:24: Message edited by: Eddie Wilson ]
 
Posted by Smayt Gateford (Member # 1500) on :
 
Of all Big Arnie's movies,this is my favourite.
Partly i think because it leaves you guessing at what is a dream and what is real...if anything.
 
Posted by Tobey (Member # 2275) on :
 
There's a Special Edition with Director's Commentary to Total Recall?!
Must have...
I always thought it was all just a Recall - implant. 'Cause the guy says; "... you end up saving the whole planet!" Or something like that.
 
Posted by databug (Member # 3513) on :
 
Total Recall on DVD had some special features from the producers, where they talked about how the movie idea was around since the 70s but never took off. Then it was brought back up in the early 80s, and didn't get a part for the lead role landed until about 88 or 89. So technically in a 'way', it was a 70s or perhaps 80s movie. It merely just got released in 1990, because it takes time to edit movies and all that junk before it goes into theaters.

He wasn't dreaming in the movie, because when they injected him to knock him out to insert the implant, I took it that the injection is what triggered the 'mess' in his mind to begin to leak out. He had a flashback that was was an agent in deep cover, then after he got home (before he beat the crap out of sharon stone) he sort of came to his senses some what.

Keep in mind in the movie, the RED PILL was used [Wink] What OTHER movie used a red (and blue) pill? Hmmm! What did the red pill DO in that other movie.. being the Matrix of course? Remember what it did to Neo? Same may apply here in Total Recall.

Funny thing is, I've read news on the internet about how total recall style implants ARE to be a reality one day soon. Where you can have implanted memories in your brain of a vacation or... maybe a training seminar, etc. heck, game programmers have been working on a "holodeck" style "video game" since 1994. I wouldn't doubt seeing something very close in the next 10, 15 MAYBE 20 years at most. In France, in a few boutique stores, they have holographic manakins now that appear to be real people standning very still - but it's really a hologram image of a real person. Even computers with unlimited memory, like hard disk space, called "holographic memory" is in the works.

Lastly, remember the black chick in Total Recall who touched her nails with a little pen and changed their color instantly? Give it a handful more years and that'll basically be in use as well (including the video phones in the movie). All of this is mainstream media stuff, real news of coming technologies (since scientists in 1998-1999 said collectively "you aint seen nuthin yet, we've been saving up some amazing technology for after the year 2000" and it appears this is true!)
 
Posted by Tobey (Member # 2275) on :
 
"I know Kung Fu."
 
Posted by blabmouth64 (Member # 3570) on :
 
No you guys are wrong about the special edition. In the pert where he is being injected the director and arnold are taling about that the dream would start right there as he was falling asleep.He says that this is if you were following the story as a dream story. If you do think it is a dream story, the director says that at the end when the white flash comes, its because Doug's brain had been fried because they couldn't wake him up. So Doug was lobotomized. And the director says that this is if you were think of this move as a dream. He never says that it is a dream or it is real. Nor does he even lean one way about it. Its just for the viewers at home to make there own decision.
 
Posted by blabmouth64 (Member # 3570) on :
 
Personally I think that it is a dream because right before Arnold gets the sleepy stuff put into his neck, the guy in the background says, "woah blue sky. You don't see that everyday. He is obviously talking about the blue atmosphere that arnold activates in the end. Too much of a coincidence to be real!
 


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