Total Recall product reviews

This is another movie that I grew up watching thanks to my dad and one that I have always enjoyed and found to be really well done. It is set in our future when, if you cannot afford a real life vacation, you can go for the much cheaper version (but risk being lobotomized) where you have it implanted in your mind. Things quickly become confused though and it doesn't take long before the lines are blurred and you are constantly trying to work out weather or not he is living out his fantasy or is he really a secret agent who had been tricked into the mundane life...

With so many plot twists and turns in this film it can be hard to stay on track but this is half the fun and really gets your mind working, but in a good way, as you try to guess along with him as to what is real and what is not. The special effects do a good job and there are a few moments where even though the effects aren't the most amazing, it still has me a little queasy. I love that we get to the end of the movie and aren't given a clear answer as to which life is real and which life isn't and I am happy to watch it again and again to try and figure out which is the reality and which is just Total Recall.

Another film that expands on current technologies to look at the ethical problems with potential technological advancements. Virtual reality, that not only allows you to experience any situation, but also actually rewrite your brain into thinking that they are in fact real memories. These days we can see many people wanting a vacation but lacking the funds to do so, or lacking the time to do so, so this idea has a basis to it.

But the idea of poking around in someone's head and altering the brain is concerning. What if something goes wrong? What are the military uses for this? Brainwashing? Schwarzenegger has to deal with this situation. Plagued by dreams about Mars and a woman that he doesn't know, he finds himself getting a 'vacation' but everything is not what it seems.

This plot becomes complicated very quickly, and the truths are constantly challenged, and altered. This film has many twists and turns that actually keep you engaged, and shock you when everything you thought you knew in not so. A far more intellectual film than what I generally give Schwarzenegger credit for, there is still a lot of typical action. But Arnie proves he is capable of much more than just providing muscle.