Great sci-fi story brought to screen by Verhoeven, his usual style suits this well and makes an awesome action film with some deeper themes, but also comedic and over the top moments. Effects are great for the time(and still hold up) and Arnie is well.. Arnie. But in a movie like this, its a very good thing!

Loosely based on a short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," by Philip K. Dick and first published in a 1966 issue of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", Total Recall (1990) includes such Dickian elements as the confusion of fantasy and reality, machines talking back to humans, and the protagonist's doubts about his own identity. The futurist thriller was remade in 2012 with Colin Farrell, which didn't reach the awesomeness of the original but is some well-crafted, high energy sci-fi fun nonetheless.

A construction worker decides to get a virtual holiday. In this next future the film portrays the way to do it it's just to "implant" a remembering in your brain. You will remember that you have been on holiday, you'll feel that it's true but you have not the real experience, it's just a few neurons connected. "But, what it's always the same in all your holidays" the seller of the vacations ask to Quaid, the construction worker. He doesn't know but the smiling seller doesn't make him wait: "you, you're the same in all your travels". Quaid is offered to make his vacations really special. He's going to go to Mars, visit the planet, but not as a tourist but as a special agent who is going to fight against terrorist and save the planet from destruction.The plot is really interesting, it's not a specially complicated story, you don't get lost but there are twists enough to surprise you and make the ride a joyful one.Technology has changed the world, so much that even in so recent past as 27 years ago they didn't foreseen the miniaturization degree that communication devices could attain. You see into the movie a few screens with a depth box behind them, the ruler of Mars even get into the phone connected with a cable to the device on the wall.It's nice the hologram device able to replicate a person, and of course the costume-robot Quaid uses to enter into Mars.Excellent way to let a couple of hours go away, and even if you watched it a few years ago it's quite interesting to review it again, how fast time runs, you'll think.

After seeing the 2012 Version of Total Recall, I just had to time travel back to 1990 and review the original...There simply is no comparison that can be applied to the two movies. Arnie's Total Recall has all the elements that make for a very entertaining film, where the newer one has none of it...this movie has dynamic, location scenes, good acting (if a bit over the top), and frankly always has your attention...the new one has none of that either...So ultimately, trying to compare these two versions would be like comparing a one pound hamburger to a one pound pile of hay. It just does not compute, heh heh...