Total Recall

"Get ready for the ride of your life."

1990 1h 53m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

80%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 6,734🍅80%Rotten Tomatoes●60Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 378,339

ActionAdventureScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.

“Get ready for the ride of your life.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Quaid
Rachel Ticotin
Melina
Sharon Stone
Lori
Michael Ironside
Richter
Marshall Bell
George / Kuato
Michael Champion
Helm
Mel Johnson Jr.
Benny
Roy Brocksmith
Dr. Edgemar

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Writers: Jon Povill, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $65M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

425+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Paul Verhoeven, shot by Jost Vacano. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Frank J. Urioste shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Paul Verhoeven directs. Jost Vacano behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Frank J. Urioste cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $65M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 4.0× over at the box office.
336 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4425+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Paul Verhoeven, shot by Jost Vacano. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Frank J. Urioste shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Get ready for the ride of your life.".
10IMDB entry: tt0100802 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 26 themes, including "double life", "planet mars", "based on novel or book", "oxygen".
12Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jost Vacano
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Frank J. Urioste
Production design: William Sandell
Costume design: Erica Edell Phillips
Makeup / hair: Rob Bottin
VFX supervisor: Eric Brevig
Sound: John Brilhante
Stunt coordinator: Joel Kramer
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $65,000,000
Box office: $261,317,921
Return: 402% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Total Recall (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 60/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 378,339 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 7 wins & 16 nominations total

Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Paul Verhoeven

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2018-03-19
★ 8/10
Intrinsically Verhoeven, Total Recall is a film from my youth that I probably shouldn't have been watching quite as early as I did, but that I still love to this day. All the practical effects, exquisite violence & nudity and provocative sci-fi themes you've come to expect from this sort of thing, but twists and turns that start just five minutes in and keep running all the way through to the end. Total Recall is a must-see. Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite.
John Chard2019-02-14
★ 8/10
Verhoeven bonkers adaptation of a P. K. Dick story. Doug Quaid keeps getting recurring dreams about a visit to Mars. In spite of his friends warnings, he decides to have a memory implanted Mars holiday. But during the implantation he remembers being a secret agent who is fighting evil Mars boss Vilos Cohaagen. Things are about to go very intergalactic bonkers indeed. Total Recall finds director Paul Verhoeven on particularly OTT form, with the often maligned director cranking up the action and violence to the max. So then, who better to play out the carnage than the big Austrian oak himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger? It was actually Schwarzenegger who brought Verhoeven into the picture. The idea for the film had been kicking around for years, a number of director's came and went, David Cronenberg famously worked on a screenplay for a year only to have it jettisoned for being too close to the P. K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". The makers wanted a high energy sci-fi blockbuster, a star vehicle for Schwarzenegger, and Verhoeven was only too happy to oblige. Total Recall is a fascinating concept as we find ourselves wondering what in fact is reality? Quaid himself is never quite sure as the film takes a delicious twist at the midpoint to further compound the confusion, but in true Verhoeven style, it all comes crashing together in a giant ball of bangs, crashes and explosions. It should be noted that the film is far removed from the cerebral essence of Dick's story, and really when one saw that Schwarzenegger was to star in a Verhoeven directed adaptation, one really should be prepared for the high octane brain dumb down that Total Recall is. Something which was beyond some highbrow critics who are still baffled by the gargantuan financial success of the film (it made over $260 million worldwide). Fleshing out the cast are a stoic reliable bunch. Rachael Ticotin, Ronny Cox, Sharon Stone & Michael Ironside deliver the expected tongue in cheek professionalism. While the effects prove to be a mixture of the poor and the decent; tho it's nice to see the often lost art of model work being of a pretty high standard. All of which leaves me personally with a film that I find to be a hugely enjoyable piece of uber violent popcorn fodder. 8/10
CinemaSerf2022-05-29
★ 7/10
Aside from maybe "Predator" (1987) this is probably my favourite outing from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He ("Quaid") goes off to have an harmless implant of memories from an holiday on Mars (that he hasn't had) only to find that his life starts to unwind very quickly afterwards. Even his girlfriend "Lori" (Sharon Stone) becomes a would-be assassin and he is soon under attack from just about every other quarter too. Why? Well, that's what we now explore as he decides that he - helped by a video iteration of himself - must travel back to the red planet and get to the bottom of things. My flaw - well Ronny Cox is just dreadful as "Cohaagen" which does prove important towards the end of the film, but for the main part it is an action packed and well directed vehicle for a very much on-form star. It's one of the first films I recall that started messing about with timelines. We are not quite sure what happened when or if, indeed, at all - and Paul Verhoeven keeps that tempo running well right from the start of the film. Arnie has a chance to deliver some quite fun one-liners and the visual effects enhance, sparingly, the production rather than impose themselves on it. It has dated a little, some of the sets do look a bit static, but thirty-odd years on, it's still standing up well and is well worth seeing.