carolco pictures and dutch director paul verhoeven ( robocop ) came together to create the 1990 mega hit that is total recall . the film is a masterpiece of sets , action , and special effects . action and science fiction just don't get any better than this ! the story involves a construction worker named douglas quaid ( arnold schwarzenegger ) who lives on earth with his beautiful wife lori ( sharon stone ) . quaid is obsessed with mars and decides to go with the second best choice ; a brain implant ( fake memory ) of a two week vacation on mars . while being implanted a memory cap is triggered and the doctors realize that quaid's memory has previously been erased . now the people who did it are after him . quaid must find out who he really is and why these people want him dead . the plot unfolds at a rapid pace explaining itself through great action , special effects , and twist after mind-boggling twist . it grabs you and never lets go ! this film is a winner from beginning to end . the plot is superb ; combining the best elements of science fiction and psychological mystery to create a rip-roaring saga . schwarzenegger gives his best performance ever , and the supporting cast is good too . the action and stunts are terrific . the sets are huge and elaborate with a lot of attention payed to detail . the music and sound effects are perfect for the film and really add a certain level of impact to the action . the make-up effects by rob bottin ( the howling , the thing , and robocop ) are top notch , not to mention extremely outlandish . the visual effects by dream quest ( the abyss ) and industrial light and magic ( star wars trilogy , jurassic park , and terminator 2 ) are phenomenal ! the visuals had such a state of the art " slickness " that they won an oscar . of course the film isn't always realistic ; it's more fiction than science . for example , it is true that a body won't explode in the vacuum of space but in total recall they do . who cares ? it's a movie . movies are supposed to entertain . and in my opinion this film achieves an entertainment level in film that is so terrific , it may be impossible to beat .
