Review - Total Recall
Dec. 27th, 2004 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackAs was nearly said by the announcer before "This film contains language, violence, and the governor of california."
So, what didn't really happen in Total Recall? Was it was all a dream implanted in him at Recall, or was he was Hauser, and agreed to being reprogrammed to become Quaid?
(1) There were several scenes where the Gropinator wasn't present. I would assume that he couldn't dream these, since he didn't see them. On the other hand, in a dream you do often learn acceptingly something in a way that wouldn't normally happen. And though recall didn't seem professional enough to do that, and though it's supposed to be implanting something that'd seem realistic when he remembered it, if he was having a schizoid imbalism, then his mind could get carried away with it. I guess this is survivable. A telling question would be if he was ever in ignorance of what happened in any of the cut-scenes.
(2) None of it being real is not narritively satisfying. There are conventions in films you just accept -- like being able to park in London -- and the whole thing turning out to be a dream without much hinting breaks them.
(3) When I first saw it ten years ago I hoped his defection might have been real, but I can't find any reason for it.
(4) There's a lot of foreshadowing. He dreams of suffocating on mars. The doctor who tells him he's dreaming says he'll probably end up saving the whole planet and befriending his arch-enemy, which he does. Even if everyone knew the truth the future would be hard to predict with that much accuracy, which strongly suggests he's dreaming it. His original dreams were from presumably in reality, but his big dream could have incorporated his memory of those.
(5) The brainwashing is a bit of an implausible story, more like a dream. But I think it makes sense, as he has to be convinced or the mutant psychic guy wouldn't trust him, and he's not *unique* so if they did kill him by accident it would be a shame, but it could be a risk worth taking. I think it hangs together.
So, all in all, I'm forced to conclude it makes more sense as a dream, but I don't like that answer. What do you think?
So, what didn't really happen in Total Recall? Was it was all a dream implanted in him at Recall, or was he was Hauser, and agreed to being reprogrammed to become Quaid?
(1) There were several scenes where the Gropinator wasn't present. I would assume that he couldn't dream these, since he didn't see them. On the other hand, in a dream you do often learn acceptingly something in a way that wouldn't normally happen. And though recall didn't seem professional enough to do that, and though it's supposed to be implanting something that'd seem realistic when he remembered it, if he was having a schizoid imbalism, then his mind could get carried away with it. I guess this is survivable. A telling question would be if he was ever in ignorance of what happened in any of the cut-scenes.
(2) None of it being real is not narritively satisfying. There are conventions in films you just accept -- like being able to park in London -- and the whole thing turning out to be a dream without much hinting breaks them.
(3) When I first saw it ten years ago I hoped his defection might have been real, but I can't find any reason for it.
(4) There's a lot of foreshadowing. He dreams of suffocating on mars. The doctor who tells him he's dreaming says he'll probably end up saving the whole planet and befriending his arch-enemy, which he does. Even if everyone knew the truth the future would be hard to predict with that much accuracy, which strongly suggests he's dreaming it. His original dreams were from presumably in reality, but his big dream could have incorporated his memory of those.
(5) The brainwashing is a bit of an implausible story, more like a dream. But I think it makes sense, as he has to be convinced or the mutant psychic guy wouldn't trust him, and he's not *unique* so if they did kill him by accident it would be a shame, but it could be a risk worth taking. I think it hangs together.
So, all in all, I'm forced to conclude it makes more sense as a dream, but I don't like that answer. What do you think?
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Date: 2004-12-27 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-01-04 11:31 am (UTC)