THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT, PART II: TOTAL RECALL

Like Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger has made his name playing larger than life roles. Unlike Ford, who alternates between being weary and accepting of them, Schwarzenegger seems to enjoy, or at least is resigned to, his status. Still, within the action movie hero he plays, he does sometimes try and stretch himself a little, and one of the best examples of that was in Paul Verhoeven's TOTAL RECALL.

Adapted from a short story by acclaimed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick called "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale," the movie is set sometime in the future. Schwarzenegger plays Doug Quaid, a construction worker who, though he has a good job and is married to the beautiful Lori (Sharon Stone), is haunted by dreams of a different life. Dreams where he's actually a secret agent living on Mars, in love with another woman, but getting into trouble. While Lori tells him to ignore the dreams, Quaid can't bring himself to do that. One day, he hears about a service called Rekall, which advertises allowing you to go anywhere you want, all while staying in your seat (this was 1990, remember, when virtual reality was just an idea), by implanting memories in your mind. He decides to go to the service, and asks to go to Mars and be a secret agent. But something goes wrong in the process; it seems there's already been an implant, and Quaid insists, "My name is not Quaid." He thinks he is a secret agent named Hauser.

Rekall sends him away, and before long, Quaid finds himself thrown into a quagmire. It turns out there's men, led by Richter (Michael Ironside), after him, and Lori turns out to be a secret agent in league with them. So, figuring the answer's on Mars, he ends up going there, with the help of a video "Hauser" apparently made for him. Once in Mars, he finds himself in the middle of a war between Copenhagen (Ronny Cox), the dictator of the planet, and apparently "Hauser's" former boss, and the rebels, mostly mutants (with features affected by radiaiton), led by the mysterious Kuato. Quaid also meets up with Melina (Rachel Ticotin), the woman who appeared in his dreams, but who also acts like they have a real history together. But is any of this real? Or is it all part of a Rekall dream?

Verhoeven and the writers (Gary Goldman, Dan O'Bannon, Jon Povill, and Ronald Shusett) do a clever job manipulating the storyline, yet we don't feel cheated, because everything seems logical. Even a plot twist near the end involving Quaid/Hauser works. They also do a good job creating a world on Mars, even if it may not seem that much different from earth. And while this is mainly an action movie, it's a nice mix of actual science fiction - a movie of ideas - and sci-fi - a movie of action and special effects.

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