Total Recall [Blu-ray]

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone. A man doesn't know if he's hallucinating or battling evil forces on Mars in this action-packed futuristic thriller. 1990/color/113 min/R.

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," iTotal Recall/i was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (iRobocop/i) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. i--Jeff Shannon/i

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," iTotal Recall/i was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (iRobocop/i) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. i--Jeff Shannon/i