Total Recall (US 1990). Arnold Schwarzenegger is required to act a bit too often, considering that he does not have the ability, while Sharon Stone is cast below Rachel Ticotin and just has to be a pretty blonde who is killed fairly promptly. Paul Verhoevan adds his usual advertising slogans and video images to the story of a construction worker who has recollections of being a secret agent on a populated Mars. He finds himself involved in a rebellion, on the red planet, against a group controlling an oxygen system, built by aliens, millions of years earlier.
I have not read the original story, nor have I seen the film in a while, so it struck me that it shows an early nineteen-nineties, which means almost an eighties, vision of the future, with big hair, padded shoulders and lurid coloured clothing, mainly via the women, but Arnie wears a pink shirt. The film is also surprisingly and unnecessarily violent. However, Paul Verhoevan (who has a degree in maths and physics) is skilled at showing corporate greed, combined with seediness, along with fast paced action, making this a better than average film of its type.
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