Total Recall Double Bill Part 1

I recently watched the movie from 1990 with Arnold Schwarzenegger again. The real revelation then and still now is Sharon Stone. One moment she is the harmless, loving, young and innocent extremely good looking wife, the next one she is a ruthless killer, still extremely good looking but with all the innocence evaporated into thin air. Really world class. The movie is based on a story by Philip K. Dick and one of its biggest qualities is that it keeps you doubting what is real and what is dream. It was directed by Paul Verhoeven and has some explicit, campy violence. Besides Arnold and Sharon the movie also stars Rachel Ticotin, Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside. The story and violent action is what make the movie work, that together with the diabolic character so well played by Sharon Stone. The special effects are quite primitive and some of the sets hardly besting the cardboard rock landscapes that Star Trek The Original Series served up. Luckily this mostly plays a minor role in the movie and I didn’t find it distracting. A nice movie but somehow not 100% convincing for me. Not sure why not but maybe it is because Arnold plays a ‘maybe’ hero-maybe villain which kept me watching from the sideline instead of being sucked into the story.