Total Recall

In the year 2084, Mars is a colony where valuable ore is mined under the rule of a tyrant. On Earth, construction worker Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger), bored with his existence, keeps having exciting dreams of Mars and then goes to a company that implants lifelike memories in order to receive a Mars vacation implant. No sooner has he booked a complete “ego trip” package that promises action, adventure and romance as a secret agent than events derail and he is hunted by enemy agents: Is he in the dream realm of false memories or was his previous life just a lie? Is he even destined to become the savior of Mars? Paul Verhoeven, a master of the tightrope walk between unrestrained entertainment exaggeration and its sly subversion, serves up a Schwarzenegger spectacle in a class of its own - and with barbs. (C.H.)

Image: Austrian Film Museum