carolco pictures and dutch director paul verhoeven ( robocop ) came together to create the 1990 mega hit that is total recall . 
the film is a masterpiece of sets , action , and special effects . 
action and science fiction just don't get any better than this ! 
the story involves a construction worker named douglas quaid ( arnold schwarzenegger ) who lives on earth with his beautiful wife lori ( sharon stone ) . 
quaid is obsessed with mars and decides to go with the second best choice ; a brain implant ( fake memory ) of a two week vacation on mars . 
while being implanted a memory cap is triggered and the doctors realize that quaid's memory has previously been erased . 
now the people who did it are after him . 
quaid must find out who he really is and why these people want him dead . 
the plot unfolds at a rapid pace explaining itself through great action , special effects , and twist after mind-boggling twist . 
it grabs you and never lets go ! 
this film is a winner from beginning to end . 
the plot is superb ; combining the best elements of science fiction and psychological mystery to create a rip-roaring saga . 
schwarzenegger gives his best performance ever , and the supporting cast is good too . 
the action and stunts are terrific . 
the sets are huge and elaborate with a lot of attention payed to detail . 
the music and sound effects are perfect for the film and really add a certain level of impact to the action . 
the make-up effects by rob bottin ( the howling , the thing , and robocop ) are top notch , not to mention extremely outlandish . 
the visual effects by dream quest ( the abyss ) and industrial light and magic ( star wars trilogy , jurassic park , and terminator 2 ) are phenomenal ! 
the visuals had such a state of the art " slickness " that they won an oscar . 
of course the film isn't always realistic ; it's more fiction than science . 
for example , it is true that a body won't explode in the vacuum of space but in total recall they do . 
who cares ? 
it's a movie . 
movies are supposed to entertain . 
and in my opinion this film achieves an entertainment level in film that is so terrific , it may be impossible to beat .