Movie endings, they're usually pretty straight forward right? Everything pays off, the main characters learn something, and our heroes ride off into the sunset. Sometimes though, we don't get the typical ending from a movie, we get something much more nuanced, complex and open ended. The kind of endings that leave things up in the air for all of us to debate and theorise on until we're blue in the face. With Movie Endings Explained, we aim to delve into some of the more ambiguous and mysterious endings to films that have left audiences scratching their heads for years, and to attempt to explain them. In most cases, a definitive answer isn't really there, so we definitely want to hear from YOU on how you interpret the various endings we'll be discussing with this series.
This time we take a look at the 1990 sci-fi action classic TOTAL RECALL from director Paul Verhoeven (ROBOCOP, BASIC INSTINCT), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (THE TERMINATOR, PREDATOR). The mind bending tale, based on a Philip K. Dick short story, sees the lead character Douglas Quaid recover lost memories of his undercover past, before ending up on Mars, kicking ass and quipping one liners at anyone who'll listen. A key plot point in TOTAL RECALL is the virtual reality memory facility that Quaid visits at the beginning of the movie, because by the film's conclusion, it could be reasoned that the entire movie after that point is part of the implanted memory. We delve into the reasons for and against the events of the film being the dreams of Quaid or the reality of Hauser, along with director Paul Verhoeven's recent statement on the debate!
What's your opinion on the fact versus fiction discussion with Total Recall? Do you think the journey Quaid takes is the skilled work of the technicians at Rekall? Or was Quaid's adventure entirely "real"?