Total Recall
Tri-Star / 1990 / 109 Mins / Rated R18+

This Review is sponsored by 
Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video


MOVIE
Paul Verhoeven always makes movies BIG popcorn movies that are always popular with the male demographic, but he does it in such a stylish way one can see why. From Robocop to Basic Instinct up to his latest Starship Troopers. Yet again he doesn't disappoint with Total Recall.

I remember seeing this movie with some friends quite a few moons ago and it hasn't looked better.

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid a man who is bored with his life and is having dreams every night about a life on Mars. His wife played by Sharon Stone tries to keep his mind of his dreams but to no avail. Doug goes to Rekall a company that can insert dreams into your mind without even going there! During the implant process Doug goes crazy and has a previous memory unlocked. The previous memory included a life as a secret agent on Mars.

Now his wife, friends and almost everyone else are trying to kill him. Who can Doug trust. Well he thinks that only a trip to Mars will answer that. Good entertainment choice really.

Filled with plenty of gratuitous violence, this is an entertaining disc.

VIDEO
Mastered by Columbia/Tri-Star France this disc is very impressive. This is a very sharp transfer. Color saturation is also perfect considering the amount of the color red in it. Shadow detail was also spot on. I cannot fault this transfer.

No MPEG artifacts were present at all. The original film print is also very, very clean.

Total Recall is framed at 1:85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is an RSDL disc. The layer change occurs at 54:32.

AUDIO

There are several sound formats on this disc. English Dolby Digital 5.1 & English, French, Spanish MPEG 2.0. The disc does default to French MPEG 2.0. I listened to the 5.1 soundtrack. The surrounds are used extensively although the sound steering isn't that impressive. The .1 channel absolutely thumped throughout.

The dialog was easy to hear for most of the movie. Although in a scene with a lot of ambient noise the dialog was a little harder to hear.

EXTRAS
Again another poor showing extras wise.

Theatrical Trailer: An average trailer in a window boxed 4:3 mode. Terrible sound on this trailer. Sounds hollow.

Subtitles Include:

English
French
Dutch
Spanish
Portuguese
Hebrew

FINAL THOUGHTS
Great movie and transfer. Shame about the extras.

16:9 ENHANCEMENT DISC RATING

VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:

PLOT:
OVERALL:

REVIEW EQUIPMENT

Display: 48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player:
Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver:
Pioneer VSX-D508 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers:
Accusound speaker system.

Copyright © 2000 by [Roger Ward].
Revised: 26 May 2000 00:17:51 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating R18+
Running Time: 109 Mins
Case Type: Keep Case
Release Date: 9/6/1999
Catalog Number: D11961
List Price: $34.95
Distributor: Columbia/Tri-Star
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Picture Disc
Disc Format: SS-RSDL
Chapters: 24
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: CTHV France
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

5.1 Surround
2.0 Surround

DTS: None
PCM Stereo: None
Other: None
Languages:

English
French
Subtitles: Yes
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: None
Theatrical Trailer: Yes
Teaser Trailer: None
TV Spots: None
Dolby Trailer: None
Documentary: None
Cast & Crew Bios: None
Deleted Scenes: None
Music Videos: None
DVD Rom Content: None
Collectable Booklet: None
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: None
Production Notes: None
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INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE INFO
OFFICIAL WEB SITE
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