Total Recall

Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.

Total Recall landed in genuinely divided territory on release: critics agreed that Rob Bottin's practical effects were spectacular and that Schwarzenegger played unusually against type as a confused, vulnerable everyman, but they split hard on almost everything else. The second half on Mars drew particular fire for trading the film's identity-horror premise for mechanical action and body counts, and Verhoeven's satirical edge struck many as blunter here than in RoboCop. The treatment of women was a specific flashpoint, with several reviewers calling it outright misogynistic rather than campy.