Total Recall...Was It A Dream? Was It Real?

It’s real.
The name of the movie is total recall for christs sake.
 
Sohei said:
Real. Arnold was an agent working for cohaagen who implanted him with false memories to infiltrate the resistance. When he went to recall, the they tried to implant a vacation memory which triggered Arnold's false resistance memories as his real memories. He woke up thinking he really was a member of the resistance and proceeded to kill everyone in cohaagen's organization and free Mars for the resistance. Cohaagen talked about this and there's video of them working together that is showed to him.
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You're failing to grasp why this question endures. The lingering question over whether or not he was in a dream operates on the premise that he was still in recall when he watched the video of himself.

It's a dream within a dream (about how the dream isn't real). It was a more elegant, more subtle, less pretentious Inception over twenty years before that film came out.
 
StewDogg11 said:
If it was a dream how was he having dreams of Mars and Melina BEFORE he went to Rekall?
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Remember: Recall uses someone's own dreams and fantasies from brain scanning, as well as other answers given from an extensive questionaire prior to going in, to form its dream "vacation" for its clients.
 
Madmick said:
Remember: Recall uses someone's own dreams and fantasies from brain scanning, as well as other answers given from an extensive questionaire prior to going in, to form its dream "vacation" for its clients.
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I may not be remembering this right but Quaid never actually went under and had the memories implanted before he wigged out right?
 
I always thought it was a dream because of the "blue sky on Mars" comment the tech makes as they're setting up his fantasy.
 
I always thought people went to deep with this. It's a basic 90's action movie that people have turned into some deep thing. It reminds me of what they did with the Karate Kid and trying to turn Daniel into the actual bad guy twisting the story and making it more complicated than it needs to be.
 
StewDogg11 said:
If it was a dream how was he having dreams of Mars and Melina BEFORE he went to Rekall?
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The same reason you dream about banging lady boy's in Thailand. It's his fantasy.

He gave those details to rekall and they added them to his mental vacation package.

Also, to those wondering about the scene where Arnold is unconscious and the doctors are talking about him. That scene doesn't prove it's real. They start the fantasy for the client while they're in that state, like just starting to wake up. Maybe he's 90% unconscious but 10% alert so he can hear things that he will barely remember or understand but it makes the dream feel more real to him.
 
its my favourite Arnie movie, always went with real, and argued with my sister for years about it, but i'm not as sure as i once was, short story it was based on was ''real'' the movie....<Fedor23>
 
StewDogg11 said:
I may not be remembering this right but Quaid never actually went under and had the memories implanted before he wigged out right?
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For those arguing it was a dream, he would have already been implanted at that point, and that's where the "show" starts.
 
method115 said:
I always thought people went to deep with this. It's a basic 90's action movie that people have turned into some deep thing. It reminds me of what they did with the Karate Kid and trying to turn Daniel into the actual bad guy twisting the story and making it more complicated than it needs to be.
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Orginally, the people who did that were being tongue-in-cheek. I wasn't aware there was a camp seriously arguing the writers intended that. Obviously they didn't.

Per Total Recall, no, it is quite deep. Right down to the implied symbolism of the "red" planet.
 
Madmick said:
Per Total Recall, no, it is quite deep. Right down to the implied symbolism of the "red" planet.
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I guess I just never saw it that way. I never even realized there was any controversy about if it was a dream or not it until I got online. Same with the Karate Kid which is why they seem related to me.

With that said I did look into a bit and found a reddit thread where this guy watched the DVD commentary from the writers\director. I can't verify for myself but the guy said that the Director stated that it was filmed so that either answer could be right.
 
Goon Dog said:
I always thought a better ending would have been for Arnold to wake up in Recall. He leaves shaking hands with everyone. Credits-sounding music. But as he leaves he rounds a corner and you see Michael Ironside following him. Roll credits.
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THIS!
 
Madmick said:
You're failing to grasp why this question endures. The lingering question over whether or not he was in a dream operates on the premise that he was still in recall when he watched the video of himself.

It's a dream within a dream (about how the dream isn't real). It was a more elegant, more subtle, less pretentious Inception over twenty years before that film came out.
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This and 3 breasts.....
 
Goon Dog said:
I remember him as far back as Top Gun and even V on TV. I just scanned his IMDB. I knew he had been in a lot of good stuff, but damn his resume is impressive.
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V fuck yes! Best tv event of my childhood. I can vividly rember watching with my cousin absolutely glued to the screen.
Remember every time one of the invaders got shot by a Lazer blaster they would inevitably peel some of the fake human skin off their face exposing the reptilian skin underneath.
 
Fedorgasm said:
The same reason you dream about banging lady boy's in Thailand. It's his fantasy.

He gave those details to rekall and they added them to his mental vacation package.

Also, to those wondering about the scene where Arnold is unconscious and the doctors are talking about him. That scene doesn't prove it's real. They start the fantasy for the client while they're in that state, like just starting to wake up. Maybe he's 90% unconscious but 10% alert so he can hear things that he will barely remember or understand but it makes the dream feel more real to him.
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Regarding your first paragraph. The fact this is your go to first unprompted insult proves it’s already in your head and something you fantasize about weirdo.
 
Madmick said:
Orginally, the people who did that were being tongue-in-cheek. I wasn't aware there was a camp seriously arguing the writers intended that. Obviously they didn't.

Per Total Recall, no, it is quite deep. Right down to the implied symbolism of the "red" planet.
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That was the story Johnny told in Cobra Kai
 
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