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** Blame Richter. He obviously contacted Harry first, maybe because he didn't want to bother Lorri, in order to eliminate Quaid. Since we see him contact Lorri, it's pretty obvious that he told her to kill Quaid. All of it plays into Richter wanting to off Quaid for his own reasons (he can't stand Hauser and without knowing the full plan just looks for an excuse to get rid of him while he's Quaid).
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*** Furthermore, the thing that never convinced me about the "It's all fake, otherwise why are we seeing scenes of characters talking without Quaid being present with them??" argument is that there are moments in the film where the camera stays focused on a character without Quaid's being in the same room with them ''BEFORE'' he goes to Rekall (like when he leaves to work and we stay focused on Lori before cutting to the next scene). The Quaidless scenes would work as a clue that his adventure is fake if was done ''consistently'', but it's not.
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*** Furthermore, the thing that never convinced me about the "It's all fake, otherwise why are we seeing scenes of characters talking without Quaid being present with them??" argument is that there are moments in the film where the camera stays focused on a character without Quaid's being in the same room with them ''BEFORE'' he goes to Rekall (like when he leaves to work and we stay focused on Lori before cutting to the next scene). The Quaidless scenes would work as a clue that his adventure is fake if it was done ''consistently'', but it's not.
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*** Furthermore, one thing that never convinced me about the "It's all fake, otherwise why are we seeing scenes of characters talking without Quaid being present with them??" argument is that there are moments in the film where the camera stays focused on a character without Quaid's being in the same room with them ''BEFORE'' he goes to Rekall (like when he leaves to work and we stay focused on Lori before cutting to the next scene). The Quaidless scenes would work as a clue that his adventure is fake if was done ''consistently'', but it's not.
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*** Furthermore, one the thing that never convinced me about the "It's all fake, otherwise why are we seeing scenes of characters talking without Quaid being present with them??" argument is that there are moments in the film where the camera stays focused on a character without Quaid's being in the same room with them ''BEFORE'' he goes to Rekall (like when he leaves to work and we stay focused on Lori before cutting to the next scene). The Quaidless scenes would work as a clue that his adventure is fake if was done ''consistently'', but it's not.
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*** Furthermore, one thing that never convinced me about the "It's all fake, otherwise why are we seeing scenes of characters talking without Quaid being present with them??" argument is that there are moments in the film where the camera stays focused on a character without Quaid's being in the same room with them ''BEFORE'' he goes to Rekall (like when he leaves to work and we stay focused on Lori before cutting to the next scene). The Quaidless scenes would work as a clue that his adventure is fake if was done ''consistently'', but it's not.
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**** Except that the whole point of Rekall is not to give customers "cool dreams". It's to provide customers with memories of events that, from their own perspective, actually happened. The point of a secret agent experience at Rekall is to make the customer remember that he really was a secret agent, without any memory of ever having been to Rekall. If that customer absolutely knows that he activated a reactor that turned the sky on Mars blue, but then he watches the news about the war on Mars, and he sees it's not over and the sky is still red, he will go crazy.
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* There is technology that can implant memories and no one has thought of a better way to use it than as a "All In Your Mind" Vacation Package?!
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* There is technology that can implant memories [[MisappliedPhlebotinum and no one has thought of a better way to use it than as a "All In Your Mind" Vacation Package?!Package?!]]
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* What was Harry planning to do after his crew dragged Quaid into an alleyway? He took out a gun, and he acted like he was going to shoot Quaid, but clearly he couldn't have done it, right? He had to have known at least a part of Cohhagen's plan, so he knew Quaid had to escape but think he was being hunted. So, if Hauser's martial arts didn't kick in at that moment, what was he going to do? Same goes for Lorry - she unloads a gun at Quaid and then goes after him with a knife. How was that supposed to be in line with the plan?!
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** Use it how? It cannot reprogam people remotely and en-mass, and if he could sit them all one-by-one in the machine, well, then he would've won already.
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* If Cohaagen has a machine that can "reprogramme" people as her intends to do to Melina (to turn her into a Stepford wife for Hauser) why doesn't he just use that to defeat the rebels?
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** Given what a borderline-anarchic terrorist-and-civil-war wracked hellhole Mars is, it's not wholly unreasonable that the cabbies might go around toting weapons just in case their passengers turn out to be more violent than they would like.
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** Because, well, Cohaagan is exactly the kind of asshole who would ''also'' prevent the people of Mars from having a breathable atmosphere because it would threaten his power base even if he's also legitimately concerned that it might blow up the planet as well. It can be two things.
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** Considering the sci-fi universe he lives in and the sheer amount of brain-rewriting going on, it's perhaps less that Quaid doesn't recognise his own handwriting but doesn't fully ''trust'' that it's his hand writing.
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*** The pressure difference between Mars' atmosphere and total vacuum is very [[IncrediblyLamePun thin]]. Basically, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is vacuum and 10 is Earth standard, Mars rates about a 0.6.
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*** The pressure difference between Mars' atmosphere and total vacuum is very [[IncrediblyLamePun [[{{Pun}} thin]]. Basically, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is vacuum and 10 is Earth standard, Mars rates about a 0.6.
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** He's just checking to make sure no one else left the note. His entire reality had become a giant question mark, nothing wrong with eyeing the details.
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* Quaid finds the note Hauser left for him at the hotel, sees Melina's name, and then writes "Melina" to see if it matches the writing on the note. It does, of course, but why does Quaid even need to do that? Does he not recognize his own handwriting?
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*** In addition to the scene with the Rekall staff, the audience also sees a lot of things happening that Quaid wouldn't be aware of if the whole thing was only his implanted memories. Usually in stories where nothing that's going on is real, we see things only from the point of view of the character who's dreaming or hallucinating or whatever. This doesn't apply to scenes like Richter and Helm talking about how to track him down, or Richter getting yelled at by Cohaagen in the latter's office, or seeing what's happening in Venusville with the air running out at times when Quaid isn't in a position to see or hear any of it. Quaid never gives any indication that he's privy to anything the audience sees, and if he were then it would make sense for him to wonder things like "How do I know what's happening on Mars when I haven't even landed on that planet yet?" This seems to indicate that it all really happened.
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** Except for the fact that prior to the memory implant one of the Rekall technicians looking at the ego trip went “This is a new one. Blue sky on Mars!”. It’s in the background and easily missable but is clearly said. So Rekall would actually do such a thing.
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**Except for the fact that prior to the memory implant one of the Rekall technicians looking at the ego trip went “This is a new one. Blue sky on Mars!”. It’s in the background and easily missable but is clearly said. So Rekall would actually do such a thing.
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*** Simple answer is that you COULDN'T activate the device before it had completed its start-up sequence, and that required a certain amount of time. Think of it like a huge engine or power plant (or a computer) - you can't just flip a switch and turn them on instantly, they have a start-up cycle that they have to go through before they can actually 'start' and operate. Large power plants can take entire DAYS to go from 'off' to being able to actually generate power. The bigger the engine/plant, the longer the startup cycle before actual operation. Converting the atmosphere to oxygen would take an ungodly amount of power. Presumably the aliens built the device, initiated the start-up sequence for the reactor to power the terraforming process, and then for whatever reason they never came back to actually trigger it to start operations when the reactor had finally spun up and was ready to go, until Quaid hit the 'confirm start' button.
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* Why does Quaid think Cohaagan refused to turn the reactor on because it would break his hold over Mars? Sure, it'd be in character for him, but the memories Kuato uncovered for Quaid showed that Cohaagan was genuinely worried that the reactor would blow up the planet.
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** Bob outright states that memories longer than two weeks cost extra because it requires a deeper implant. It probably cost ''a lot'' to create the Quaid identity (though the plan was to get to Quato, so Cohaagen was able to justify the cost by recouping it from the mines once he finished off the rebels), so it's probably not feasible to make such a thing available to everyone.
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** Bob outright states that memories longer than two weeks cost extra because it requires a deeper implant. It probably cost ''a lot'' to create the Quaid identity (though the plan was to get to Quato, Kuato, so Cohaagen was able to justify the cost by recouping it from the mines once he finished off the rebels), so it's probably not feasible to make such a thing available to everyone.
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*** Or maybe they did use the machine once to give Mars an breathable atmosphere, but then died out or left sometime after that and the atmosphere eventually disappeared naturally while the machine recharged itself and waited patiently for the next person to come along and press the button. It is certainly more believable than the idea that aliens built such a giant machine and simply never pressed the button.
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*** Or maybe they did use the machine once to give Mars an a breathable atmosphere, but then died out or left sometime after that and the atmosphere eventually disappeared naturally while the machine recharged itself and waited patiently for the next person to come along and press the button. It is certainly more believable than the idea that aliens built such a giant machine and simply never pressed the button.
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** Verhoeven is not a sadist. Sadists get off on inflicting pain, and no one -- neither actor nor audience -- suffers any meaningful pain on watching that sequence, grotesque and discomforting though it is. Verhoeven ''is'' a filmmaker with a taste for transgressiveness; he wants to shock and unsettle the viewer, and challenge them with things they might otherwise have not thought about. A common thing in science fiction action films and shows is to see minor characters be sucked out into space or into the unbreathable atmosphere of an alien planet and then just be kind of forgotten with the unspoken assumption that "Welp, they're dead now." In fact, ''Total Recall'' itself does that a couple of times (at least a few people are sucked out of windows in the scene where Quaid arrives at the space port). Verhoeven isn't satisfied with leaving it there, however, so he makes a point of shocking the audience by giving them a horrifyingly graphic depiction of precisely how horrible a death that might be.
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** Plus, well, this is still a 1980s Schwartenegger action flick. It's not like any of his characters are exactly ''slow'' to violence in those films.
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** Plus, well, this is still a 1980s Schwartenegger Schwarenegger action flick. It's not like any of his characters are exactly ''slow'' to violence in those films.
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*** Why would anyone sue over what is presumably a bit of mild disorientation? Presumably if Rekall is working as normal, the subject wakes from the dream being mildly disorientated at worst, spends a few minutes in a nice comfortable lounge with a drink and some magazines waking up fully and getting adjusted back to reality, and then goes about the rest of their day none the worse for wear.
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*** True, but the very fact that there's been so much discussion over this movie for nearly thirty years suggests that there's something more going on than a by-the-numbers Schwartzenegger shoot-em-up. You don't hear people discussing the nature of reality as depicted in ''Film/{{Eraser}}'', after all.
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*** True, but the very fact that there's been so much discussion over this movie for nearly thirty years suggests that there's something more going on than a by-the-numbers Schwartzenegger Schwarzenegger shoot-em-up. You don't hear people discussing the nature of reality as depicted in ''Film/{{Eraser}}'', after all.
*** No he wouldn't. If anything, the fact that that his Rekall trip ends with him completely terraforming Mars would make it ''easier'' for him to wake up and realise it was all a dream when he realises that Mars still has a red sky. The implants are basically just giving him a cool experience on Mars, they're not necessarily supposed to completely rewrite his understanding of reality.
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*** The narrative in this Rekall trip is an exciting spy adventure with double agents and betrayals and nothing being as it seems. So it's presumably far more exciting for the subject for that to start right at the beginning in the Rekall offices. Presumably, assuming all goes well, on waking up the subject sees the smiling and reassuring faces of the Rekall staff, remembers it was all just a dream, and is far more satisfied focusing on the exciting Mars adventure they've just experienced rather than sulking about the bit where they were dumped in a cab at the beginning.
** There's a couple of things that the "it all must be real!" people are perhaps overlooking here:
*** Firstly, people seem to be assuming that the point of a Rekall trip is to completely rewrite the person's memories and leave them utterly disorientated and confused as to the nature of reality. Instead, it's to give the subject an exciting set of memories of an experience that wasn't real but ''feels'' like it was. Presumably, a normal Rekall trip works in such a way that, when the trip ends, no matter how immersive it is the subject is guided to a state wherein they remember that everything they've experienced was just a dream and that they are waking up to reality (perhaps, for example, the end of a Rekall trip is programmed with a "credits sequence" at the end which lets the subject gradually start "waking up" to reality). The Rekall memories are thus presumably designed to be secondary to "actual" memories; they feel real, but leave the subject still capable of recognising them as fantasies -- like more vivid memories of a dream you had the night before.
*** Secondly, remember that the whole point of the Dr. Edgmoor sequence is to create the suggestion that, if this is a dream, then it is a dream that has gone ''wrong'' -- Quaid's mind is reacting against the implant in a way that is screwing with his ability to tell fantasy from reality and basically breaking his mind. So the complaints that "[X] can't be a dream because if it was then he'd be really confused when he woke up!" can basically be explained with the fact that this is the point -- the process has gone wrong with the result that Quaid is basically losing himself in a dream.
** There's a couple of things that the "it all must be real!" people are perhaps overlooking here:
*** Firstly, people seem to be assuming that the point of a Rekall trip is to completely rewrite the person's memories and leave them utterly disorientated and confused as to the nature of reality. Instead, it's to give the subject an exciting set of memories of an experience that wasn't real but ''feels'' like it was. Presumably, a normal Rekall trip works in such a way that, when the trip ends, no matter how immersive it is the subject is guided to a state wherein they remember that everything they've experienced was just a dream and that they are waking up to reality (perhaps, for example, the end of a Rekall trip is programmed with a "credits sequence" at the end which lets the subject gradually start "waking up" to reality). The Rekall memories are thus presumably designed to be secondary to "actual" memories; they feel real, but leave the subject still capable of recognising them as fantasies -- like more vivid memories of a dream you had the night before.
*** Secondly, remember that the whole point of the Dr. Edgmoor sequence is to create the suggestion that, if this is a dream, then it is a dream that has gone ''wrong'' -- Quaid's mind is reacting against the implant in a way that is screwing with his ability to tell fantasy from reality and basically breaking his mind. So the complaints that "[X] can't be a dream because if it was then he'd be really confused when he woke up!" can basically be explained with the fact that this is the point -- the process has gone wrong with the result that Quaid is basically losing himself in a dream.
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** We also don't really know anything about Hauser whatsoever except for what appears on recorded video screens. Perhaps Hauser had his own schemes going on behind Cohaagen's back that he was using Quaid to further as well.
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*** You just identified the previous person's ''whole point''. The very fact that there is a "component that would bring its reality into question" and contains "a slightly more cerebral plothook" ''is what makes it'' more than just your average bog-standard summer action blockbuster movie.
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***In the novelization Melina tells Quaid that she had done some modelling work for Rekall in the past.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]'' ...In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]'' ...In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him for good and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]''
In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]''
tish!*]]'' ...In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** Aside from the movie needing the glass to be that weak for it to happen, Cohagen was a greedy bastard who used the cheapest glass and didn't care for potential disasters happening as a result or someone activating the shutters before people started to get sucked out.
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** Aside from the movie needing the glass to be that weak for it to happen, Cohagen Cohaagen was a greedy bastard who used the cheapest glass and didn't care for potential disasters happening as a result or someone activating the shutters before people started to get sucked out.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]'' In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]'' tish!*]]''
In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because the party invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]''
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** He did it because the party da pahty invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *ba-dum tish!*]]''
tish!*]]'' In seriousness, though, Richter wasn't simply trying to climb back onto the lift, but rather he was grabbing at Quaid and determined to [[TakingYouWithMe pull him down off the elevator with him]], so Quaid went with the easiest and surest way to get Richter off him and keep himself from also going splat.
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** He did it because the party's invitation clearly said that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *rim shot!*]]''
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** He did it because the party's invitation clearly said party invitations specified that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *rim shot!*]]''
*ba-dum tish!*]]''
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** He did it because the party's invitation clearly said that guests had to show up unarmed. ''[[RimShot *rim shot!*]]''
