PLAYING IN THEATERS NOW (1990)

Total Recall (R) Director Paul Verhoeven, who made the brilliant RoboCop, has come up with a head film for action freaks. Set in 2084, it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (at his deadpan best) as a happily married construction worker who learns that his entire existence has been prefabricated. He journeys to Mars to reclaim his old identity and get even with the people who hijacked it. Total Recall starts out as mind-bending futuristic satire and then turns relentless -- it becomes a violent, postpunk version of an Indiana Jones cliff-hanger. On that level, however, the movie achieves total pumpitude. The special makeup effects are by Rob Bottin, who proves himself a mad genius of the perverse. B+

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