Total Recall

Revealing mistake: Doug has the hologram when inside the alien nuclear reactor, and a bunch of bad guys encircle the holographic image and fire at it at point blank with automatic weapons, and not one bad guy gets hit. If they encircled the 3D image, at least a few bad guys would have been hit by their own men. (01:37:00)

Total Recall mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Arnie uses the dead body as a human shield, watch the corpse's mouth - he grimaces every time he gets hit (the squibs hurt). (00:31:00)

Other mistake: In the scene after Arnold kills the construction hoods he goes home to Sharon Stone and tries to convince her that it was real by showing her his bloody hands with which he was grabbing her shoulders, yet there is no blood on her or the appliances he turned off upon entering the apartment.

Plot hole: When Hauser/Quaid returns to Mars, some of the people that knew him before as Hauser call him Quaid. (00:45:40)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: If you're talking about when he's disguised as the fat woman, only Richter calls him Quaid. But he knew him as Quaid.

Bishop73

Revealing mistake: Pay attention to the drywall on Quaid's left just as he exits the bathroom to a rain of gunfire. If you look closely there are discolorations in the paint where explosive charges are packed and set to detonate in lockstep with the shots - creating "bullet holes". (00:25:00)

ryguy_1983

Total Recall mistake picture

Plot hole: When Arnie is taking off his woman's head he presses a switch by the ear and the ear comes out. The device reaches right inside the fake head and there would be no room for Arnie's real head. (00:46:00)

Continuity mistake: A few minutes before Quaid kills his "wife", there's a shot of her with bright pink lipstick. Immediately before he shoots her, her lipstick is burgundy. (01:03:10)

Total Recall mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rachel Ticotin are being attacked by the giant drilling machine, Arnie grabs a pneumatic drill and cuts the main oil line of the machine, getting the left side of his face and his shirt doused in oil. Yet throughout the remainder of the film, there is no oil on Arnie's face or shirt. (01:39:55)

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Sharon Stone attacks Arnie in their house with a knife you can see that the knife is a fake because it bends. (00:26:00)

Continuity mistake: When Arnie is giving his info about what his Mars woman should be like, there are two things to look at on the screen in front of him: The screen zooms in on the woman's face, cuts back to Arnie, cuts back to the screen when it zooms in on the face again. Also, look at the sequence when he's selecting her personality: "demure" is lit up before he mentions it. (00:17:35)

Total Recall mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Arnie uses the hologram projector in the alien reactor, there is a brief shot of him facing his own hologram image. Note that the gun and the projector switch positions in Arnie's hands - the bloodstain on his shirt's sleeve does not. (01:37:55)

Total Recall mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the escalator scene when Arnie uses a corpse as a shield, there's a close-up of Arnie's gun firing, and we can see there's blood on the side of the corpse's head. However, in the wider shots there isn't. (00:31:00)

Continuity mistake: When Sharon Stone cuts Arnie's left arm with the knife, he starts bleeding. Right afterwards he grabs Sharon's neck with his wounded left arm. When he lets go, Sharon's neck has no blood stains from Arnie's wounds. How come? (00:26:10)

Revealing mistake: When Quaid throws the bullet-ridden body down the escalator, you can see Richter and Helm have both been replaced by stuntmen. Their hairstyles are totally different. You can also see that the 'dead' man is still alive as he's flying through the air (slow motion helps). (00:29:55)

Daz

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Michael Ironside's cronies are dragging Arnie to the service lift, watch Arnie's head: It changes from being flexed forward to being extended backwards as they swap camera angles. His hand positions change as well from shot to shot. (01:06:40)

Continuity mistake: Soon after the woman costume malfunctions, you can see the blue screen through the windows, which in the next shot is coloured orange.

Total Recall mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Arnie meets Bennie, he takes him to his cab and opens the door for him to get in. At that time, there's an explosion, and Bennie pulls the door down to shield himself and Arnie. The camera switches to behind them, and Bennie is just now pulling the door down. (00:52:50)

Total Recall mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Arnold jumps through the glass, you can definitely see a change in his face and body shape. (From the stuntman). (00:30:05)

Total Recall mistake picture

Other mistake: The title 'Publicity' is misspelled as 'Publicty' in the end credits. (01:46:30)

Daz

Continuity mistake: When Quaid finishes Gary and his fellow agents, the concrete wall behind him shows a bloodstain. The only opportunity for it to appear there would have been as Quaid hits the moustache man in the face; but this guy stands up again, and it doesn't look like he cracked his skull (which would have caused a stain). (00:22:30)

Cohaagen: Well, my boy. You're a hero.
Quaid: Fuck you.

More quotes from Total Recall

Trivia: Most of the movie was shot in Mexico because it was believed labour costs to build the sets would be cheaper there, but it turned out that the cost of importing required materials from the US negated this benefit.

Daz

More trivia for Total Recall

Question: Does the movie give any indication with any evidence in the movie that Douglas is dreaming for the ending?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Verhoeven points out that if a viewer believes the whole film is a dream, then Edgemar's prediction that Quaid will end up being lobotomized is fulfilled in the fade to white which ends the movie.

Answer: When Dr. Edgemar is in the hotel room with Quaid and Lori, Quaid puts a gun to Edgemar's head and says that if it's all a dream, that Quaid could just pull the trigger and it wouldn't really matter. Edgemar goes into details about consequences of what would happen if Quaid killed him. As seen, when Quaid kills Edgemar the walls of the hotel room crash down, Quaid believes he's the rebel savior, had visions of alien civilization and is best friends with Cohaagen and the white light that is at the end of the movie indicates that Quaid was lobotomized.

Also, consider the end when Quaid and Melina are on the surface of Mars, suffocating. Their eyes are bulging, the Mars atmosphere is burning their lungs, and their faces are bloated. Yet a few minutes later they're perfectly normal and having a romantic kiss.

Answer: There are many signs that the adventure was reality. When Quaid watched the news (before going to Rekall), the newscasters asked Cohaagen about Kuato and alien artifacts (the alien reactor) in the Mars Pyramid Mine. Lori didn't want Quaid going to Mars or thinking about Mars. Harry didn't want Quaid to go to Rekall, as he sounded very intense when he said this to Quaid. The Rekall technicians popped Quaid's memory cap before they could implant his ego trip. Richter and Helm were watching Quaid the whole time and his trip to Rekall made them attempt to kill him before he could remember the alien reactor and his previous identity. Edgemar lied when he said Quaid's "dream" started in the middle of the implant procedure when Dr. Lull had told McClane they hadn't implanted the ego trip yet. Edgemar shouldn't have been sweating if it was a dream. Richter, Helm, Lori, Edgemar, and Benny were all trying to help Cohaagen keep his evil power and prevent Mars from having free air.

This isn't true. The DVD commentary states that if the viewer is believing that the story is a dream, then it begins right where the camera cuts to McClane and his female client watching the TV monitor. The bit where Quaid resists and Renata says she hasn't implanted the ego trip yet are part of the dream. The clue is that McClane's statement is "the trip is as real as any memory in your head." So for it to come across as real, it has to begin right there and then.

If Lori is really Quaid's wife, it seems strange that he would dream of her trying to kill him. When Richter and Helm are trying to kill Quaid, several people get killed in the crossfire. When Edgemar and Lori visit Quaid, Lori gives Edgemar a look right before he takes out the red pill, almost as if Lori is signaling Edgemar to do that. They are awfully eager for Quaid to take that pill, and the film's novelization states that the pill could possibly be a knockout dose or lethal. If Edgemar is a projection, he should not be sweating, which makes Quaid realise Edgemar is real. Those four agents who blast through the wall were back there listening to the conversation and waiting to see if Edgemar's plan with the pill would work. Richter and Helm were downstairs in the bar waiting to hear from Lori and Edgemar that they captured Quaid. If Edgemar was telling the truth, why would Richter and Helm be down in the bar waiting? Also, the novel points more toward reality.

You are forgetting to assume the dream shows him stuff that didn't actually happen, like innocents being killed in crossfire. If it is all a dream it all doesn't matter, he is being fed lies by the implants, about his wife, about Cohaagen, about everything, the fact it connects to real events before he went to Recall (which don't show the truth at all) just shows the ingenuity of the implants, who use his memories to create the story. Edgemar sweating could be another illusion caused by the implants. If it really is all a dream the moment he killed Edgemar the implants screwed his brain up enough there was no way of knowing what was real anymore, and his wife is sitting besides him at Recall crying that he isn't going to wake up anymore, whilst Quaid is experiencing killing her in his dream. This then goes on for him until the end it lobotomizes him. That is, if you believe it was a dream.

lionhead

There is a villains site called Villains Wiki. Edgemar is listed on this site along with Cohaagen, Richter, Helm, Lori, Harry, and Benny. The article about Edgemar states that Quaid realises Edgemar is working for Cohaagen when he sees him sweating. It also states that Edgemar's goal is to aid Cohaagen in his plans. Also mentioned is the fact that Richter is Lori's real husband and is angered when Quaid kills her the same way he kills Edgemar.

Answer: The novel also reveals another detail that indicates reality. Before it is revealed that Richter is Lori's real husband, Quaid doesn't seem to love Lori. He dreams of Melina every night and actually loves Melina despite being with Lori. Quaid wonders why Lori married him, and she doesn't seem to have aged since their wedding. Once Lori reveals that their eight years together is actually a six-week memory implant, Quaid realises that is why his eight year memory of Lori hasn't changed. When Lori tries to detain Quaid for Richter and Helm at the Hilton Hotel, she tries to kill Melina because she knows Melina is Quaid's dream girl.

Answer: The novel by Piers Anthony has other signs that indicate Quaid's adventure was reality. When Richter and Helm are looking for Quaid on Earth, it says the bug in Quaid's head alerted them about his trip to Rekall. Richter and Helm went to Rekall to question the Rekall staff and dispatch them. When Richter and Helm are chasing Quaid and Melina on Mars, Quaid asks Melina if she has ever heard of Rekall, and she tells him she used to model for Rekall, which explains why Quaid saw Melina's face on the screen during his implant procedure at Rekall. Furthermore, Edgemar tells Quaid he is still at Rekall strapped in the implant chair, but McClane told the other Rekall staff members to dump Quaid in the Johnnycab and send him home. So it doesn't make sense that Quaid is still at Rekall after they sent him home.

Answer: The "dream" is when Quaid thinks Lori is his wife. Lori is really Richter's wife. The dreams Quaid had of Melina were visions reminding him of his past life.

Answer: Edgemar's red pill may have been a knockout dose so Richter, Helm, and Lori could take Quaid to Cohaagen. The red pill could also have possibly been poison, like cyanide. The pill wouldn't have returned Quaid to reality because he was still in reality.

More questions & answers from Total Recall

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