When buff construction worker Douglas Quaid wants to visit Mars, his wife rebuffs, so he enrolls for a procedure where memories of a trip are implanted in his brain. The procedure doesn’t take because *real memories*, perviously suppressed, are awoken and Quaid comes to realize he’s actually lived a past life on Mars, as a secret agent. As his earthen life begins to crumble around him, Quaid travels to Mars to gather the truth about his past. He meets Melina, the literal woman of his dreams, and learns of his role in a violent conflict between an industrial mining operation and rebels. Quaid is crossed, and double-crossed, and triple-crossed by everyone (including himself) and must shoot his way to the truth of what’s happening on Mars.
Like a tracker-bug lodged far up a nose, this movie has a good movie hidden inside of it—it just couldn’t be pried out the nostril. I actually get why they remade it, because the sci-fi premise and character drama made for a compelling story (although it sounds like that wasn’t great either). But the dressing, casting, effects, and other accoutrements just don’t hold up. Arnold Schwarzenegger was *particularly* wooden and Arnoldy, in a less-fun way (although his “ARGGHHHHS” are top-notch in this film). The planet’s interior “seedy Gotham meets Cafe ‘80s” setting hasn’t aged well and the exterior shots look like ‘60s Star Trek. But ultimately, the film was entertaining enough to keep my interest. Michael Ironside’s cartoon-evil character Richter was actually a fun villain and Jerry Goldsmith’s main title/dream theme was melodic and driving. So yeah—enjoyable, but better done in “Memento”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Minority Report”, “The Bourne Identity”……….