Hard data:
1990 science fiction/action film.
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside.
Based on the short story We'll Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick.
Overview:
It's the
near-distant future.
Humans have colonized
Mars,
Venus and
Saturn. The political situation on
Earth is still tense, and Earth is dependant on the sale of vital
metals from Mars. Enter
Douglas Quaid (
Schwarzenegger). Quaid is a decent sort of guy. He has a construction job, a beautiful
wife (if you like
Sharon Stone; I never could stand her), and a suspiciously nice apartment. The really odd thing about him, though, is his strange fascination with the planet Mars. He has a strange
subconscious urge to go there, but he can't convince his wife to come along, so he decides to do the next best thing and go to a company called
Rekall, which will artificially
implant the
memories of a trip to Mars in his mind for him.
This doesn't work out very well. Quaid ends up having a psychotic episode while the memories are being implanted, and is eventually dumped by the nervous doctors at Rekall not too far from his home. Through various strange events, Quaid learns that he is in fact a secret agent for the oppressive Martian government, who has decided to go over to the Resistance. A number of Matrix-esque mindfucks ensue, leading to a reasonably satisfying conclusion.
A sequel was in the works, due out in 2001 and directed by Jonathan Frakes (William Riker of Star Trek: The Next Generation), but it never materialized.