Scene analysis of TOTAL RECALL escalator / subway chase (by Rob Ager)
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- čas přidán 25. 05. 2022
- Arguably the best scene in the movie, the ultra-violent escalator / subway chase has a lot going on. Film analysis by Rob Ager. More in depth studies of TOTAL RECALL and other classic movies at ...
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Total Recall is just a great action film, it reminds me of a simpler, much happier time when blockbusters were actually entertaining but with a degree of depth below the surface.
Its one of the overlooked Arnold movies that is completely awesome. Why on gods green Earth did anyone think they could make a better version of this movie or Robocop just stop.
I wish I could finish watching it but its so bad. I wish I could put my finger on what it is that turns me off about it. I love Arnolds action flicks but TR is just not on my list.
I love the guy who dies multiple times but still braces himself for his fall when tossed. That man is a legend!
the bullets make him sleepy, but they wake him back up when first entering for secondary hits - and of course being tossed head first wakes him up again.
he just needs a nights rest and back to work he can go.
Micheal Ironside's face is just incredible. The perfect villain, everytime!
"Rasczak's roughnecks"
His*_VOICE_* too.
If thats his real name, even that sounds like the perfect villain.
@@usa-1129 The One and Only Splinter Cell
Escalator human shield guy: I think what's most significant is that this guy appears to be an almost exact double of Quaid - very similar height, hair, clothing, and masculine face. It is very fitting thematically as this scene is when Quaid is reborn from an irrelevant "nobody", and he's like a shadow of this drone body which is killed and discarded, this is like his old life as a nobody being shed from which he emerges as the heroic figure. Look at that human shield guy as being symbolic of Quaid's old life and it all makes sense.
Interesting
What drugs are you taking son?
.. Good call
I don’t know but I want some!
Put the pot down fella
I really miss movies from this Era, especially Arnold's. I have all of His on DVD. Hollywood seems incapable of making fun movies to watch anymore.
+Doc Zoidberg
I would agree, until last night when I saw "Top Gun: Maverick." That movie blew my freaking mind!! :D
Incapable by choice it seems. A shame
@@Fluoride_Jones I will check it out. Tom seems to understand movie making. Thanks for the tip.
@@newdefsys You hit the nail on the head, NeDeS! Good films that don't preach a message that no one wants to hear are few and far between these days.
@@DocZoidberg549 He really does. If you like amazing action and stunts, you'll freaking love it. Plus, I have to admit I'm a sucker for all the callbacks to the original film. :)
The escalator sequence is akin to the ED 209 scene in Robocop when Mr. Kenny gets obliterated in the office. Paul Ver Hooven directed the best action movies.
Paul Ver Hooven first used that overkill gunshot scene ten years before Robocop in a Movie he directed called "Soldier of Orange" (1977). The context is a soldier is getting firing squad death penalty and when they shoot him it's same shot as when Ed 209 let's loose in Robocop.
The Human Shield moment always reminded me of the ED-209 malfunction massacre from Robocop (also Verhoeven, who else)
Same here. Both those unfortunate schmos get bullet after bullet long after they’re dead.
I love how in old action movies you have to make a mean face when you fire a gun.
What shocked me was how the human shield jumps at Richter after being riddled with bullets...
The scanner not picking up the bug in his skull theory really hit me like an epiphany. If it was intentional it’s brilliant.
The backpack guy was temporarily stunned that Arnie was behind him on the escalator. He was about to ask for an autograph until "SPLATTT"
Haha
The protagonist using an innocent victim "White guy" as bullet shield is what set this scene apart...and elevated it.
As an American, subways in my city allow guns but not food.
There was a court case at some point so I guess somebody had to have contacted security, but you see people with guns on them sometimes if you ride the subway.
Just before the scene ends, when Richter is indiscriminately shooting up the moving train, and right before he screams in frustration at Quaid getting away, one of his rounds certainly seems to hit a passenger standing on the other (inside) side of one of the sliding double-doors of the train-car. I only noticed that because you showed each shot a zillion times in this video!
One thing about Quaid's tracker not showing up on the big security screen: the actual tracker -- once it is removed from his head through his left nostril -- is that it is inside a spherical shell that splits apart into two hemispheres. Perhaps that spherical shell around the tracker makes it invisible to the huge X-ray-type security screen, but the portable scanner device his pursuers use are designed to detect the tracking device implant.
I've always felt that the entire adventure was all in his mind, and that he's been in the Recall facility the whole time. I just don't see Mars getting a breathable atmosphere quickly enough for him and the chick he's with to not suffocate completely. There are other clues, especially when he's at Recall but before he begins undergoing the procedure to implant his 'vacation' adventure.
When I was younger watching, I always had inner sense of sympathy for the innocent man getting used as a shield scene on the escalators. That part always stuck with me and still does lol I remember feeling back then was this man didn't deserve it but perhaps that's the human souls reaction and somewhat strangemy little mind was already making moral decisions in what's good and what's bad, then some times bad things happen to good people. Excellent video brother. Love these videos.
The irony of this scene is that if Quaid really was inside his “vacation” all along then brutality of the deaths like the guy on the escalator doesn’t come off as violent as it appears if he’s not real anyway.
In the early 90s they'd have HBO and other movie channels for free sometimes to get you to sign up. I was like 8 or 9, and this came on. Mom said it would be too violent, but my dad thought it'd be edited for TV.
I snuck back into my older sister's room and put it on there, telling my parents I was gonna go play with toys or whatever...when this scene came on, I knew this is what it meant when a movie was rated R.
Total Recall is a very intelligent, action packed and humorous movie. No other movie in recent memory for me has been able to balance all those elements have them work all so well.
Great analysis Rob - spot on with the music score observations as well. Shame more modern action scores don't have this detail to them.
The music is immaculate. Perfert tension, and composition.
Agreed - one of Goldsmith's better film scores. BTW, I think it has echoes of Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War" - an amazing classical piece.
When Arnie hides and the camera pans back with Ironside in the lead there's a shadow of someone we don't see who then runs with the bad guys.
Fantastic movie, saw it on its release and another great analysis video, nice on Rob.
Hi Rob, I don't usually leave comments on CZcams, but I just wanted to let you know I've really enjoyed watching your videos. You clearly know a lot about films and film making. Total Recall is a movie I've watched many many times since the '80s and I've never made a connection with Indiana Jones. The music in this scene always reminded me of the music in First Blood when Rambo is escaping from the police station and into the woods. Best wishes Paul
Thanks paul
Really interesting video. I love total recall. I never noticed that only the gun is noticed in the scanner and not the tracker in his brain. I think it's a nod to say it's not real and all in his mind. Brilliant film!.
I wish I could get through it, I feel as though Im missing out on a great movie.
this scene always reminded me of a early video game, flat surfaces, hard sharp angles...back ground features [here as depicted by people] that barely react to what is happening right next to them...frantic music and violence galore...fun times for a few quarters spent...
All of your videos deserve 10x more views on the merit to your work and how much more interest/appreciation it creates in the movies and things you analyze.
I am really drawn to the narative of both movies.
the idea of installing memories could effectively shift your reality
I was the same age as you and had the same reaction to the escalator scene, particularly Arnies's 'meat shield' I really felt for the poor guy.
13:35 it's entirely possible that she fired the last 16 rounds of a 1500-round clip and then reloaded with another
My mom and I saw this at the theater. I was more sad about the goldfish than any of the people or mutants.
seeing and looking at the mexican subway was and is always amazing
good analysis. the escalator scene was one of the highlights of the movie.
I love Total Recall. This scene kicks ass it doesn't mess about.
I love this movie, it's one of my favorites.
The advertisement for a real trip proves this isn't a memory implant; no way they're gonna include advertisements for their competitors in their product.
To understand why 95% of Total Recall is set in Douglas Quaid's mind you must listen to the first ten minutes and how Douglas or Arnie's trouble marriage and his unfulfilling life is the reason Arnie's character becomes trapped inside his dream world
It comes off really like a futuristic GTA gaming experience with all the map trackers etc. Even the character creation at the Rekall center is straight up modern video game stuff.
Awesome Rob. Great work as always
3:56 "Goldberg". Just point it out rob. I'm also a massive critic of modern "film scores" and a huge fan of proper film scores from back in the day. I notice you called him "Goldberg" here instead of Goldsmith. Love you work friend!
Ver Hoeven sure has a style all of his own when it comes to gunshot wounds. They're very distinct and repeated across his 3 most famous movies. On ammunition pedantry - It always struck me in RoboCop how much ammunition was in Murphy's super-charged handgun. I think in the mill scene when Lois returns his weapon to him you actually see him loading a hilariously small magazine into it given how many bullets that thing could dispense.
6:47
I think the super advanced secret agency from mars wouldn't use a bug that would be detected by scans the person goes through everyday
I'll have to give this film a try.
The escalator victim also appears later in the movie, this time as one of the Mars security/immigration personnel, this time standing behind Quaid disguised as the "Two Weeks Lady" when the mask starts to malfunction. Incidental use of the same stunt man (Steven Lambert) ? Or a subtle hint by Verhoven with deeper meaning?
Ah, I seem to recall that now that you mention it. Very interersting.
@@robag555 He also performed as the Village people-esque cowboy in "Revenge of the Ninja" that you previously analysed.
@@OldBrokeWhiteGuy Haha, the guy with the moustache?
@@robag555 Yes, with the 'tache and fluffy white cowboy hat.
@@OldBrokeWhiteGuy Oh, Steven Lambert. He was in plenty of action films in little bit parts and stunt doubles. He was funny as the cowboy 🤣
This was some awesome analysis, TY Rob,
Hi Rob. Great video as always. I think the ads at 18:00 about real trips could be interpreted as key evidence to prove that the experience is real. The reason is if it is implanted as part of an ego trip then why Recall, a dream-implanting company, would implant a memory that encourages real trips. The comparison of the two TV screens matches Quad's recalling process, prompting Quad to recall the previous matters and return to reality.
As for that Melina appears on the recall computer screen, I tend to understand that that shot is recording the semi-dream state of Quad. Note that Quad dream about Melina before going to Recall at the right beginning of the film.
There is also talk of a deleted scene that she tells him she previously was a model for Rekall.
Some of this is just continuity. I've always thought it was real...because there are cut aways to other characters. If it was 'all in his head' they should have stuck with him once he went to Recall.
Great work as always - I clicked “Like” before it even started up :D
I recently watched TR on blu ray for first time in ages and spotted a funny goof. When he’s confronted by his work friend after freaking out at Recall, they corner him against a “concrete” wall. When he breaks free and kicks the guy who sounds like Danny Devito the entire concrete wall visibily moves. Try and spot it next time you watch.
I have an ear for reused soundbites in films and Quaids pistol is the same sound as the pistols used by the bad guys in the drugs factory shootout in Robocop.
Great timing, my girlfriend and I just rewatched Total Recall last week.
When I was a kid I thought the subway shootout was really shocking.
There is too many quotables in this film - I wish I had 3 hands, get your ass to Mars, 2 weeks, 2 weeeeeeks, Brunette... Sleazy.
The film is great fun.
see you at the party Richter
Verhoeven is the master of the squib!
15:53 another element of the jump through the train window is that the window is the same proportions as a TV screen, and it's as if Quaid is jumping _into_ the screen, which symbolically is what he has just done by entering the dream/fantasy. As you say here "his adventure has an audience" (referring to the crowd of commuters). He's leapt through the screen (kinda like the plot of Last Action Hero when the kid has a magic ticket which allows him to pass into the movie world by going into the screen) into the new reality.
This is similarly used in the scanner scene: The large black x-ray scanner is like a movie screen, and just like the train window he smashes it and jumps through it. You could also say the scanner also shows a different, hidden layer of reality and so fits the theme of the film of these different layers of reality (real/fantasy, Quaid on the surface/Hauser underneath). Again, Quaid is jumping from one reality to the next, which is what his character has just done by going to those brain butchers at Recall.
it's also roughly the same size and dimensions of ... 2001's monolith :O
Like Alice through the looking glass.
Total recall is my favourite Schwarzenegger action movie.
Have you noticed Verhoeven likes to use extremely generous explosive blood packets for when someone gets shot? Its like they’re being shot with grizzly bear jaws. Its the same in Robocop. Ive never seen the kind of bullet mutilation like in that movie. Just crater sized chunks of flesh being punched out from their bodies. Its almost cartoonish.
Yes!
That poor bastard that first gets wasted by ED-209 is forever etched in my memory.
Brutal and brilliant.
@@danjonmills Yeah that's the scene. I remember watching that with my uncle (the cool uncle) and I was in shock watching it and I looked over and he was convulsing with laughter. He got it- I didn't.
Filmed at Chabacano Metro station in Mexico City!
‘Rapid percussion’
Like impending gunfire
Best human shield academy award.
I snuck downstairs while my dad was watching TV late at night, this film came on and I begged him to let me stay up and see it. He let me, but for years, I almost wished he didn’t, this is a brutal and straight up bizarre film to see as a kid.
If you pause the video at 17.31 you'll see the most fake Arnie stunt double you ever seen, jumping through the train window 😂😂
Rob always delivers
Damn, had to come across this at the end of my lunch break. Guess I'll return at 3
@3:26 I thought the score was by Basil Poledouris from a memory of the credits when I saw it but I checked IMDB and it did say Jerry Goldsmith. Weird, because the percussion motif in the credits sounds just like Poledouris.
The idea to have a shooting in a subway station full of people is in itself extremly ruthless
Mexico City s subway system design so futuristic ,you can't find second one like that anywhere in the world
Notice the round, red flashing alarms on the walls when Quaid crashes through the scanner? Like the bug, the tracking device image, the throbbing circles around the scanned image of the gun...
Good gosh, Total Recall Sharon Stone still melts my pants off.
some fun random red circle call-outs I noticed in your edit:
--multiple camera shots at the scanner scene have the flashing red alarm in frame.
--a odd red dot on the light fixture above the escalator in a couple shots
--not a circle but the sign at the top of the platform stairs he runs up is red
--"no firearms" circle when he jumps through the subway window
--mars in the ad he watches
--out of focus red circle when he smirks to himself
Another amazing movie!!!! One of my favorites!!! And damn, Sharon Stone!!!!!🤤🤤🤤
Was originally much more violent and bloody before it was cut down for its rating in the States. The unrated version has never been released.
Whenever Richter gets out of bed in the morning, the first thing he does is weigh himself on his scale
The scanner didn't detect the bug because it was top-secret government hardware meant to slip past exactly such a scan.
Childhood memories god I miss the 90s.
Sending love your way Rob! Awesome stuff as always!
I don’t know if I saw somebody running past me with a gun, I’d just let them run by without making a fuss.
great
TOTAL RECALL escalator death scenes reminds you of Terminator 2 gallery scene when guy in hallway soaks up the bullets. Plus this death scene it was survival at all costs for Quaid who had unlucky meat shield human man save him.
From what I can tell, concerning the guy playing the human shield, he is the only person wearing a backpack. Why do you think that is?
Good point. Maybe to suggest the bullets wouldn't pass right through and his quaid because there's backpack contents in the way. Or maybe something to do with the special effect squibs - hiding the bulging chest area.
The story of the meatshield backpack is something they told... I think they added a backpack to this guy so that when he was grabbed by Schwarzenegger he wouldn't touch anything on meatshield actor Steven's bodies chest or torso due to the amount of explosives which the ones this guy was wearing. These squibs could blow Schwarzenegger fingers off. A very cynical violent scene but excellently trained and filmed.
I was online 9 when I seen this film for the first time an that violent escalator scene really shocked me, an still shocks me to this day
They could never make a film like this one ever again. A hero grabs a incident civilian as a meat shield 🛡 👏 love it!!
The great Paul VerHoeven
He was fucking great!
Interestingly modern 9mm pistols routinely hold 17+1 or even slightly more rounds. The “+1” being a bullet already loaded in the chamber and the other 17 in the magazine. There is currently a growing trend with several manufacturers creating their weapons to hold a newish round called the 30 Super Carry, which is slightly smaller than a 9mm and therefore allows a few more rounds to be squeezed into traditional magazines and pistols for nearly identical ballistic qualities. There are also already pistols from Kel-Tec that use a beefed up .22 caliber round and will hold about 30 rounds in the gun. So 26 rounds in a near future pistol is not entirely out of the question. Gun Nerd signing off. Great review as always Rob!
Escalator scene was insanely violent.
It really stuck with me when I saw it.
These subtleties were list on me. I was just OMG blood!
Running man was 1987 along with Robocop and Predator while Predator 2 was 1990 famous penthouse voodoo murder scene
Do you not think this whole train station area Looks a bit like the reactor room from Mars? The steam going up the vent in the background made me think that
"Get your ass to Mars." 😎
Great video as always 🔥
The scanner moment is about genetics. The gun Quaid carries through the scanner is symbolically a Y chromosome. He stands out because he is a real man, capable of breaking through the black mirror and escaping the state apparatus.
Among other things, TR is about masculinity and it's manipulation. The genetic aspect is hinted at by it's preoccupation with blood and physical beauty/deformity (the triple-titted woman, the mutant resistance, etc). The heroism of Quaid is due to his hyper masculine actions (he jackhammers with his phallus, unloads his weapon, etc). Ultimately he PENETRATES THE ILLUSION. His dick really works, is what I'm sayin'
I don't know if counting shots in an 1980's action flick is a good indicator of anything. It's a trope done to death in the 80's and 90's. Granted it can be used as a means to comment on the story (i.e. the hero is in a fantasy world because he has an unlimited supply of bullets) but not on it's own. It should be juxtaposed with a similar scene in the movies 'real world' in which there would be a need to change magazines after shooting off a number of rounds. Then we could directly tie those two facts together and say without a doubt that the seemingly unlimited amount of bullets in the heroes gun in the escalator chase scene has meaning. I'm more inclined to believe that it was what it was - a movie trope without additional meaning.
Love your work btw Rob. I learn something new with your each video. Cheers mate.
Oh. And the gun Quaid is seen shooting during the escalator chase is a Goncz GA/Hi-Tech 9. A .45 cal gun with magazines holding 10 or 20 bullets respectively.
You ever thought of doing analyses of Andrei Tarkovsky films? Andrei Rublev has a lot of hidden subtext about how the Soviet regime was oppressive to artistic expression and the pursuit of invention and to him on a personal level (which is why he wanted so badly to direct a biopic about a man that he shares a first name with).
The number of times Arnie gets hit in the balls during the film made me wince as well
I "recall" Sharon Stone getting him a good one near the start.
Really good and interesting analysis. I love your commentary on these type of movies.
Those are Goncz pistols, they had double stacked 16 20 and 30 round magazines
I miss movies where the hero's used human shields, you just don't see that anymore 😥
they really dont make em like this anymore, im so sad
I have one critique for you: when you review/speak about action movies you always seem to mention people dying without being shot in the head. Marksman are trained to shoot the bigger target, the chest, and noting the placement of shots on the men above the elevator he shoots pretty much every single one of them in the heart. They're as dead as dead gets.
The subway's simple, brutalist architecture with its unpainted walls, girder ceilings, and monochromatic colors suggests a simulation as well: They're cutting corners on that scene's graphics.
This movie to me is amazing if it's all a dream and we are meant to doubt it.. I know,but at the end of the day if all these adventures are real it's not as memorable
Awesome analysis!!
Although the version shown in this video is clearly uncut, I'm pretty sure that this scene & others were cut down (censored) upon the movies release, both in cinema's & VHS. The BBFC were shitting the bed around that time. those fucks!!
From what I "recall" this was the version I saw on cinema here in UK upon release. Not sure about other countries.
the location is at the time a brand new metro station in mexico that was used was so hot to film,the air conditioning had not been installed and the sweat on the actors was so much that their shirts were changed often...
Quality Film! Paul Verhoeven is an Underatted Director!
Was it All A Dream? Personally I Hope Not! But there's Loads of Hints it is ie When Quad was at Can't remember the name of the place! Anyway choosing her etc, Sun on Mars n Being a Secret Agent etc! Cheers Rob 🍻
Great Annalyss Again!
and lastly the passengers on the subway train just return to normal after being shot at and by Arnold just standing there
A lot of the extras in that scene must have been stunt performers considering how much they get manhandled by Arnold and the goons. They're made to look like normal average people but in reality they're stuntmen with specialized physical skills, kind of like Quaid himself.