Featured Posts

Aug 15, 2009

Random thought: Really, Arnold?

I'm just sitting here watching Total Recall and the famous "Two weeks" scene is on, where Arnold's Douglas Quaid returns to Mars. Being a highly sought-after fugitive, he arrives wearing an intricate woman's head mask thing and a muumuu, so as to disguise his large frame.

He's asked a few questions by a customs agent (of sorts) regarding fruit being brought to the red planet and how long he's planning on staying. For reasons unbeknownst to us (read: major plot hole), his high tech mask/head that's also a bomb is inexplicably programmed to speak no more than two words - "two weeks," so that when that question about the fruit comes up, his answer makes him highly suspicious.

He repeats the line ad nauseum, more or less shorting out the entire mechanism, which leads us to the part where it's used as a bomb.

Being the forgiving moviegoer, I'm more than willing to overlook the retarded "two weeks" plot hole. However, as his costume malfunctions and he's repeating those words, drawing the attention of Michael Ironside's Richter, the following medium-range shot is shown:


Um, am I the only one seriously disturbed by this image? (If you'd like, click on it for a much larger view.)

I can understand it when a director dresses the extras around the main character in drab clothing and/or has the lead in a royal blue or fire engine red so as to have them stand out, but why the hell would director Paul Verhoeven allow Quaid - again, highly wanted fugitive - to arrive on Mars wearing a golden muumuu amidst a sea of travelers and customs agents wearing nothing but shades of gray, black and beige?

Douglas Quaid might have had his memory wiped, but he ain't stupid.


8 people have chosen wisely: on "Random thought: Really, Arnold?"

wiec? said...

my question for Quaid is : where did you get that dress? it's awful and those shoes and that coat. jeeeeez!

sorry i was watching Airplane.

JLG said...

Total Recall is crazy confusing - and this is what you're hung up on?

Paul Arrand Rodgers said...

I'm guessing it's the same reason why tourists show up to resorts in third world nations with awesome clothes while the people who work there go home in rags.

Thou shalt not question Total Recall.

Fletch said...

wiec? - the tag clearly reads MARShalls.

(Wow, I wasn't even trying for that horrible joke; I just typed Marshalls and then noticed that the planet was in the name. Sometimes, you just can't ignore signs like that.)

JLG - what could be more confusing than muumuus and poorly-programmed speech-responders? :D


Paul - Ahnuld ain't no damn tourist; he's a top secret super agent with a date to meet a sleazy, demure, athletic Rachel Ticotin.

Farzan said...

aww, sweet memories. I still watch Total Recall from time to time. Its just one of those movies that I can watch a billion times and never get tired of it. That scene is kind of disturbing, buy only because the womans face looks pretty creepy.

Paul Arrand Rodgers said...

But he's in disguise, like a robot with a broken voice chip. Too bad he didn't have Sirius satellite radio installed in that bad boy.

Fletch said...

Hell yes, Farzan. Total Recall is a very rewatchable flick. Never gets old.

Paul - I can buy the broken voice chip. Crappy manufacturing - though what else would we expect int he 26th century or whenever it takes place - but understandable. However, dressing to stand out is just a fatal mistake. Hell, he/she is already a gigantic woman - at least blend in...

Paul Arrand Rodgers said...

Well, my only other comeback is that he wanted to stand out, because it's the memory programming package he bought. "For the memory of a lifetime" doesn't end with "blend in, blend in, blend iiiiiin."