Total Recall (1990)

[Silver Nemesis]

Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall narrowly edges out Terminator 2 as my favourite Schwarzenegger film. I didn't like the movie all that much when I first saw it during my teens. Back then, I was into more grounded action movies where the heroes suffered and constantly had their backs against the wall. Movies like Die Hard, Aliens and First Blood. Of course from an adult perspective none of those films are truly realistic either, but they seemed comparatively so to my teenage self. By contrast, Total Recall was one of those one-man-army flicks where the hero breezes through every obstacle without much difficulty. It was only on repeated viewings in my twenties that I really came to appreciate and love this film. It's been described as the thinking man's action movie, and with good reason. Strip away the action packed veneer and there's a layered thought-provoking story underneath.

The film explores themes of the reality principle, solipsism, identity confusion and mnemonic influence. The main character is constantly questioning whether the events he is experiencing are real or merely the product of an artificial memory implant. He doesn't even know who he really is: Quaid or Hauser? What constitutes either of these identities? Is each of them merely the sum of their memories, or do motive and moral factors define them? Total Recall is one of those films that invites interpretation rather than dictating it. The viewer is asked to decide whether the events they're witnessing are really happening or merely a dream. Total Recall is also one of the earliest examples of the red pill symbol being used as an image of an individual's desire to awaken from a false reality.

From the New Brutalist architecture of Mexico City to the cyberpunk fusion of neon, rock and metal displayed on the Martian colony, this movie's production design contributes to the harsh and ultra-masculine atmosphere that defines its tone. It's a tone that is perfectly suited to Arnold's screen presence, and I like to think of this as Schwarzenegger's answer to space adventure franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek. It's got all the key ingredients you would want from a classic Arnold movie – r-rated violence, explosions, one-liners ("Consider that a divorce" being my favourite Arnold line ever), machismo, beautiful female co-stars and cool stunts – but it also has all the classic ingredients of a sci-fi flick: interplanetary travel, futuristic vehicles, alien mutants, hi-tech weapons and gadgets. The depiction of Mars is one of the most effectively realised alien worlds I've ever seen in a sci-fi movie. It looks incredible and is both beautiful and terrifying.

The practical special effects by ILM and Rob Bottin are mind blowing and deservedly won the Special Achievement Award at the 1991 Oscars. I've always felt that the early-to-mid nineties represented the pinnacle of special effects, before the overuse of digital animation became commonplace. Total Recall ranks alongside T2 and Jurassic Park as one of the most impressive special effects films of that era. Jerry Goldsmith's score is also good, and there's a particularly effective leitmotif he uses throughout the film to punctuate moments of uncertainty whenever Quaid is questioning the reality of what is happening. Overall, the film looks and sounds fantastic.

The casting is perhaps the most contentious aspect of the movie, while also being one of its greatest strengths. The original script presented Douglas Quaid as an unremarkable everyman, and the revelation that he is actually a superspy was meant to come as an unexpected twist. But when you've got someone like Arnold, who is clearly already a superman, you lose that everyman quality and the character arc that goes with it. The same goes for the casting of Sharon Stone as Lori, Quaid's everywoman housewife. Stone was in her prime when she shot this film, and she and Arnold look too much like a glamorous Hollywood power couple to be taken seriously as an ordinary blue-collar husband and wife. Arnold offered his own interesting response to this particular criticism, arguing that it made his character more interesting to have him be physically powerful but mentally compromised; in effect making him an unstable super weapon that's unsure of its target. Personally, I like the performances by Schwarzenegger and Stone, and the film clearly wouldn't have been the same without them. Sure, they don't look like the ordinary couple described in the original script, but what they bring to their roles in place of that – namely characters who appear almost perfect on the outside but are deeply damaged and unstable on the inside – is equally interesting in its own way.

Now let's address the film's central question: is what happens real or a dream? I read the short story on which the film is based – 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale' by Philip K. Dick – a long time ago, but it only really resembles the first ten minutes of the movie, up to where Quaid goes to Rekall, and it doesn't offer any additional insight as to whether or not the events of the film are real. There seem to be three basic interpretations of the movie:

1) Everything that happens after Quaid goes to Rekall is a dream/fantasy resulting from the memory implant.

2) Everything that happens is real.

3) It starts off as a dream created by the implant, but then Quaid suffers a schizoid embolism and gets lobotomised.

I'll try to summarise the key points supporting each of these views. If you can think of any others, by all means share them.

Arguments to support the 'it was all a dream' interpretation:

•   Prior to the memory implant, McClane tells Quaid that the ego trip will allow him to kill the bad guys, get the girl and save the planet Mars. This is exactly what happens.

•   An image of Melina appears on the screen at Rekall when the technicians are calibrating Quaid's ideal woman. An image of the Martian reactor also appears on the screen, even though its existence is meant to be secret at that point. This occurs before Quaid receives the memory implant.

•   One of the technicians at Rekall refers to the ego trip as the 'Blue sky on Mars' programme before implanting it. Quaid's story ends with him looking up at a blue sky on Mars, suggesting that this was all part of the predetermined narrative.

•   The spy fantasy that plays out is too over the top to be real. Quaid is repeatedly shot at and beaten, and yet aside from the scar on his forearm he sustains no major injuries over the course of the film. The over-the-top gore is also evidence of it being unreal, as Quaid is able to singlehandedly massacre endless hordes of bad guys with relative ease.

Arguments to support the 'it was all real' interpretation:

•   Quaid dreams about Melina before he goes to Rekall. Her face only appears on the monitor after Quaid had been administered the anaesthetic, and could therefore be a projection of the dream state he is entering as he loses consciousness.

•   The story is not entirely told from Quaid's perspective. The viewer witnesses events that Quaid does not, such as the scene where the staff at Rekall decide to erase his memory and refund his money, or the conversations between Cohaagen and Richter. The fact Quaid himself does not witness these events, but the audience does, implies that they really happened.

•   The ego trip begins with the technicians at Rekall erasing Quaid's memory without his consent. It seems unlikely that the corporation would implicate themselves in such illegal activity if these events were a scripted component of an artificial narrative. Similarly, a scripted ego trip would be unlikely to entail Quaid murdering Harry and Lori. Once the ego trip was over, and he saw that they were still alive, he would know the memories were false. Therefore it seems likely their deaths were not part of a scripted narrative.

•   Lori and Harry both attempt to dissuade Quaid from undergoing a memory implant before he goes to Rekall. It's possible they do this simply out of concern for his health, but it's also possible they do it out of fear his memory cap will be compromised.

Arguments to support the 'Quaid gets lobotomised' interpretation:

•   This argument predicates on the 'it was all a dream' theory being true. What we're seeing can't be part of the intended ego trip, since we see Quaid slaughter his co-worker and wife. There's no way he could resume his former life after doing these things. This suggests that Quaid has indeed suffered a schizoid embolism, and that his brain is corrupting the ego trip to replace the fictitious villains with real people in his acquaintance. In effect, his subconscious is hijacking the ego trip to express its dissatisfaction with his former life.

•   If this interpretation is true, then everything Dr. Edgemar says to Quaid at the hotel on Mars is also true. The bead of sweat Quaid sees on Edgemar's face could be a projection of his subconscious desire to remain in the dream. This would mean that the Lori who appears in the hotel room is the real Lori. At least until Quaid spits out the red pill, whereupon he rejects the reality of their marriage and she is replaced by the homicidal psycho Lori from his free-form delusion. It is only then, after choosing to remain in the delusion, that he is finally able to kill the evil Lori and permanently sever himself from the reality of the life they shared. If this interpretation is true, then the real Lori and Dr. Edgemar are alive and well at Rekall.

•   Dr. Edgemar tells Quaid that if he remains in the dream "The walls of reality will come crashing down. One minute you'll be the saviour of the rebel cause, and right after that you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy. You'll even have fantasies about alien civilisations, as you requested. But in the end, back on Earth you'll be lobotomised." Everything Edgemar says here comes true. The wall of Quaid's hotel room comes crashing down as soon as he spits out the red pill. He then discovers that he is really Hauser, Cohaagen's best friend, before exploring the ruins of an alien civilisation. The fact Edgemar knew all of these events would transpire supports the idea that they were scripted components of the ego trip.

•   The light that appears during the final shot symbolises the end of the dream as Quaid is lobotomised.


What does everyone else think? Are there any other fans of this movie on the site? If so, do you think the story was real or merely the results of the implanted memory?

[The Dark Knight]

The Terminator (1984)
Commando (1985)
Predator (1987)
The Running Man (1987)
Total Recall (1990)
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
T2: Judgement Day (1991)
True Lies (1994)
Eraser (1996)
Jingle All The Way (1996)

What a run. During this period he was the definitive macho action man. And to be honest, nobody comes close to this day. Dwayne Johnson can try but it's just not the same. Arnold's career may have faded these days, but during his peak he was a perfect storm.

I like Total Recall and will formulate my thoughts on it. But for now?

one-liners ("Consider that a divorce" being my favourite Arnold line ever)

SCREW YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!

[thecolorsblend]

The Terminator (1984)
Commando (1985)
Predator (1987)
The Running Man (1987)
Total Recall (1990)
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
T2: Judgement Day (1991)
True Lies (1994)
Eraser (1996)
Jingle All The Way (1996)

What a run. During this period he was the definitive macho action man. And to be honest, nobody comes close to this day. Dwayne Johnson can try but it's just not the same. Arnold's career may have faded these days, but during his peak he was a perfect storm.

I like Total Recall and will formulate my thoughts on it. But for now?

one-liners ("Consider that a divorce" being my favourite Arnold line ever)

SCREW YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!

I never figured out what Johnson was looking for. Time was, he had perfectly positioned himself to be Arnold's heir. This was around the time of The Rundown, pretty much. That movie gave him some pretty good action movie star cred. And then... nothing. It was like he suddenly decided he didn't want that career or something.

In anything you do, you have to commit to the bit. The stars aligned for Johnson to be the next big thing in action movies. And hell, he might've even given straight forward action movies a few extra years of life. But as it stands, he never really made a play for the throne. Never consistently and never wholeheartedly. Stallone and Arnold both made the occasional comedy; Oscar (among others) for the former and Twins (among others) for the latter. But those were always understood to be side gigs.

Anyway. I'm derailing the thread.

I haven't seen TR all the way through since I was a kid. I'll give it another look at some point and pop back in here. I honored my word with the Alien films, didn't I?

[Silver Nemesis]

The Terminator (1984)
Commando (1985)
Predator (1987)
The Running Man (1987)
Total Recall (1990)
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
T2: Judgement Day (1991)
True Lies (1994)
Eraser (1996)
Jingle All The Way (1996)

Great list. I'd also add Conan the Barbarian (1982), Red Heat (1988) and Twins (1988).

I'll never be able to fully commit to a side in the whole Arnie vs. Sly debate, because they're both legends in my eyes. But what I will say is that I think Sly had the best franchises with Rocky and Rambo, while Arnold had the best standalone movies. Sly had some decent standalone films too – Nighthawks (1981), Cobra (1986), Tango & Cash (1989), Cliffhanger (1993), Demolition Man (1993) and Cop Land (1997) being the best IMO – but overall Arnold's were better. Terminator 1 & 2, Predator and Total Recall have all aged beautifully and are now regarded as legit classics of sci-fi cinema. The closest Sly had to anything like that in his heyday was Demolition Man, which is good, but not on the same level as something like T2 or Total Recall. It's the Rocky and Rambo movies that put his filmography on more or less equal footing with Arnold's. But take those away, and Arnold's filmography is clearly superior.

I think the reason for this is that early in his career Sly established himself as an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a competent director, and this led to him interfering when he appeared in other people's films. For example, he famously had Rutger Hauer's role cut down in Nighthawks because he felt the villain was upstaging him, and he later did the same thing with James Woods' character in The Specialist (1994). That kind of ego is a red flag to many top directors. Arnold had an ego too, but when it came to making movies he followed direction and did what he was told. Paul Verhoeven has described him as being amenable and easy to direct on the set of Total Recall. That's why Arnold got to work with many of the top action directors of that era: Paul Verhoeven, John Milius, Walter Hill, James Cameron and John McTiernan. Sly worked with Renny Harlin and Richard Donner, but for the most part he was stuck with lesser directors during his prime years. I suppose that's why he had to become so self-reliant in taking charge of the Rocky and Rambo series.

The flipside of all this is that Stallone's self-reliance empowered him to make a successful comeback in a way that Arnold hasn't quite succeeded in doing. Sly wisely launched his comeback using his two most popular characters, Rocky and Rambo, and he wrote and directed the films himself to guarantee they maintained creative integrity and gave the fans what they wanted. He followed this up with The Expendables (2010) and Escape Plan (2013), two new IPs which once again gave audiences what they wanted by pairing him up with Arnold and other action heroes of their vintage. Since then Sly's gone on to win a Golden Globe and receive an Academy Award nomination, and recently he's been getting work with popular directors like Ryan Coogler and James Gunn. For a man his age, Stallone's career is in a very good place right now.

The same sadly is not true of Arnold. His comeback got off to a good start with The Last Stand (2013) and Escape Plan, but what he really needed to do was follow Sly's example and capitalise on the popularity of one of his most iconic roles. He backed the wrong horse by picking the Terminator. That franchise was already badly soiled by time Schwarzenegger returned to it. Instead the character he should have focused on is Conan. The 1982 film ended with an epilogue depicting an older King Conan sitting on his throne while a voiceover promised audiences that this tale would also be told.

There's a King Conan screenplay that's been floating around Hollywood for years. Arnold should have prioritised that instead of the lame Terminator sequels he appeared in. Conan would have capitalised on the renewed interest in high fantasy movies that followed the success of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It also would have cashed in on the popularity of Game of Thrones and could have compensated for the mistakes of the unpopular 2011 Conan reboot. If Arnold had focused his efforts on that instead of the Terminator, I reckon his comeback would have gone very differently.

one-liners ("Consider that a divorce" being my favourite Arnold line ever)

SCREW YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!

Lol. Another classic.

Ronny Cox also has some hilariously evil lines in this movie. I like to think that Cohaagen is the illegitimate son of Dick Jones from RoboCop.

I forgot to mention in my original post that the screenplay for Total Recall was co-written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote Alien (1979).

What a run. During this period he was the definitive macho action man. And to be honest, nobody comes close to this day. Dwayne Johnson can try but it's just not the same. Arnold's career may have faded these days, but during his peak he was a perfect storm.

I never figured out what Johnson was looking for. Time was, he had perfectly positioned himself to be Arnold's heir. This was around the time of The Rundown, pretty much. That movie gave him some pretty good action movie star cred. And then... nothing. It was like he suddenly decided he didn't want that career or something.

In anything you do, you have to commit to the bit. The stars aligned for Johnson to be the next big thing in action movies. And hell, he might've even given straight forward action movies a few extra years of life. But as it stands, he never really made a play for the throne. Never consistently and never wholeheartedly. Stallone and Arnold both made the occasional comedy; Oscar (among others) for the former and Twins (among others) for the latter. But those were always understood to be side gigs.

Whenever I speak to anyone about Dwayne Johnson they invariably say the same thing: he's a decent actor and seems like a nice bloke, but I can't think of a single classic film he's appeared in. I have to concur with this. I'd like to be a fan of his, but he's yet to make a movie I really liked. Successful wrestler-turned-actors usually have at least one classic under their belt. André the Giant had The Princess Bride (1987), Roddy Piper had They Live (1988), Dave Bautista has Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and several other notable movies. But Johnson? I'm not saying he hasn't made any decent movies, because I'm sure he has. But I can't think of any truly classic action films that he's headlined. Not the way Arnold did.

Earlier this year I spoke to someone who is a big wrestling fan, and he told me that Johnson has been carefully cultivating his nice guy public persona because he intends to run for office at some point in the future. If this is true, then it might also explain some of his career choices. He could be avoiding the kind of r-rated violent action movie roles that made Arnold famous because he fears political opponents might use them against him in the future. Or it could be because the Hollywood star system that existed in Arnold's day is now a thing of the past. Big name Hollywood actors aren't the box office draw they used to be, except in certain overseas markets like China.

Nowadays western audiences are less interested in stars than they are in brands such as Marvel and Star Wars. That's one of the reasons we're getting so many shared universe flicks and reboots of familiar stories instead of original standalone movies. Following the failure of Conan the Destroyer (1984), Arnold refused to make any more sequels to his earlier films. He made an exception for The Terminator, but otherwise stuck to his principles. He was a huge box office draw back in the eighties and nineties, and if studios wanted his participation they had to bring an original concept to the table. Western cinema still thrived on creativity in those days, unlike now.

Now I'm really going off topic.

I like Total Recall and will formulate my thoughts on it.

I haven't seen TR all the way through since I was a kid. I'll give it another look at some point and pop back in here. I honored my word with the Alien films, didn't I?

Good. I've got my own take on whether the story is real or a delusion, and whether Quaid gets lobotomised or not, but I'd like to hear some other opinions before sharing my own.

[Azrael]

It's been a while since I last watched or thought about Total Recall, thanks for this in-depth analysis. A true classic and my second favourite by Verhoeven after RoboCop, revisiting it is enjoyable.

Also, among other interesting things to read in this thread, great to see some love towards Conan, Silver Nemesis. The 1982 movie (and its score!) is a true classic in the fantasy genre, and I totally agree he should have picked Conan the King. There's so much they could have done with it.

In recent times there's been quite a few successful productions in a fantasy and/or pseudo-historical setting, it's too bad one of the original and the best characters is still dormant after that 2011 crash. As you say, Arnold himself returning to the role as part of his comeback, would have been perfect.

[Silver Nemesis]

Another advantage to reprising his role as Conan is that the filmmakers wouldn't have had to tiptoe around his age, unlike the last two Terminator movies where the writers had to contrive excuses for why a cyborg looks like a sexagenarian/septuagenarian. The epilogue to the first Conan film implies him to be an older man when he's king, and his present appearance would have been congruous with that idea. Regardless of age, Arnold's still a beast.

A Dark Knight Returns style movie about an aging Conan embarking on his final quest would have been a great project to capitalise on the novelty of Schwarzenegger's return. Unfortunately that currency was squandered. I don't think it'll happen now.

Agreed about Poledouris' score, btw. A stirring blend of Prokofiev and Wagner.

I'll never forget how stoked fans were when Nintendo used it in the first Twilight Princess teaser.

[The Dark Knight]

I gave it thought and settled on this interpretation:

It was all a dream is the easy option, but it seems too straightforward and therefore less mentally stimulating.

I like to think Quiad really was a secret agent. He was having flashbacks to that life, and Recall was an element of control to throw him off the scent and force him to believe those were just dreams. To beat him mentally and not physically.

For Quiad, any real secret agent elements in his life could then be dismissed as his own delusions.

To have the technicians straight up tell him his true reality is actually fantasy is like telling a mentally wiped James Bond he's not really that good, and his dreams are just an impossible 'ego trip'. Melina an the reactor appearing on the screen don't phase me because show someone reality and then call it a lie.

Quiad selects danger and intrigue, because deep down he knows that who he is. The Construction Worker story just doesn't feel right to him. Strangely, accepting the story as presented seems to be more complex than anything else one could extrapolate.

[Silver Nemesis]

Interesting take, TDK. Your interpretation is supported by the opening dream sequence, the bead of sweat on Dr. Edgemar's face, and all the scenes that the viewers witness but Quaid does not. There's also that suspicious look Harry gives Quaid early in the movie after they discuss Rekall. It looks less like an expression of concern for Quaid's wellbeing and more like an expression of anger or frustration that his own job just got more complicated.

I said earlier that the original short story doesn't offer any insight into the film, but that might not be true. IIRC, the main character in the original story really is a secret agent/assassin but only realises this after his trip to Rekall. In that sense, Philip K. Dick's short story could be seen as lending weight to the 'it was all real' interpretation, even though the plot of 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale' is very different from the plot of the movie.

My own take is that Quaid suffers a schizoid embolism and gets lobotomised. My reasoning stems from the clues dropped during the Rekall scene and the fact the story is too chaotic to have been an entirely scripted memory implant. I think it starts out as the so-called 'ego trip', but Quaid's subconscious quickly hijacks the narrative and uses it to liberate him from his former life (by killing his co-worker, killing his wife, leaving Earth, getting the woman of his dreams, discovering that he's someone else entirely, etc). Of course there's still plenty of evidence to disprove this interpretation. For example, if this is true then I can't really explain how Quaid dreamt about Melina before going to Rekall. Part of the brilliance of Total Recall is that it's so intentionally ambiguous. There doesn't appear to be a definitive right or wrong answer. The filmmakers inserted clues to support and contradict each interpretation, thereby allowing each viewer to make up his or her own mind.

Something else that strikes me is Dr. Edgemar referring to Melina as sleazy and demure. He could have inferred she was sleazy from the fact she worked in Venusville, but how did he know she was demure? The only time she demonstrated demureness up till then was during her private conversation with Quaid, which nobody else witnessed. Then again, perhaps Quaid was subconsciously referencing his repressed memories when he described his ideal woman as sleazy and demure. There were also only three options to choose from – demure, aggressive or sleazy – so Edgemar could have simply guessed that those two best described Melina. Come to think of it, aggressive would have fit the bill too. This is yet another clue that can be interpreted different ways.

Schwarzenegger himself comments on the question on page 348 of his 2012 autobiography, though he doesn't commit to an interpretation:

"The story twists and turns. You never know until the very end: did I take this trip? Was I really the hero? Or was it all inside my head, and I'm just a blue-collar jackhammer operator who may be a schizophrenic? Even at the end, you aren't necessarily sure. For me, it connected with the sense I had sometimes that my life was too good to be true."

[The Dark Knight]

Interesting take, TDK. Your interpretation is supported by the opening dream sequence, the bead of sweat on Dr. Edgemar's face, and all the scenes that the viewers witness but Quaid does not. There's also that suspicious look Harry gives Quaid early in the movie after they discuss Rekall. It looks less like an expression of concern for Quaid's wellbeing and more like an expression of anger or frustration that his own job just got more complicated.

I don't have a copy of the movie so I'm basing this analysis/interpretation purely on the script.

Lori: "You were dreaming. It's OK."
This is what she wants Douglas to think. She's not his wife, but someone sent to monitor him.

Lori: "Who is she? What's her name? Tell me."
Douglas: "Lori, I don't believe it. You're jealous of a dream."
This is because it's not a dream. Who is really obsessed about Douglas having Mars dreams? My guess is she's checking to see how accurate his memory is becoming.

Life on Mars is a real thing in this movie, because Douglas is watching the news of "more violence last night on Mars where terrorists demanding independence once again halted extraction of turbine ore."

Lori is described as 'tensely watching the news'. Why would she tense? Worried this is triggering memories for her 'husband'? And she then dismissing the content as "no wonder you have nightmares. You're always watching the news."

Douglas FEELS he is more than what he is. He says so.

Douglas wants to move to Mars. Lori says why not just a trip. This is the key element, in my opinion. He then starts to see adverts promoting memory trips which are 'cheaper, safer and better than the real thing'.

What great timing. Especially if Lori and the people she works for DON'T WANT DOUGLAS PHYSICALLY ON MARS. Because he has already been there, and had his memory erased.

McClane pushes the Saturn memory onto Douglas when he enters the store. Curiously, Lori also pushed this idea onto him previously. Replacing Mars memories with Saturn memories would be even better from their point of view. But Douglas is insistent on Mars.

[Silver Nemesis]

Those are good observations. Lori's reaction to Quaid's dream always struck me as odd. She starts off playfully teasing him before suddenly turning angry. Why is she so jealous of a mere dream? This is another thing that's hard to reconcile with my interpretation. But if I had to try, I'd say Lori's reaction to Quaid's dream, as well as her response to him wanting to move to Mars, could show that beneath her beautiful exterior she isn't the ideal housewife she initially appears to be. Perhaps she's more controlling, paranoid and domineering than she seems, which could feel emasculating to a macho alpha male like Quaid. To go more Freudian with this, just look at all the examples of Lori being a literal ball-buster towards her husband.

If it is a dream, then what do these recurring acts of violence towards Quaid's manhood symbolise? The obvious Freudian answer is castration anxiety. But why would he associate that with Lori unless he already felt emasculated by their marriage? Quaid barely flinches when Melina grabs him down there, but howls with pain whenever Lori targets that area. If it is all a dream, then it would seem to be at least partly shaped by Quaid's desire to escape being married to a domineering wife who makes all of his decisions for him. The fact Richter is portrayed as Lori's real husband could be another sign of Quaid's subconscious attempting to invalidate their marriage.

One problem with this explanation is that Lori tries to persuade Quaid to go to Saturn instead of Mars. It's clearly Mars she's trying to keep him away from. She doesn't have a problem with them going on holiday somewhere else. McClane also tries selling him the Saturn trip, but I chalk that up to salesmanship (maybe the Saturn trip was more expensive?) since McClane didn't know about Quaid's memory cap until the technicians at Rekall discovered it. But with Lori, why would she be so reluctant for Quaid to go to Mars if it isn't real? Does she really just hate the planet? Is the political turmoil a disincentive?

Cohaagen wants Quaid to return to Mars, but since Richter didn't know that part of the plan then I'm assuming Lori didn't either. Maybe she was instructed to try dissuading him from the idea so it would have the opposite effect. Classic reverse psychology. That's if the story is real.

Going off topic, Midnight's Edge has just posted a video about the unmade Conan sequel discussed earlier in this thread.