Wake up readers! Your team of bloggers is back again with a brand new Movie and a Beer feature! This time, we strap in and revisit memories of classic Sci Fi film, Total Recall. Join us as we collectively talk about and pair a craft beer with this awesome action film! No memory transplant necessary, folks!
I am excited to be a part of this collaboration series between myself, and some of my favorite blog writers Dr. Gonzalo Quintero of Craft Beer Tasters LLC and Eugene Abano of Reviews Galore. Please click their respective links to read their write up, as well as read their craft beer and soda pairing for the film.
As in previous Movie and a Beer features (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) I will be pairing a craft beer that matches one or more of the themes of the film, as well as keeping it a local pick to stand with Three B Zine’s daily motto- Live Local.
This specific Movie and a Beer feature is different to me personally compared to any of the pairings that we as a group have done in the past, mainly because I am admittedly not all that familiar with Total Recall. I don’t have a strong feeling on the film itself, nor do I possess a deep connection or relationship with the movie and its overall story.
Upon re-watching this classic Sci-Fi film and searching for the best way to pair a craft beer with one or more of the emotions or characters, one could be considered out of his/her mind for not seeing one of the major players in the film – Mars. This is where I decided to focus my attention.
To pair a San Diego craft beer with this majestic red planet, I could not think of anything better than to pair this movie with one that delivers just as much beauty and excitement to beer drinkers far and wide. The beer I have chosen is none other than Green Flash Brewing Company’s Hop Head Red.
In Total Recall, Quaid’s wife tells him that his dreams of Mars have become an obsession, and the great people over at Green Flash explain that, “The blissful union of Double India Pale and Red Ale make Hop Head Red an unforgettable obsession.” Space geeks are enthralled with Mars, and craft beer geeks are obsessed with the best they can find. This is where Green Flash delivers, time and time again.
Hop Head Red is a Double Red IPA that clocks in at 8.1% ABV and is available in 22oz and 12oz bottles as well as on draft during every day of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. It is brewed with a caramel malt base that matches perfectly to the additions of Amarillo, Warrior and Nugget hops, which produce floral, resinous hop forward flavors along with the deep malt base. The beer is finished with as Green Flash states, a mountain of Amarillo dry hopping.
Hop Head Red is one of the brightest stars in the San Diego craft beer sky. As majestic and alluring as the red planet itself…attainable, but out of this world. Oh, and the best part of all, you won’t find yourself in need of a memory implant to remember the beauty of this craft beer.
Total Recall takes place in a far away place, time and even planet. A futuristic world where interplanetary travel is not only possible, but also easy to accomplish. It is also a dangerous, scary time that appears to be out of control, something that Director Paul Verhoeven has come to perfect throughout his many films. (Robocop, anyone?)
The film follows Douglas Quaid, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Mars obsessed construction worker stuck on Earth. Quaid, continuously finds himself caught up in dreams of being on Mars with a mysterious woman. It happens so often in fact, as I mentioned before, his wife played by Sharon Stone tells him Mars is becoming an obsession.
Needing to figure out what is going on inside of his own head, Quaid travels to Rekall to take part in a memory transplant in the form of a vacation to Mars where he will fill the role of a secret agent on the distance planet. But, before the transplant can be put into his head, he freaks out and claims to be a real secret agent that has traveled to and from Mars plenty of times. After surviving an attack by co-workers and his own wife, he finds out that his entire life has been nothing more than a dream created by others.
Quaid finds Melina, the woman he has been dreaming of in Venusville, a red light district area whose inhabitants are mutants due to a bad dome over the area of the city. Soon, when found in Venusville, Mars governor Vilos Cohaagen turns the air supply off to this area in an attempt to kill the resident “mutants”. Quaid, (or “Hauser,” as he discovers is his actual name) meets with Kuato the leader of the Mars resistance, who also happens to be some sort of mutant resembling a cabbage patch kid that was left out in the sun then hit by a semi. Kuato emerges from his brothers stomach to help Quaid release his memories and find out what he is supposed to do.
Cohaagen is lead to Quaid, Melina and Kuato no thanks to a bad comic relief taxi driver where Kuato is killed. But not before it is revealed that Quaid must turn on the reactor in the Pyramid Mines which will release oxygen to Mars’ residents for free, taking all power away from Cohaagen. Will Quaid make it to the reactor and save the day? Or will Cohaagen reimplant Hauser’s memory in Quaid?
Total Recall is an all around fun science fiction action film that keeps you on your toes throughout its entirety. You never full know if Quaid is truly awake, living out this adventure or if he in fact is asleep and living out the memory transplant. It is overflowing with late 1980’s early 1990’s goofy perfection, especially by way of Arnold’s acting in the entire film. It shows Arnold in his absolute goofy best, which is something most film fans might hate to admit, but have loved for years and years.
Verhoeven takes the late 80’s early 90’s vision of a futuristic world and blows it out of proportion in this film by creating a dangerous and grey scale lawless land where no one and nothing is safe. Again, Robocop anyone? He also throws in just the right amount of violence and gore to accompany this futuristic adventure.
This movie overall has never been one of my favorites, but I can admit with this revisiting thanks to Eugene and Dr. Q, that I found a new appreciation for this goofy and slightly headache inducing science fiction movie that doesn’t quite make sense but still keeps you guessing until the very end. So, has anyone figured out, was he asleep or was he awake?
