1. Total Recall
It's no surprise that critics who took a disliking to Total Recall when it first came out did so on account of the level of violence depicted - this, after all, was a Paul Verhoeven-directed movie starring the king of action movies at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Total Recall is far more than simply a brainless action film. What separates it from the rest of the pack is the way in which the movie can be read on different layers - to begin with it's a story about a construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnie) having dreams about Mars and a beaufitul woman who decided to go to the Rekall company to have a memory implanted of a trip to Mars as a secret agent, but as the film progresses it starts to merge fantasy and reality until both Quaid and the audience can't tell the two apart. Not surprisingly, like Minority Report this was also based on a short story by the great Philip K. Dick, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Unlike the average-at-best remake starring Colin Farrell, Total Recall remains one of the most cerebral big budget Hollywood blockbusters of all time, its box office success proving that it's okay to make the audience think while they enjoy the on-screen pyrotechnics.
What other movies prove that blockbusters don't have to be dumb? Why not let us know in the comments below?