12 Best 1990s Sci-Fi Movies

6. Total Recall

FIfth Element
TriStar Pictures

Following their respective impacts on the genre during the previous decade thanks to The Terminator and Robocop, expectations were high when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven were announced to be teaming up for Total Recall. Luckily, the duo did not disappoint.

The movie doesn't stop to breathe for even a second, rushing from one high-octane sequence to the next as Arnold delivers one of the best performances of his career as Douglas Quaid, the blue-collar construction worker who finds himself wrapped up in an intergalactic conspiracy and pursued from all angles by his enemies.

Packed full of memorable supporting characters, Verhoeven's signature subversive humor, cartoonish violence, classic one-liners and big-budget pyrotechnics, the turgid 2012 remake only reinforced the original Total Recall's credentials as a classic of both the action and sci-fi genres.

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