Saw this again for comparison, and not only is it not the disaster I remember it to be, it is quite embraceable once you know to expect and accept the overall cheesiness and ridiculous finale. 
It is also not the 'classic' many internet fans claim it to be: even if it has some nice touches and details, they tend to be unimportant and irrelevant*. Aside from that the movie is s subtle as a sledgehammer when a surgical scalpel is what is required.

A podcast I was listening to lately claimed that the movie might be construed as the implanted Rekall fantasy, but I am afraid it is just not the case. I did not remember, but the doctor at the hotel exactly states that - no bonus point for the viewer who makes a 'leap' which is explicitly presented right in the movie (more than once even.) The story has to be read straight forward regardless of foreshadowing dreams**, extreme coincidences***, nonsensical contradictions, things that just do not make sense****,  or being "too perfect" (something it claims to be - probably tongue in cheek.) 

As it is this film is probable equally indebted to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as it is to We Can Remember it for you Wholesale.

* A man who says he wishes he had three hands, ends up showing us he actually has three hands - even if one is a fake one; foreshadowing gasping, bug-eyed fish; ...and things of that sort.

** Ahnold has a dream that predicts the future - is he a mutant?

*** 'The Blue Sky on Mars' end is established as part of the implanted Rekall fantasy, but then how could a virtual tourist reconcile the fact that Mars does not have an atmosphere upon waking up? In the written fiction the evidence brought from Mars is something easily faked (I remember a box with few strange specimens...) But how could you fake a whole planetary atmosphere?

**** How did Ahnold manage to infiltrate the cell in his a-hole persona... And if he did, how or why would he need to erase this persona and create a new one that would not even remember any of it. The only logical explanation is that the a-hole persona is a fiction, except that the freedom fighters verify it was real! 
Bullets on Mars even after Outland? WHY? 

"There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom."

George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
Last Edited By: hermanthegerm Oct 25 15 2:35 PM. Edited 2 times.