What is Total Recall's IQ Score?

Total Recall has an IQ Score of 131/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Stimulating tier. The score breaks down to 37/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 22/50 Educational Value, and 41/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Total Recall educational?

Total Recall is low on educational value, 22/50 on TVI's rubric. Watch for entertainment, not for learning.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Total Recall IQ Score 131/200

Total Recall has an IQ Score of 131/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Stimulating tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-08-22·Methodology

sci-fiactionadventure

131/ 200

Stimulating

Consistently challenges the viewer and rewards attention

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

Verification status: Queued. · Request human review of this title · Notify me when verified

Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

Saves to your browser. See your Personal IQ on My TVI →

Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,606 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Paul Verhoeven adapts Philip K. Dick into a film that refuses to resolve its own premise: is Douglas Quaid a construction worker who bought a Martian fantasy at Rekall, or a spy whose memory was wiped, and does the movie ever let you decide.

Arnold Schwarzenegger anchors Verhoeven's signature blend of satire and excess, and the ambiguity is the point, since every action beat can be read as real or as the dream Quaid paid for. Jerry Goldsmith's score and the practical Mars effects keep the reality-versus-memory puzzle physical rather than abstract.

People & Production Paul Verhoeven · Carolco Pictures · United States 32 connections