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He goes to the Recall company to receive an vacation implanted in his memory: a vacation on Mars, with [Show spoiler]the same woman he dreams about, and with him becoming a secret agent. In the film's last minutes, Quaid overlooks [Show spoiler] the Martian landscape with a new blue sky, and suddenly realizes that none of it could be real.
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This part is fascinating. According to the “dream theory”, there are 2 dreams:
[Show spoiler]
Real dream: which we see when the movie starts (Quaid on Mars with Melina, falls down mountain, helmet cracks, sucking for air…)
Recall dream: which begins when they implant him at Recall. But the dream is IDENTICAL to his real dream above that we saw at beginning of film (Quaid on Mars with EXACT SAME BRUNETTE – Melina, falls down mountain and also has helmet crack and gasps for air)
-what are the chances that the Recall dream just randomly programmed his brain with the EXACT SAME facts (Melina, falling down mountain, helmet crack, sucking for air, etc) that his Real Dream did? Not likely. IN fact, virtually impossible. In all likelihood, even though Quaid gave Recall his preferences (Brunette, sleezy, secret agent, etc), it is far more likely that he would have had a trip to Mars with SOME VARIATION from this real dream (different Brunette, trying to stop nuclear bomb instead of trying to stop oxygen crisis, etc etc).
This strongly supports the “real theory” because it suggests the “dream theory” is highly unlikely, plus suggests that Quaid’s Real Dream (at beginning of film) wasn’t just a dream, but an old REAL memory, which means he really is a secret agent (PRE-GOING TO RECALL) and thus when we see the plot unfold about the bad dudes trying to stop Quaid (who is realy called Hauser), it all fits the PRE-RECALL plot of him having a dream with visions that EXACTLY MATCH his real experience on Mars later in the film!
I still support the “Dream theory”, but am playing devil’s advocate there – I think this is the strongest evidence of “real theory”
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There is plenty in the script that permits this straightforwd interpretation. After all, everybody Quaid runs across in the film's opening act [Show spoiler]tries to disuade him from going to Recall, much less even thinking about Mars.
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Now that is a fascinating point too, although it could be easily explained as
[Show spoiler]genuine concern of friends who actually did read in the newspaper about a dude getting lobotomized by Recall. But, then even the Recall dude said “no, you don’t want Mars! You want Saturn! ” Also, if you look at Stone’s face and the bald dude’s face, they look at Quaid for an extra few seconds after he looks away , with a “is he really going to go? Do I have to call Cohaggen?” look in their eye – brilliant direction.
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He even asks for the Recall scientists to replicate Melina in his simulation.
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Hmm, now this is also interesting, because
[Show spoiler]didn’t he just say “brunette, athletic, sleezy” and THEY BROUGHT UP MELINA ON THE SCREEN! The same girl in his real dream at beginning of film. As I recall, you can’t really see Melina’s face in the beginning Real Dream, but it does look like her a lot. Either way, there is nothing to explain how they’d randomly pick Melina, other than perhaps those Recall workers were working for the rebels on Mars and wanted Quaid to recall his old Mars memories (in real theory version) and go back to Mars, and so injected the Melina memory to help him to do it!!!
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[Show spoiler]So if you can accept the film as it is, with all its plot complexities, why even consider that it's all just in Quaid's head?
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Personally, I like it because
[Show spoiler]not only is it fun to look at each interpretation, but it emphasizes the power of the mind – and how the mind can convince the body of anything, even something that is NOT OCCURRING on the outside! For some reason, I find that very fascinating, which is why I usually argue for the “dream interpretation” in these type of ambigious films
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[Show spoiler] He has his dreams about Mars and Melina, either out of the blue, or out of some construct of his inner consciousness. In these opening scenes, Quaid would receive all the information he would need to build his fantasy (the news footage pretty much lays out all the conflict between Cohaggen and Kuato).
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Good points here! This is why the dream theory passes muster, IMO. Because even the best argument for the real theory (
[Show spoiler]dream at the beginning coincidentally ending up being the same as his implanted dream by a machine
) can actually be turned around to support the dream theory for the reasons you stated.
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[Show spoiler]Only one thing causes Quaid (and thus, the audience) to disregard Dr. Edgemar's words: a single bead of sweat. It tips off Quaid that this is not just some virtually-injected program, but is just another one of Cohaggen's goons.
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Of course, under the dream theory, one would say that
[Show spoiler]if the Recall Dream is capable of virtualizing planets, eco systems, hair, skin, pain, and all of the other real elements, a bead of sweat should be no bother!
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[Show spoiler] If anything, it's far easier to accept the movie as a total fantasy, given all the plot twists, and given how fantasic everything is.
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I didn’t realize the director
[Show spoiler]intended a real theory interpretation, but threw in the imaginary stuff for window dressing. I still love the ambiguity of it, and I”ll stick with my personal preference of total fantasy. As you laid out very well, there is lots to support it. Most of all, IMO, is the fact that the Real Theory interpretation requires the viewer to accept that (a) Quaid went to Recall to request a virtual trip to (i) Mars, (ii) to meet an athletic Brunette, (iii) save the planet, (iv) kill the bad guys. And he just COINCIDENTALLY, prior to dream implant, ACTUALLY (i) went to Mars, (ii) met an athletic brunette, (iii) saved the planet, and (iv) killed the bad guys. But as you pointed out so well, according to the Real Theory, his prior identity (which induced the dream at the beginning) would have caused him to select the Recall parameters (that weren't implanted in the Real theory) and cause him to experience the ACTUAL events he did, which is why his Real Dream matches the Real experience!! This movie just kicks serious a$$!!
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I've considered picking it up, but I'm not over keen on the Bourne films
In fact, if you add "Starship Troopers" into there, you'd have the ultimate Paul Verhoeven sci-fi marathon. 
Didn't like Oksana Akinshina's bit role in the end, which is weird since I remember her being quite amazing in Lilya 4-Ever. The highlight is easily the car chase sequence; it's insane.
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