Blade Runner

Last night I watched the Director’s Cut of Blade Runner which, before today, was the only cut of the film I had ever seen. After reading a few reviews, it occurred to me that many people think that the Final Cut is the best version of Blade Runner. As a result, I decided to watch the Final Cut and I might just have to agree with lots of people that this is the best version of the film that I have seen. Blade Runner is a gorgeous movie. It’s one of the best looking 80s films and to be completely honest, it’s one of the best looking films ever. The production design is easily one of the best aspects of this movie and it allows for the entire world of Blade Runner, which is a futuristic Los Angeles, to come to life. The flying cars, the beautiful array of colors, the many neon lit signs, the overwhelming darkness that looms over the city, and of course the rain that pours down at the end. The world building is outstanding to say the least. Harrison Ford is great in this, but I think that Rutger Hauer truly steals the show. The final few minutes in which Deckard and Roy chase after each other is probably my favorite sequence in the entire film. The very last scene is also super good though and reveals a startling fact about Deckard. When I first watched this, the idea of Deckard being a replicant first crossed my mind during the unicorn dream scene. It’s truly incredible watching him find an origami unicorn left by Gaff and realizing that he is a replicant. On this watch, I even noticed some foreshadowing when Deckard himself says, “How can it now know what it is?” Perhaps Deckard knew, but I honestly don’t think he truly believed until the final scene in the movie. Anyway, a huge complaint I see people make about this is not being able to connect with the characters. However, this has never really made sense to me due to the fact that basically all of the main characters are replicants. They aren’t human, we as humans don’t know how a replicant processes emotions, it’s probably similar or even exactly how humans process emotions, but replicants aren’t even supposed to have emotions and so not being able to connect with them makes sense in a way. The plot is a little hard to follow, but after a few rewatches, I understand it much better. I know lots of people say that this is style over substance, which I might have to agree with since the visuals, music, cinematography, production design, etc. are all the greatest aspects of this, whereas the plot isn’t all that impressive, but I still find it to be a fairly interesting and well articulated film. Also, I just love the similarities between this and Alien in terms of replicants and synthetics. Ridley Scott sure is enamored by artificial intelligence.