Review of Blade Runner (1982) by Mccoy 9 — 14 Oct 2013

*Please note, I'll be reviewing the International original release and the Final Cut*.

With many reviews about Blade Runner, I tried to resist doing a review, but ultimately I've buckled and here to talk about one of my personal favourite films.

Set in 2019 Los Angeles, we follow Rick Deckard; (Harrison Ford) an ex-cop, ex-killer, ex-Blade Runner (a type of Police squad who have the authority to kill or in their words "retire") is forced to find and retire a group of four Replicants; bio-engineered robots that are effectively identical to humans who are created and sent to off-world colonies to work as slaves. After a mutiny, Replicants become illegal on Earth. The group of four make their way to Earth. This team of Replicants is led by Roy Batty, who demands to meet his creator, Dr. Eldon Tyrell. While hunting the rouge group, Deckard also grows a relationship with Dr. Tyrell's assistant, Rachael.

When I first saw Blade Runner, I falled in love with the film. I grew up watching sci-fi films and through study of film, I started to really like film-noir's, so finding this film was a great love letter to my teenage/childhood years. The story and effects were ahead of its time. The story, very loosely based on the novel Philip K. Dick's novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is complex and very thought provoking. I think there wasn't any sci-fi movies that have to do with androids that were released before Blade Runner that were as complex or thought provoking. While the story does have a rather slow pace, I think it works in it's favour.

Harrison Ford as the lead character Rick Deckard was a very well casting choice. He adds a rather coolly emotion veneer into the performance. With the noir voice over, he does a good job, with a tired and detached view and sound (although this performance was reportedly made to be bad by Ford so the producers would drop the voice-over) Rutger Hauer was great as the main antagonist Roy Batty. With his sinister looks on his face and the cool as ice mono-voice, you know he's always up to something. Sean Young and Edward James Olmos also did very good in their roles as the innocent Replicant prototype in the mix Rachael and the very mysterious Blade Runner Gaff.

Blade Runner is indeed a very well-crafted film. The greatest positive is Ridley Scott's direction. He claims it to be the most "complete" and personal film he has directed. The cinematography and atmosphere in the film is exciting. This is a good example of an escapism film. I like both the original cut and the Final Cut. The original has a slight action-thriller and more of a noir feel while the Final Cut has a more a dark and mysterious feel. The score in the film by Vangelis sounds roughly like a electro-jazz fusion, furthering the genre of Tech-noir.

I could go on and on for hours and hours discussing everything about Blade Runner. (Such as the various themes, the argument that Deckard could either be human or a replicant, the details of the practical special effects and much, much more) Simply put, Blade Runner is an original and epic sci-fi and noir film. Please stop reading this and SEE IT!!!!