Review of Blade Runner (1982) by Nathan A — 25 May 2014

Anyone who knows me well enough, knows I'm a huge cinephile. I've seen almost four thousand films in my lifetime. When asked what is my favorite film of all-time? I reply Blade Runner-The Final Cut. Not only is it my favorite film, it's my number one obession. I seriously doubt any film will ever match it, after over of three years it's maintain the status of greatest achievement in cinema that I've seen. When I first watch Blade Runner back in 02' I wasn't all that impressed. I thought the movie look good from an artistic point of view but it was lacking in alot areas.

I didn't fully understand what was so amazing about the story. The characters seemed kinda dull and really didn't care for them in the least, I preceded to watch Blade Runner a few more times through the years but never really getting it. I remember walking through Wal-Mart one night and looking at the dvd section and seeing Blade Runner-The Final Cut on the selves. I read the back and it said that Ridley Scott re-cut it and improve his visual masterpiece.

Well I decided it might be worth the purchase for the visual aspect of the film. I always did think Blade Runner was one the best visual movies ever made but nothing more than that. I decided to buy it and I went home and pop it into my dvd player, I rewatch it and was impressed with the improvements. I wasn't totally blow away yet though, through that month I watched Blade Runner over thirty times.

Somehow I got lost in the fact I was addicted to this movie more than any movie I had been before. I watched several scenes over and over again, just asking myself, this must be what perfection looks like. Everything I disliked about this movie had faded, if someone were to tell me the first time I watched Blade Runner, that it would one day grow into my favorite movie. I would have probably call them fucking crazy, well I might have called them crazy but they would have been so right.

Blade Runner like most sci-fi geeks know, was a box-office and critical failure. Seeing that it was probably the first science fiction art-film and so far ahead of it's time, it's not surprising. People still to this day, find Blade Runner's story confusing and themes uneven. Most people don't understand that this movie, has one the most multi-layered, complexed stories ever filmed. Blade Runner cannot be fully appreciated on one viewing, or two or even three viewings. Blade Runner is meant to be watched multiple times to understand how utterly brilliant the film truly is.

Though they are many themes, the most important one found here is, what is it to be human? that's what the whole movie is about. Blade Runner asks many questions about humanity, though you have to put alot of yourself into what you see on screen. Blade Runner is what some people call a future-noir, which is a blend of classic film-noir (40's/50's era) set in the future.

The story is about Deckard (Harrison Ford) a Blade Runner, who has to hunt down beings known as Replicants, which are geneticly cloned artificial intellegence. Replicants are not only superior to humans in intellect but also in strength and emotions, they feel emotions to greater lengths than we humans do. Blade Runner is also a cyber-punk dystopian vision of the future, it's also maybe the most accurate sci-fi film ever made. Everyday technology pushes closer and closer to the look of this film, in a way Blade Runner predicted our future. It's kinda amazing how art imitates life, Blade Runner is just a great example of this.

I would go as far to say, that Blade Runner is the most ripped off piece of cinema ever, or pretty close. Everybody has borrowed from this film in every medium of entertainment, video games, other movies, and yes even music. A funny little fact about me is, the first cd I ever bought was White Zombie-Astro Creep 2000. I bought the cd back in 95' and the biggest hit from that album was a song called "More Human Than Human" which is the motto of the Tyrell Corp. Kinda funny story that foreshadowed many things in my future. My love for music and movies goes hand and hand, which is always a great thing.

Blade Runner also has my all-time favorite antagonist, Roy Batty. Well Batty is actually my favorite movie character period, and is brilliantly protrayed by Rutger Haurer. Batty gives the finest speech ever given. In his last moments, he realises that everything in life is precious and worth saving. That's why he saves Deckard at the end, he trades his life for his own, this is the most honorable thing a person can ever do. In doing this, Batty becomes the savior or hero of Blade Runner, most people miss this theme or don't understand why Batty saves Deckard. Batty once a villain, dies a hero with lasting words of wisdom.

It's really that simple, and probably the best scene I've ever seen. Now the real mystery of the movie is, and it still haunts people to this day, was Deckard a replicant himself? There's many clues or hints that he might have been, but it's up to the viewer to decide. The movie works either way you see it, you can't have wrong view on it. I personally believe Deckard was a replicant but I won't go into detail about why? I have many reasons though.

I also like to mention Vangelis wonderful score, no score fit a movie better, than the one Vangelis wrote for this one. I own it and listen to it all the time, one finest pieces of music ever written. Well I could go on and on about this movie but no matter what I say, it won't do this movie justice. This is storytelling at it's absolute finest and one the best visual experiences I've ever had.

Ridley Scott created the best film my eyes have ever seen. I'll continue to watch this movie through out my lifetime, returning to the film that changed my life and my views on it. Blade Runner also changed my taste in film as well, I've learn to appreciate more artful-cinema and thought-provoking movies because of this film. Though Blade Runner was a considered failure when it was originally released, it will remain a cult classic forever. So for this Blade Runner fanatic, I can't recommend any film more, rent it, steal it, borrow it, hell kill for it. No, I was kidding about renting it haha. Just Buy It!