Create New Topic

Bladerunner (1982) dir Ridley Scott For me, this is one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. It's a film that has be re-released at least twice. I have seen the original theatrical release, the 1992 Director's Cut, and the 2007 Final Cut. The 1992 version, I think, set the trend for other director's to release Director's cuts of their films. It's certainly the first one I ever saw. However, despite the name, Ridley Scott did not have complete control over that version. He did over the 2007 one, and it's that one that I am reviewing. I could not remember the differences to the 1992 one without looking them up, but both of the later ones get rid of a voice over (a bit like a 1940s detective film) and different ending that got added to the original after feedback from test audiences (I think). It's based on the Philip K. d*ck novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”. The basics of the plot is the same as the book, but the specific story is very different in places. I would recommend the book to anyone who is a fan of serious sci-fi, but it's the sort of book you need to really concentrate on. It was written in 1968 and set in 2019 when that seemed a long way in the future. The world the story is set in is way more advanced than we are now. Harrison Ford plays Deckard, a retired LA cop, a Bladerunner, who specialises in tracking down and terminating rogue androids, called replicants. These are indistinguishable from real humans to all but the experts. Even people like Dekard can only tell for sure by lengthy interrogation of suspected replicants that is designed to show up lack of emotions that real humans have. Replicants are banned from Earth, only supposed to be used on off-world space colonies. Any that do get found on Earth can be killed on the spot. Deckard is brought back by his boss Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh) and his assistant Gaff (Edward James Olmos) because a group of replicants hijacked a ship that was later found abandoned on Earth. They are believed to be in LA seeking their creator, Mr. Tyrell (Joe Turkel). The replicants, at least those that have not already been eliminated, are lead by Batty (Rutger Hauer) and others are played by Daryl Hannah, Brion Jones and Joanna Cassidy. William Sanderson plays Sebastian, a lonely man with a premature ageing disease who makes his on androids (not realistic or dangerous enough to be classed as replicants) and Sean Young plays Tyrell's PA Rachel. The cast are, overall, good, but Rutger Hauer gives the best performance I ever saw of him as Batty varies from charming, to psychopathic, to child-like fearful naïvety. There is a big plot element to do with Deckard and Rachel that I won't spoil, and various things thrown in that have kept some fans speculating as to the true nature of the various characters. If you know the film you will probably know what I am referring to here. I will say that I don't see in the film all the things that some claim to clearly see, but I see enough to agree with the consensus. Also some of the theories about that do not apply to all versions of the film. The sets and cinematography are stunning. It still looks to me well ahead of its time, as does Ridely Scott's Alien, so to me it shows what great film makers could achieve well before they had access to sort of CGI and AI tech available today. It also has a pretty good modern score from Vangelis. The best scene is the penultimate one, just with Batty and Deckard and includes the famous “tears in the rain” monologue that, apart from a few hundred years of technological development, would not have been out of place in a Shakespeare play. 10 / 10 The theatrical version I would only give an 8 to because, although I have only ever seen it once, I do remember the voice-over annoying me and the altered ending, a little bit added on, pointlessly changes the story.

I'm happy to host this weekend. Planning the playlist right now.