Blade Runner - Appreciation Thread

Blade Runner is undoubtedly one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all-time, IMO. An incredible-looking, breathtakingly detailed, hugely influential, atmospherically and thematically rich, beautifully scored, well-acted and wonderfully evoked work of astonishing craftsmanship. Having first watched this film over 25 years ago (back in the very dark days of it's lowly reputation yet slowly-burgeoning home video cult following), it still never ceases to cast an truly unforgettable spell on me. Now, perhaps moreso than ever in this age of readily-available and convenient CGI, the sheer physical craftsmanship, hard work and utterly staggering attention to detail put into practically every single frame of Blade Runner, regardless of which "cut" you prefer to watch, comes across as the work of people way above and beyond the mere titles of "visual perfectionists". This film truly exists on a completely different level... even today, almost thirty years after it's original release.

Opinions of the film? Observations? Where the f*** did the unicorn really wander in from? Is Deckard truly a replicant? Is the film overrated? A masterpiece, but a flawed one? Love/Hate the voiceover? Love/Hate the original ending? And what's your favourite cut? Vote in the poll and discuss the film here.

My favourite movie. Grew up with Director's Cut. Final Cut is the best. Deckard's a rep. Best special effects ever. Greatest cinematography ever. Could not love this movie more. More detail when it's not so late at night. Great thread Lazenby. Doubleplus good.

I prefer the Final Cut. Basically a more refined version of the Director's Cut anyway. I can't watch the Theatrical without getting annoyed over the narration.

"was the kind of cop in the old days that would call black men niggers"

Wuuut?

Final Cut. International Cut is decent as well, happy ending aside. While I'm not as hung up about the narration as some of you, I'd rather it not be there.

I voted for Final Cut, but I'm still annoyed they went with father instead of fucker.

Wasn't that part of the workprint? I have yet to see that.

Fucker.

Still prefer the original release, though some consider me a philistine for that.

Salomé wrote:

Still prefer the original release, though some consider me a philistine for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeDWaXyHO8Y#t=50s

My favorite version of BLADE RUNNER is the one in my mind.

Great summary there, Laz.

My vote goes to the Final Cut too. Although I prefer "Fucker" to "Father". And I like it that the Dove flies into a clear blue sky in the Director's Cut - it's more symbolic. If I could make my own version I'd use the Final Cut as a template and add those bits back in along with the mysterious mannequin in the bathtub. Final Cut is more polished and restores the more graphic violence so it gets my vote.

Makeshift Python wrote:

Wasn't that part of the workprint? I have yet to see that.

Yes, it was. When the Final Cut differs from the Director's Cut, it's usually incorporating something from the workprint (or polishing up something).

I've only seen the original release. The narration didn't bother me too much, but I understand people's complaints...

I guess I need to see the final cut.

Arkadin wrote:

My favorite version of BLADE RUNNER is the one in my mind.

Far out, man. But I dig it.

Salomé wrote:

Still prefer the original release

So do I. I'm not of the "Deckard is a replicant" persuasion, and have always seen the character as a human point of identification, much the same as Ford himself does. On top of that, it makes little sense anyway, and it's always felt to me like an afterthought chucked in to add an extra layer of interest to subsequent cuts of the film. The voiceover, while hardly exemplary or anything, creates more of an intimacy between the human Deckard and the viewer whilst also enhancing the film's noir elements/atmosphere. Even the "upbeat" original ending I don't see as being "upbeat" at all; I think it's ambiguous, and in that sense I love the film ending on Deckard's "I didn't know how long we'd have together - Who does?", which also reinforces two of the film's main themes, those of mortality and longevity. And the end titles music cue sounds far more comfortable and natural segueing from the love theme at the end of the original version than it does coming perhaps more out of nowhere in most other cuts. While I admire the Final Cut reinstating some of the harder violence, the Final Cut looks too blue to me in places, while the CGI dove background alteration in Batty's death scene is annoying for me too. I like a lot of the workprint, though I'd have loved for them to have had the original music ready for the scoring of the last twenty minutes, which is the only thing which lets the workprint down IMO.

Lazenby. wrote:

I'm not of the "Deckard is a replicant" persuasion [snip] it makes little sense anyway, and it's always felt to me like an afterthought chucked in to add an extra layer of interest to subsequent cuts of the film.

Set a thief to catch a thief. Makes perfect sense to me.

ambler wrote:

Lazenby. wrote:

I'm not of the "Deckard is a replicant" persuasion [snip] it makes little sense anyway, and it's always felt to me like an afterthought chucked in to add an extra layer of interest to subsequent cuts of the film.

Set a thief to catch a thief. Makes perfect sense to me.

In concept, sure. But its handling in the actual film is pretty clumsy.

ambler wrote:

Lazenby. wrote:

I'm not of the "Deckard is a replicant" persuasion [snip] it makes little sense anyway, and it's always felt to me like an afterthought chucked in to add an extra layer of interest to subsequent cuts of the film.

Set a thief to catch a thief. Makes perfect sense to me.

Yeah, but in this instance, I don't think it necessarily does, not to me anyway. Deckard is utterly no physical match whatsoever for the likes of Batty, Leon, Zhora or Pris. He's bailed out from instant death by the fortunate intervention of others when up against the male replicants, and needs his gun to bail him out after being ass-kicked by the two female ones. And, if he was a replicant, given that any argument for him being one (apart from the shoved-in unicorn dream) could only be his intelligence as a detective as opposed to advanced physical strength, then, given that his key area was to detect replicants, wouldn't he have detected himself as being one?

On top of that, why would Gaff want to "tell" Deckard that he's a replicant? At the end of the film, Gaff clearly respects the job Deckard's done, so why would he basically say to the guy "Sorry, but your whole life's just one big f***ing implant, forget your mother, she ain't real, forget your wife, she wasn't real either", etc...? Again, makes no sense to me. The origami unicorn in the original version serves no other purpose other than to let Deckard know that Gaff has been to the apartment but allowed Rachel to live; It's basically an "I won't kill her, but someone else probably will, I'll let you both run off and be happy" message, hence Deckard leaves straight away.

Even in the workprint where there's no "happy ending", there's no unicorn dream or even an attempt at such inserted either, where the insertion of such would have been completely possible if the filmmakers/writers felt Deckard was a replicant. But there's no unicorn dream there, thus the workprint comes across to me as the film as intended, but simply with most of the voiceover not present, nor the later-added "outcuts" finale, which were, as we know, later only added at the insistence of the studio. Judging strictly from the cuts of the film we have, IMO Deckard's clearly not a replicant in anybody's eyes until 1992's Director's Cut, hence my opinion that it was an afterthought, a twist forced into the film via the insertion of the dream sequence, something which obviously didn't exist back in 82 or else it would have appeared in the workprint.

Just my take though. I do love every version of the film, but prefer to view a version with Deckard as an identifiable human "hero".

Lazenby. wrote:

Judging strictly from the cuts of the film we have, IMO Deckard's clearly not a replicant in anybody's eyes until 1992's Director's Cut, hence my opinion that it was an afterthought, a twist forced into the film via the insertion of the dream sequence, something which obviously didn't exist back in 82 or else it would have appeared in the workprint.

When the editor is talking about BLADE RUNNER in the "Dangerous Days" documentary, he specifically states that the unicorn footage did exist back in '82 (and other crew members verify shooting the footage to boot), was part of an early cut, and was one of the first things axed by the studio, which disappointed him because of the very careful editing he had done during that sequence.

Arkadin wrote:

When the editor is talking about BLADE RUNNER in the "Dangerous Days" documentary, he specifically states that the unicorn footage did exist back in '82

Yep, I figured there'd be something someone had said in DD, but my memory's hazy on it, haven't seen it since it came out three years or so ago. Still, George Lucas pulls s*** like this; There's no doubt a well-paid guy called Rick who'll tell you that it was always "George's Original Vision" to have some EMO punk turn up in the ghost lineup in ROTJ. ;)

Which I guess just lumps me in the "conspiracy theorist" category on this, the water's still warm from last time.

Still....

Watch BR in "Deck-a-rep" mindset = Questions, stuff that doesn't make sense.
Watch BR in "Deck-not-a-rep" mindset = No questions, bloke just had a coincidental dream about a unicorn.

I think I prefer Vangelis's demo of the end titles to the final version.

Anybody ever seen this newer art for the poster?



Apparently the artist, John Alvin, recently revisited his ideas and made this. Beats the hell out of the original art, that's for sure.

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Anybody ever seen this newer art for the poster?



Apparently the artist, John Alvin, recently revisited his ideas and made this. Beats the hell out of the original art, that's for sure.

I don't know, Ford's face is kinda messed up. And is that supposed to be Rutger Hauer in the background? :shock: WTF?!

Yeah, Rutger Hauer looks like an alien.

I'll take the original poster art.

Mr. Trevelyan wrote:

I don't know, Ford's face is kinda messed up. And is that supposed to be Rutger Hauer in the background? :shock: WTF?!

Have you seen Ford on the original?



I don't like the addition of Rutger Hauer in the corner - I thought the cigarette smoke against black looked pretty cool - and I'm not sure about the introduction of so much purple...but other than that, the composition and rendering on the new one are far superior IMO.

Looks too much like they tried cramming his head in there. Doesn't look right.