Reviews of Blade Runner

Blade Runner review

Posted : 8 months ago on 3 May 2009 04:43 (A review of Blade Runner)

Almost a decade & a half earlier before Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey was one the first films to successfully marry the big budget sci-fi with a genre of a different theme (that of psychological thriller) so that all the high tech flashiness of science fiction acted as a contrasting backdrop to a darker side that resided underneath all the complicated buttons & wires of futuristic technology.
Then came Ridley Scott's Alien, which did the same for the darkside of sci-film, but now more in the method of the straight-up horror genre.
He followed that up with another marriage to sci-fi, but this time in the cinematic category of film noir. Now, with this story of replicant-hunter Rick Deckard, Scott depicts what lays beneath all the flashy neon lights that decorately symbolize the endless possiblities of the future, to tell a tale of the grit & grime layers of lost & forgotten cybo-souls that could only act as a foundation of those towering spires of technological brilliance that would allow the mortal men living in 'em to percieve themselves as gods.
Blade Runner is just as equally a visual stunner as the other famous sci-fi classic that Harrison Ford is famously known for, but now, instead of a distant galaxy far far away, it's in a distant future that more down to Earth.



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Ahead of it's time

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 31 August 2008 02:10 (A review of Blade Runner)

''Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.''

Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker...

Harrison Ford: Rick Deckard

Rutger Hauer: Roy Batty

Bladerunner is definitely one of the most visionary films I've ever had the pleasure to view, it's right up there with 2001 in being incredibly ahead of its time artistically, visually and idealistically. As an end product The Final Cut, Director's Cut & Theatrical, all feel ahead of their time, but I admit the final cut adds more tantilising questions and answers that will spark debate for many more years to come.

While 2001 presents a relatively light futuristic reality, Blade Runner is a dark dystopia overwhelmed with vast metropolises.

The wide shots of futuristic LA are both stunning in their visual representations and terrifying at the same time.
The numerous huge advertisements, show a world with capitalism run riot, not something terribly different from our reality, in this modern day. Blade Runner is over 20 years old but somehow it manages to be relevant and knock out other films these day's effortlessly.

Story-wise Blade Runner is a mixture of two of my favourite genres, film-noir and science fiction.
Would have liked to see more of Deckard's exploits, but there's vast amounts to satisfy my artistic and deep needs.
The issues of humanity that it raises are intriguing yet revolutionary, and The Final Cut leaves the ending ambiguous as to Deckard's true identity. In fact, it leaves the entire film ambiguous...does Roy know Deckard? Is Deckard the missing replicant? Or is he not? Again this will be open for debate for countless years, even Harrison and Ridley Scott have their own agendas to what is and what isn't.

This is one of the most stunning films I've seen.
The dark view of the future is achieved mostly by the terrific production design, something like 1940s lucid Los Angeles with a digital edgy gloss. Not only does it look great, but the design is flawless.
It makes sense that immigration is out of control and the future has become over populated and vast.
And the music, while obviously from Vangelis fits perfectly.

I don't remember ever being this blown away by a film upon first viewing and made to think on higher aspects of life in general.
it usually takes multiple viewings for a film to gain my love. As it stands, this is Ridley's Scott's take on answers and questions regarding existence, time and our fear of mortality and it's deathly touch.

Blade Runner is greatness that is deep and hypnotic in all it's glory.

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Los Angeles never looked so good

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 16 April 2008 12:17 (A review of Blade Runner)

Ridley Scott's imagining of a dark, multicultural and ugly/beautiful Los Angeles in a dystopic 21st century world is brilliant, right from the very first scene.

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Irreplicable

Posted : 2 years, 6 months ago on 20 June 2007 02:10 (A review of Blade Runner)

A fantastic film based on one of Philip K. Dick's finest novels. The Earth is a dying planet, and what remains of the global populace pool together in expansive, yet largely dilapidated cities which pollute the planet on a devastating scale. In recent history, humanity colonised Mars, allowing millions of people to abandon the abused bosom of mother nature and flee for the foreboding red planet. In the ensuing galactic expansion, the need for cheap labour was quenched by androids - mass produced on a large scale. Eventually, the androids became so sophisticated and self-aware that determining man from 'replicant' became an almost impossible task. A task that fell to Blade Runners like Rick Deckard.

Many people think that this film looks dated by today's standard (it's fair to say that almost every 80's Sci-fi film suffers in the same manner), but I think that the age just adds to the gritty dystopian, abandoned feel of the city. Countless ideas for the entire notion of cyberpunk were surely borne from this film, including the massive corporate slogans which emblazon most of the emtpy spaces in the city. The setting for the film is nailed to perfection, creating intense moments and inflicting a sense of genuine hopelessness for humanity.

As for the story, it starts off with instant action and then takes you on a cold, no-frills journey through a day in the life of a reluctant hero and an even more reluctant villain. With Deckard increasingly called upon to abandon his own human traits in order to expunge those deemed not-human-enough to live alongside their flesh-and-blood brothers, the eternal questions of whether Deckard himself is a replicant is raised. The final showdown, set in a beautiful abandoned Gothic apartment block, is one that I will remember just as profoundly as some of the dialogue on the rooftop.

This film is fantastic.

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