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Blade Runner: The Final Cut.
// Directed by the visionary film-maker Ridley Scott, with its post-modern, polluted, rain-soaked neon LA epicentre, the extraordinary production design of Blade Runner presents a startlingly familiar dystopia of corporate advertising, technology, and the unequivocal, blurry line between human and machine. Along with Alien, Scott's genre-bending sci-fi hallmark, Blade Runner uses - instead of latent horror elements - noir mood and style adversely to stray from the film's endless layers of religious symbolism; commercialism; industrialism; and humanism. All are of which seem obvious in retrospect, but not upon the initial viewing. To fully absorb and find yourself transported into the world of Scott's masterpiece, you have to watch it at least eight times. The Final Cut is much better for its deletions and polished visual/ editorial technical upheaval (with added dream sequence and happy ending) than the 1982 version - such as the removal of Deckard's voice-over - becoming an entirely balanced film because of its changes, nevertheless these combined themes and messages are re-birthed as ambiguity, unable to galvanise into anything definite. With this, Scott finally alluded to the possible fact that Deckard was a replicant, somewhat registering a tragic edge to the film's 'happy ending' of sorts.
From its shimmering, sublime imagery to the poetic language of its tragic characters, Blade Runner is an unrivalled cinematic gem, capturing noirish, astonishingly brutal 'termination' sequences reminiscent of the action genre with remarkable boldness(humanised villains dying in slow motion and/or metaphysically/artistically) and enigmatic beauty (Roy Batty's conclusive monologue scene) atypical of art movies. Blade Runner transcends all of its conventional gestures in the cinematic realm, it is neither science fiction nor action, perhaps not any genre can define this film in its entirety. Once the end credits have rolled, you will not find any words to explain or describe its power, beyond its superficial exterior and lavish production design, there is an incredibly raw exploration of humanity, perhaps even the meaning of life itself.
Many fans have examined the film as religious, and its not hard to see why from Roy Batty's self-inflicted crucifixion, the symbolic dove, and Tyrell's God-like creator of replicants watching from above the city. Whatever the outcome of its content/subtext, there is no questioning the film's power. For me, it is more life-affirming and heartbreaking than most tearjerkers; you have to be made of stone not to gulp back the sobs at the unicorn dream and the gloriously philosophical 'Tears in Rain' scene, largely ascertaining life and death in one speech, even Deckard is moved. You can't call Blade Runner anything else but a masterpiece, its quintessential cinema: multi-layered, expansive and soulful, there's no box it doesn't tick in terms of valuable, influential and quality film-making. For me, its quite simply a perfect film; do not resist its deeper innards beyond the visual spectacle and you will be rewarded with something magical.
