At the beginning of the month, Ridley Scott’s iconic science-fiction/film-noir, Blade Runner: The Final Cut was re-released to the general public for a limited time only. I dragged some reluctant friends to my local Odeon, and we sat down and drank it all in, in glorious HD with surround sound. Before we go any further, though, here’s a little history: based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick, and released initially in 1982, Blade Runner was a commercial flop which sharply divided critics. Most claimed that the story took a back seat to the effects and was not the action/adventure film advertised, while others claimed that it was the start of something new. However all agreed that the ending needed to be fixed. For the purposes of keeping the story a surprise to those poor souls who haven’t seen this film, I won’t spoil anything here.
Regardless of what people thought of it at first, though, in the coming years, Blade Runner developed a cult following and is to this day widely regarded as a revolutionary sci-fi gem which has inspired countless films such as Akira and even The Matrix, as well as the archetypal cyber-punk city used in most dystopian films, comic books and video games alike - just Google ‘Blade Runner City’ and you’ll see what I mean. It also spawned not one but two edits, referred to as ‘The Director’s Cut’ (which I’m sure nobody’s seen) and The Final Cut, the one released in cinemas; also it’s the title of this review, which should give you some suggestion of which one I was reviewing. I’d be worried if you didn’t see that - it’s pretty big.
However all this may be fine and dandy, but does it hold up in an age where films like Gravity and Avatar (yes, it’s a terrible film, but you can’t argue that the special effects don’t look amazing) exist? The answer is yes, yes it does. Not only that, but I can say with total assurance that Blade Runner is the greatest science fiction film of all time and the second greatest film ever made. This is an art form that began over 125 years ago, just let that sink in.
The story is set in Los Angeles 2019: big business dominates everything, skyscrapers and pollution blot out the sun and it’s always raining [insert ‘a bit like real LA’ joke here] and humankind has made the next step in Artificial Intelligence with ‘Replicants’: organic robots that can think for themselves and develop their own emotions, however after a bloody uprising Replicants are declared illegal and police officers known as ‘Blade Runner Units’ are tasked with hunting them down.
We follow a certain Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) as he’s charged with tracking down a group of new models called ‘Nexus 6’ led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). The hunt commences, and as Deckard gets closer to his goal, the line that determines what makes something truly human is distorted. But be warned: THIS IS NOT INDIANA JONES IN THE FUTURE!
This isn’t a film of epic shootouts and ballsy 80s one-liners straight from the scripts of films like Escape from New York or Die Hard. It’s actually quite a sombre thought piece about ethical decisions. Most of the time the replicants that Deckard is mercilessly gunning down, or ‘retiring’ as the police force queasily puts it, you get a strong sense of brutality from the side who’re supposed to be the good guys. There’s a particularly powerful scene in which a defenceless woman is shot repeatedly as she’s running for her life.
It’s scenes like this that make Blade Runner truly special: it knows how to deliver the correct amount of emotional payoff to a climactic scene such as that, and delivers just enough moral ambiguity so as to make you feel like you haven’t been force-fed information, and the director hasn’t come in with a loud-hailer and started screaming ‘THIS IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO FEEL!’. In other words, it lets you decide what to make of the actions you’ve just seen.
Admittedly the replicants are represented as sympathetic characters, albeit with some extremely violent and malicious streaks, but why wouldn’t they be? They’re social outcasts constantly persecuted and demonised, because they just want to live. This all feeds in perfectly to the film’s themes of humanity and the impact of technology on society. Through the use of the brilliantly-crafted character of Roy Batty, Scott examines various modern philosophies and notions of religion, as well as literary references to Frankenstein’s monster outgrowing his creator. He’s poetic, not pretentious, and his final monologue is nothing short of heartbreaking.
At many points in the film, the replicants appear more human than the human characters, with particular emphasis on Deckard who doesn’t appear to be remotely disturbed by the brutal acts he’s committing. There’s even a faint tease that Deckard himself is a replicant, prompting the audience to completely re-evaluate their opinions, and further call into question what’s truly ‘human’. Yes indeed, it’s a true gem of intellectually-stimulating cinema, and with the real-world global conflict happening around us today, some of its themes are more relevant today than ever before. It’s truly timeless, and you can read more about why in a fantastic article in the Guardian which you can find a weblink to on the College Magazine website.
I’d even go as far as to say that Blade Runner hasn’t aged a day. The stunning combination of practical effects, such as the design on some of the model buildings and fully-realised futuristic tech are still beautiful to behold. There’s a great sense of scale, captured in the camerawork and it’s a dazzling experience regardless of whether or not you were raised in an age when Godzilla was a man in a rubber suit, or when the wickedly talented one and only Adele Dazeem skipped through powdery snow singing the most hated song ever.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s a film noir, and stylistically it’s exactly this: the vast and sprawling cityscape and dingy interiors complement the thematic setting perfectly, with the cinematography complementing the dark mood perfectly. Cigarette smoke envelopes characters, and there’s a strong oriental element to the city, reminiscent of films like Chinatown and Philip Marlowe Adventures. In previous versions the protagonist was given a monologue, which has since been removed. If you ask me, this is to the film’s advantage, as some scenes work much better as silent reflection.
It’s all from a 1980s perspective of what might have been, mind you. The monitors are quite low-res and staticky and those with keen eyes will spot some slightly outdated product placement, such as TDK and Atari. You could argue that this does in fact date the film, but it ultimately adds to the it’s charm: it’s a film of it’s time, but at the same time not, curiously. Everything complements the seedy lifestyle of the not too distant future perfectly, and the editors have been smart enough not to tamper with anything, although some digital re-renderings of characters that previously turned into stunt men for a split second, here and there don’t hurt at all. Other than that it’s been untouched.
Of course, you can’t have a Blade Runner review without talking about the score by Greek synth legend Vangelis. It’s 80s to the core, with keyboards and electronic instruments, giving it that great futuristic feel, but also strongly grounding it in that film noir theme with real instruments for the ‘Love Theme’ and ‘Blade Runner Blues’, and an emotional, languishing piano piece called ‘Rachel’s Song’. It’s a rare example of an original soundtrack being good enough to listen to on its own. Once you’ve bought Blade Runner Steelbook on Blu-Ray, go out and buy the 3-Disc Anniversary edition of the soundtrack and let it wash over you.
This…is…just…cinema at its finest, and you just have to watch the opening credits to see why. It goes without saying that this is also by far and a way Ridley Scott’s finest film, which is saying something coming from the man behind Thelma & Louise and Alien, another game-changing sci-fi film. Every time I watch it I notice some new little intricacy that makes it that bit more special. If you haven’t seen it, you owe it to yourself.
10/10 -- This is by no means a George Lucas remaster of the original trilogy, this is a glance at what cinema can do in the right hands that spent 29 years in the making.
