Blade Runner (1982)
Man Has Made His Match... Now It's His Problem
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, Joanna Cassidy, James Hong, Morgan Paull, Kevin Thompson, John Edward Allen, Hy Pyke
Director: Ridley Scott
Running Time: 117 minutes
US MPAA rating: RUK BBFC rating: 15
Action, Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
On DVD Two things sci-fi movies have taught me about the future: 1) We're not as good at inventing stuff as Hollywood thinks we are (we're now well past the year 2000, and I'm still waiting for flying cars, teleporter machines, and hover-boards) and 2) If we MUST build a race of artificial people, PLEASE let's not be daft enough to make them stronger and more intelligent than ourselves (why not build them with the muscle and intellect of, say, Bruno Brookes, and leave it at that?).
'Blade Runner', like The Terminator and more recently I, Robot, gives us a glimpse of a future where Lesson Number 2 has definitely not been learned. It's Los Angeles, 2019, and mega-corporations have genetically engineered a new breed of super human to do their leg-work for them. The trouble is, these "Replicants" aren't just handy with a Black & Decker Workmate - they also happen to be pretty bloody dangerous, which is why they've become outlawed on planet Earth.
Step forward the "Blade Runners", an elite police squad charged with hunting down these pesky Replicants and putting them into "retirement" (which might mean giving them bus-passes and sending them to live in nursing homes, but I somehow doubt it). One such Blade Runner is Deckard (Harrison Ford), and he's on the trail of a particularly nasty Replicant gang, among them Pris (Daryl Hannah, sporting what looks like the early stages of a beehive) and Roy (Rutger Hauer, trouser-wettingly scary as always).
What ensues is a dark, creepy and often thrilling chase, as Deckard attempts to track down and defeat Roy's rabble before they end up going into business as dodgy cowboy builders and causing no end of misery for right-minded folks everywhere. Do it for the people, Decks!
Lauded by film buffs the world over and recently named the greatest sci-fi flick ever by science boffins, it's not difficult to see why 'Blade Runner' is so popular. Sure, the plot's a little thin and Vangelis' dramatic score can be a bit on the obtrusive side at times, but for mood, atmosphere and sheer visual splendour this matches anything director Ridley Scott went on to make in future years. In fact, its special effects are so impressive that even now, more than two decades on, it still looks fresh. If this movie had been kept secretly tucked away on the back of a shelf for all that time, and released into cinemas tomorrow, nobody would be the any the wiser as to how old it is - providing Ford, Hannah and Hauer were also kept hidden away on that shelf, that is.
DVD Extras: This Director's Cut Special Edition box-set contains a set of eight glossy card prints, an exclusive limited edition Senitype image, a copy of the original theatrical poster, and a book of the shooting draft script by Hampton Fancher and Big Davey Peoples. And what about the disc itself? Well, it has to be said it's a bit of a let-down in comparison - all you get is some production notes, cast bios and film highlights (and no, regardless of how much the manufacturers always try to tell us otherwise, "Interactive menu" and "Scene access" are NOT extra features!!).
Version Reviewed: Blade Runner - Special Edition is one of a multitude of editions which also includes the, pricey, Blade Runner (Limited Edition Collector's Set)
It's Got: To explain why Rutger Hauer ends up in his pants. I never did understand that bit.
It Needs: To have kept the title of the original Philip K. Dick novel ('Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' has a much better ring to it!).
Alternatives: Minority Report, Total Recall, I, Robot, A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Summary: Thrilling, accessible and visually magnificent, it's high time we all made room for another watch of this timeless slice of sci-fi noir.
Review by Gary Panton
Review Date: 10th February 2005
External Links
Blade Runner at the IMDB
Comments2 Comments |
| I managed to get a car airborne back before this film even came out. I still have a scar or two to prove it. As for the race of artificial people, we have them too. Some of them are pretty scary, the Bride of Wildenstein, Pamela Anderson, but the only real threat is getting your eye poked out by a silly con tit. |
| Comment by:- Hugh Jarsse | | 10 February 2005 | ip: logged |
| This is a pretty good movie ;) |
| Comment by:- shyampandit | www.shyampandit.info | 12 February 2005 | ip: logged |
