The finest of Sci-fi genre, and my personal favorite film of all times (Had to cut my review in parts due to a word-limit for reviews on IMDb)

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2017)

It is ironic how Sci-fi genre is the most dependent on the technical side of the filmmaking compared to other genres and yet with all the technological improvements we will probably never see a better sci-fi film than most of the older ones. And even more ironically, the technical side of the filmmaking was the very quality that created the unique styles of the old sci-fi films. So, what makes these old films, Blade Runner in particular, so good looking compared to modern films, despite the fact that they had little technology back then? Speaking of visual style alone, what makes it so memorable compared to new films that are made with all the technological possibilities at filmmakers' disposal? There are three main answers to these questions:
1. singular artistic vision as opposed to an army of graphic designers,
2. director's own decisions as opposed to a director who does whatever he's told to,
3. and lastly care and love in craftsmanship for the film by those who involved in making of it.
Did you know that one of the buildings in Blade Runner was actually a kitchen sink? With all its miniatures and matte paintings the city looks gorgeous. Because people took their time to create it and they cared. It looks more real too than those created with CGI. And I know that uncanny valley effect is a term used for humans but I think it applies to objects as well. You can tell, most of the time, whether an object is physically there or it is a computer effect. CGI looks cheap. Blade Runner is like a hand-made classic European sports car whereas most modern films are like a Toyota Corolla, supposed to be better than the old ones but they are not, made out of plastic in an assembly line, and they look cheap.
Another thing, other than the visuals, that makes this film so good is the soundtrack. Vangelis is one my favorite composers of all time. His style is unique and his music is so emotional. The soundtrack for Blade Runner perfectly fits and even helps create the ambiance of its universe. There are some films, like Jaws (1975) for example, that owe most of their success to their composers. I am not saying Blade Runner is one those films. Because it's visually and story-wise so good, It would still be a great film with different soundtrack, but at the same time, the soundtrack of Blade Runner is probably the best soundtrack for a movie ever, even though it didn't depend solely on its soundtrack for the mood.
The story and acting are also very good. Though I must note that when I say acting, I mean Rutger Hauer's performance specifically. What a great performance from him. In fact, I wouldn't even bring up the acting in this film if it wasn't for Rutger Hauer. He totally steals this film. Harrison Ford is so mediocre most of the time and at times his acting gets even weird and bad. But in my opinion, this contrast of acting performances somewhat serves the film in a serendipitous way. We see how much there is to Roy, how a great character he is compared to Deckard, who looks like a mere policeman following orders with no depth to his personality. This brings me to the story of the film which is very simple in itself but brings up so many questions to the mind. Roy, an artificial human -a replicant as named in the film- seeking more life. As an agnostic person who suffers from death anxiety, I couldn't relate more to any movie character in my life than I relate to Roy. Don't we all suffer from fear of death, like Roy? I don't even know if I was created or not, as an agnostic. So I don't get to go after my creator, if there is such a thing, and ask for more life. But Roy has this chance and this is the plot of the film. But it is only incidental. For me, the film is all about the tragedy of being mortal. And by giving replicants a life span of only 4 years, we are reminded how short our own lives are. It is hard for us to realize somethings in life before an artist magnifies or reduces something so we can see it better. 4 years, 40 years, 80 years... In eternity, all those numbers lose their significance, as Roy put it more poetically ''...all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...''
And then there is this fact about Roy that he is an artificial human, but his passion for life makes you think about what makes us alive and sentient. I remember this line from another film ''I, Robot (2004)'' it goes like this ''...When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness?...'' this is a very good question indeed. In fact, even for (organic) organisms, you can question the extent of their consciousness or for more simple life forms you can even think whether they are conscious at all. Or you can ask what makes us special and unique. Is it because we have souls? Or perhaps soul is something we made up and it is all about the chemicals that effect our decisions and the complexity comes from merely endless combinations and permutations of these chemicals. That idea makes you question your very own existence. The very fact that we have medication for depression tells us something about human mind. But we can speculate about these facts. I choose to accept that Roy is nothing less than a human in that matter. I've heard people complaining how they cannot relate to a ''robot'' regarding this film, but in my opinion that just shows lack of imagination.