5 minutes of SFX and a bad story

Rating: 3/10 (20 August 2014)

A few points: 1. The fantastic visual effects we see occupy the film for the briefest of moments. They don't really factor into the story AT ALL, other than just as a reminder that indeed, this story takes place in the future. As one other person pointed out, the ENTIRE film takes place at night, and if it's technically daytime out, then every scene is suddenly indoors. You just never see the light of day. The initial title sequence and score is GREAT, but it's like it's all meant for some other storyline/film.
2. What kind of future is this? Outside of a few gadgets like the Void-Kampf machine (which might as well be a polygraph), and perhaps the darkening technology that we see in Mr. Tyrell's penthouse, the only other examples of advanced technology are the spinner cars, Deckard's gun (maybe), and the replicants themselves...which as far as I can tell and the movie relates, aren't really androids, but rather, test-tube humans grown in a lab with bioengineered short lifespans. Not exactly advanced robotics. Other than their physical strength (which seems misused as none of them seem to know anything about fighting, even Roy, and their strength really just doesn't feature in the story much other than them beating up on Deckard a few times), they might as well BE humans. Honestly the plot makes more sense if they weren't replicants in the robotic sense, but the bioengineered test-tube humans I've suggested. This is all the more apparent by Roy's discussion with Tyrell over extended his lifespan, when all that they discuss are cell structures and virus chain molecules, etc, etc...clearly suggesting that the 'replicants' are simply test-tube humans. Another thing I didn't get is the fact that the replicants bleed like any other human when injured, so again, not exactly robots. And, why does a combat-model replicant experience extreme pain when driving a nail into his hand, but not when he gets hit in the head with a crowbar, or when he drives his head through a wall? It's like the story only fits whatever it's trying to accomplish per scene.....
Continuing on with the 'future' thing, Why is virtually everything so utterly retro? Contemporary technology (ceiling fans, TV sets, radios, late model cars, etc) can be seen all throughout the film, giving you the idea that this 'future' is really just an alternate reality set in current day (for 1982). No attempts are really made to depict giant viewscreens, small devices that were if anything, predicted even in the 80's... Other than the brief visual FX we see (point#1), they should well have just set this story in today's world. There's really no reason anything that we see in the movie couldn't well have taken place today. The film completely wastes its futuristic setting.
3. The suggestions that Deckard is a replicant are stupid. The movie goes out of its way to depict Roy and Rachael's persons as the pinnacle of replicant technology, but Deckard is just as weak as any other human. The question has to be asked WHY would you even create a replicant as frail as a normal human if indeed his job was to hunt other replicants who can hand him his own arse in a fight? It would make more sense that ROY was a Blade Runner. Additionally, if anyone is going to know what Deckard is, it's Tyrell, and yet he interacts with Deckard in a standard way, and even the other replicants treat Deckard as they would a human. I also didn't observe anything Deckard's character does in the film as 'good', in that he displays no apparent skills at tracking down replicants that any other cop wouldn't have. His chief calls him in out of semi-retirement saying he wants the old magic, but other than getting himself beat up half the time and being super-lucky the other, I don't get it.
4. It seems kinda stupid that if these replicants are prone to escaping (indeed, they have cops specifically tasked with tracking them down), then it would make sense maybe to have some sort of remote control switchoff device or something? It's like, hey, this is the far future where mankind is apparently out exploring other planets outside our solar system, but we can't keep a handle on the numbered and created replicants? If they're gonna design them with limited lifespans, why not a kill switch or something else? Ack, makes no sense.
5. About the only thing that makes any real sense in this story is Rachael discovering that she's not actually human. They could have done something with that. Perhaps make an entire story centered around her character learning this tidbit, then her trying to extend her life after going through all the emotional trauma, and then being hunted down by a blade runner. It would accomplish everything this movie was trying to tell, but failed at.
6. Indeed, there's really no explanation why the replicants themselves are so utterly violent and psychopathic. This isn't in their programming. Leon is an ammunition loader programmed to take orders and designed for his strength, Pris is a pleasure model. Only Roy and Zora are combat oriented, yet as such, they would likely be level-headed and cautious. It's kinda odd that all of them so easily transcend their 'programming' and pretty much go around killing everyone they encounter. Instead of killing Tyrell, the best outcome I could have seen for Roy upon learning that he can't extend his life is to maybe just enjoy his remaining days, or the scene end with him sobbing uncontrollably like a child, and maybe for Tyrell to take pity on him and turn him off some other way, or maybe to show him that via other models, Roy's memories might live on in a way. Something...jeez.