More Human Than Human..

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2013)

..so says the motto of the Tyrell Corporation, which builds humanoid robots, called "replicants" to do manual labor on off world colonies. The latter part is key, as replicants have been forbidden on earth, and any replicant who defies the order is to be hunted down and "retired" (read: killed) by special police called blade runners (replicants are supposed to be retired in 4 years regardless). Set in 2019 Los Angeles, Blade Runner presents a bleak dystopian future. The very first thing you see after the opening credits are these giant smokestacks belching black clouds and fiery bursts into the air, then high rise buildings which dwarf anything that's been built today, with full picture/video ads playing on the sides of the buildings, plus flying cars called spinners. This contrasts with the poverty and despair which you find below (shades of the old sci fi movie "Metropolis"). The main character is Rick Deckard, a blade runner, played by Harrison Ford. He's up against a group of rebel replicants led by Roy Battie (Rutger Hauer) who have come back to Earth. They want to be human like everyone else, and are willing to die (or kill) trying. There's another interesting twist to the story, which is hinted at more strongly in the director's cut than in the original: Is Deckard himself a replicant?
The concept was very good (taken from a story by Philip K. Dick, who's had more than one of his stories made into movies posthumously). Human robots who simply want to be human. The idea of humans killing and enslaving each other is not new; it's been going on throughout history. But in this case, humans have elevated themselves to the level of playing God by creating artificial life, with emotions and false memories of childhood, then subsequently extinguishing that life when it is no longer considered beneficial to the general populous, or if said life rebels. Again, nothing new. The eugenicist movement of the turn of the last century, which gave us the likes of Hitler, Stalin and Mao, believed this stuff too.
Given everything this movie has going for it, I should love it. Alas...it moved at an absolute snails pace, and the character development just wasn't there. I just didn't care that much about what happened to the characters in the story, and given the story and subject matter involved I SHOULD care..deeply. The mere fact that Ridley Scott re-cut this movie three times tells you all you need to know there. Unfortunately, re-cutting Blade Runner is like trying to give an ugly building a fresh coat of paint...it's still ugly. Ironically, what this movie has going for it in spades are the visuals of the futuristic Los Angeles; they're nothing short of stunning, and this was long before the advent of CGI.
Blade Runner could have been great. It SHOULD have been great. It's disappointing to see such a great idea for a movie fall short.