Utter failure

Rating: 2/10 (2 April 2019)

To sum up: this film is 100% style over story. Stylistically, this is a masterpiece that is almost impossible to match. The visuals are amazing, the world the film creates, however unrealistic, comes across as very complex and persuasive. Attention to detail is astounding, costumes are great, sets are impressive, lighting is just beautiful, music is haunting and unforgettable. It's an artistic effort that truly impresses. BUT: where is the story? I have watched this film many times, and I could never get immersed in the story, especially the moral message. It is all so superficial and useless. What really irritated me is that the film never develops the love story it starts. The love story should have been the emotional and intellectual core of the film. All the issues a 'replicant' can face, regarding their identity, purpose, or attitude towards death, could have been explored through the love story. Hell, you didn't even need Rutger Hauer and his gang of weirdos who go around killing people. The climax of the film should have involved Harrison Ford and his love interest. If Hauer was to be in the climax, he should have tried to kill the girl and not Ford. That would have been far more satisfying. Instead, the women disappears from the plot as soon as the love story starts, and we watch Hauer go on his vendetta. I did not want to see him and I didn't need to see all those action scenes. This film never should have been an action film to begin with, but rather a detective love story in the film noir style. The action just ruined it all, as far as I'm concerned. Also, this film is such a masterpiece in terms of style, and screams 'A movie', yet Hauer, as likable as he is, is an icon of B movies. This didn't sit too well with me. I felt like I was watching two films: one a B movie with Hauer wreaking havoc, and the other a detective film noir with a doomed love story. And the two don't fit well together.
I give this film two stars: one for the visuals, and one for the soundtrack. But I hate the plot. And it is Ridley Scott's failure that he focused entirely on style, and didn't care about the plot itself. Scott is in general obsessed with visuals in his films, but he needs a great script in order to make a great film. Blade Runner has a weak plot, and that is the film's undoing.