Brilliantly staged classic

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2007)

Just about everyone who has seen this classic 1982 visionary sci-fi flick from Ridley Scott has seen the version with Harrison Ford's voice-over, which was the first production release. The more recent "director's cut" (which isn't, really) omits the narration and includes a few theme-clarifying scenes. A true director's cut would have included scenes omitted by producers for lack of money and time during production. The narrated version has been viewed so extensively that the ambiguity and subtlety intended by the director will never be widely experienced.
That said, the confusing and legendary production hassles associated with this film did little to reduce its impact since the real star of the film is the visual interpretation of a future world full of pollution, advertising and proletarian masses. Superimposed is the story of a hunt for renegade androids, but that is secondary. The poignant and depressing mood, highlighted with moments of nobility and love, presents an antidote for Scott to the criticism of his previous Alien, scorned by some critics as a hunt for a monster in a rubber suit.
Comparison to the movie's handling of the nature of the androids and the hunters to that of Philip Dick, the author of the novel on which it is based, provide thematic intrigue. Are the androids admirable despite their brutality? Are the humans, despite theirs? Has the inhuman environment created a world where nobility is impossible, or can love transcend such degradation?
On first viewing, themes and story elements matter little. You'll revel in the mood and luscious visuals complemented by an achingly sad Vangelis music track. Bilious gas plumes, giant Gaudian advertising blimps, 800-story urban pyramids, skyscrapers with moving billboards on their sides--all at night, with a constant dreary rain--provide enough distraction to make even a movie without substance watchable. But this isn't "2001 - A Space Odyssey," which gets so bogged down in visuals the story explodes. Harrison Ford falls for Sean Young--a replicant like those he hunts. Whether they manage to live happily ever after or if Ford's character is human are two of the unanswered conundrums in the script.
Despite Blade Runner's flaws, it remains an enduring classic far surpassing its original cult status.