Humanity and God

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2005)

Three genres are traced back to Expressionism: film noir, science fiction, and horror. All three are represented to some effect (well, maybe not so much horror, though a few moments are spine-tingling) to create the dirty, sulky atmosphere of 2019 Los Angeles, where the rich have gone to live on the off-world colonies and the rest of humanity bubbles and ferments in a disgusting world of industrial sludge and ever-pouring rain, a world now penetrated by four replicants (androids) escaped from the off-world colonies and who must be hunted down by Deckard, a blade runner.
Such is the overview of the richly articulated and darkly felt exploration into humanity and creation, where humans have created humans and those humans are aggressors against their creators. Man, beast, and robot are mixed and only divided by social taboos and product numbers, only that doesn't necessarily make the humans much different either considering how literally crushed they are by industry and advertising ever flashing through the streets in neon signs.
The story arch follows Deckard as he is forced unwillingly into hunting down the escaped replicants and slowly finds all roles reversed, both of the hunt and of the status. As he falls in love with the replicant Rachel, Deckard is forced to hide her from the very people he works for just as much as he's forced to pass their judgement on people whose only crime is the desire to live. Such poetic exposition is not realized through the human characters; their actions are too mechanic and bland that they nearly seem invisible. It's realized in the replicants, who desire, love, feel, and hurt.
This is an awesome and powerful look into what it means to be human and God. Both the stylistic elements and the craftsmanship of this film work together perfectly to create an atmosphere often attempted but never as fully realized in this distinct and important film. It's a must for all lovers of cinema to experience at least once, and hopefully see again and again and again.
--PolarisDiB