"Did you ever take the test yourself?"

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2013)

I first saw this on its release in the early eighties with a cynical, world-weary, Harrison Ford voice-over giving it a Raymond Chandler feel. Clearly the "suits" thought audiences would have trouble making sense of the barrage of fantastic images and concepts that would assail them for 2 hours, and thought some explanation would be in order. They may have been right.
Shorn of the commentary, the 'Final Cut' and unfolds as a series of fantastic and often disturbing images which leave the viewer struggling to make sense of it all. Just when you're ready to dismiss it however as a style-over-substance sequence of remarkable set-pieces made by a ad-man at the top of his game, the film hits you with scene of almost fathomless depth. We are nearly there, you realise.
Indeed the issues explored still seem hugely relevant and only the Vangelis soundtrack is curiously dated and rooted in the (retrospectively) weird 80s. The cast is tremendous, with Ford exuding his familiar country-boy charm, Sean Young touching and fragile, and Rutger Hauer stealing the laurels with his once-seen-never-forgotten portrayal of the replicant who obtains a soul, Roy.
The script is one of the most quotable of all time though takes substantial liberties with the Philip K. Dick novel on which it is based. The book makes a more metaphysical exploration of the meaning of humanity and "empathy", and is strongly recommended to those who enjoyed the film.