Pretty good flick

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2001)

I've seen the directors cut and the produce's cut. I also read the book. The film is only loosely based on Dick's short story and had a different take on androidism than the film. The film's take was extremely thorough and more dramatic. I liked the directors cut better than the other because it is unnarrated. This makes the protagonist appear to be the man with faults that I think Scott wants Deckard to be. It also strengthens the parts of the other players because you don't really know who the good guy is which is another thing I think Scott wants to express. Dick's book flatly said androids are bad, no matter what. Scott wants us to ask ourselves what exactly is humanness and must humanness be experienced or can it be implanted.
I like a film that invents a place and time I couldn't invent for myself, that takes me somewhere beyond my own imagination. The sets, casting and camerawork did that for me: exotic LA 2019.
The problem I had with this film is that I think Scott gave up on it half way through the film's production. There are some script continuity problems (what happened to the fifth android that everyone is talking about) and some of the buildings in the long shots sure look fake. I get the feeling that the editor didn't have enough film to work with the result being a pretty good flick instead of great flick.