A Triumph of Style of Substance

Rating: 8/10 (1 August 2005)

To say BLADE RUNNER is an incredible looking film is a gross understatement.
The art direction--whether costume, scenic design, or special effects--is simply stunning, creating an extremely dark, sometimes beautiful, but always fascinating vision of a future Los Angeles that has begun to collapse into grotesque decay. Hardcore science fiction fans will instantly recognize that the city's spectacular highrises reference Fritz Lang's silent METROPOLIS; art history buffs should notice a distinct Frank Lloyd Wright tinge to some of the set designs; costume designs are clearly intended to evoke the spirit of 1940s film noir. The resulting melange is simply extraordinary, very powerful, and incredibly atmospheric.
The cast gives able, stylish performances in keeping with the film's dark but glossy tone, but the script they play is a very muddy one. The story concerns a special agent (Harrison) who is assigned the task of locating and "retiring" (i.e. killing) a handful of violent androids who have illegally landed on earth. While I greatly admire the film's decidedly "open-ended" conclusion, I do not greatly admire the on-going vagueness that besets the storyline as a whole.
We are persistently asked to ask believe that Harrison Ford locates his quarry via the vaguest information imaginable; moreover, although specifically described as a highly experienced and formidable agent, Ford's character gives little evidence of it: he's always being bashed around to the point of death and then overcoming his opponent more through dumb luck than superior skill. Most annoying of all, the film flirts with issues concerning creation of artificial life without actually amplifying any of them in a consistently engaging way.
In spite of these failings, the performances and most particularly the incredibly compelling make BLADE RUNNER a fantastic triumph of style over substance. It is extremely enjoyable, and it is easy to understand how the film has drawn so many enthusiastic fans.
The DVD presently available is a "director's cut" version and offers both widescreen and modified-for-television formats. The former is recommended, for the latter undercuts the visual fascination of the film. The picture quality of the widescreen format is superior; the sound is good but not exceptional. Aside from the choice of formats and brief biographies of the principal players, there are no extras of any kind.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer