Just...Beautiful

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2014)

Noir. Sci-Fi. Thriller. Action-adventure (OK, not so much). Perfectly cast, with Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah, supported by Edward James Olmos and M Emmett Walsh.
Set in a dystopian future where it is night almost all of the time and raining continuously, where we all end up identifying with the main bad guys (The recent 'Divergent' books do call back to this work if you look closely; among other works, of course) where the unavailable CGI is such a boon that enormous care seems to have been taken to conceptualize and create the miniature sets that they do not seem miniature at all. I think, trying to view this as an allegory that Mary Shelley had in mind when she wrote 'Frankenstein' (The replicants that Deckard is hunting down) is quite rewarding as well.
Observing each interaction that Sean Young and Ford's characters have, esp. in the light of the final 'reveal' is also immensely rewarding. Featuring some of the most violent imagery, completely in context with the subject material, along with one of the longest drawn-out climax sequences ever, with perhaps one of the most powerfully-motivated villains, who we actually end up rooting for (I dare anyone not to be 'affected' by the goings-on at that time, and the events leading to it); this is one unforgettable work of art that needs to be enjoyed only on the big screen.
Having lived in a region where this was never released theatrically, how did I get to watch it on the big screen? In 2008/9, I was lucky to be living just 40 miles shy of a few independent cinemas that screened cult classics over each weekend, for 2 nights continuously. The final cut of this movie made the grade for 2 such screenings, and I watched it on both nights, one after the other, with a couple of like-minded friends.
One more thing about the casting - connecting the dots between Daryl Hannah's performance here, and in 'Kill Bill'. T'was fun - try it.
Don't miss it.