The story and characters are a little thin, but it still contains many strong elements

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2018)

Los Angeles 2019; a group of replicants have escaped from their own planet and are illegally residing on planet Earth. Their reasons for escape soon become clear as they are searching for the man that created them in order to extend their lifespan. It's up to former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to find the replicants and eliminate them as soon as possible...
Blade Runner is a film that had been in my watchlist for a number of years, but I finally managed to sit down and watch it today. Although it's dubbed as a 'classic' and a 'science fiction masterpiece' I tried to blank these thoughts out and try to take it for what it is and on that basis I found it quite enjoyable...
Granted the film is a little slow-paced and Harrison Ford's narration seems a little bit cheesy, but the fundamental aspects of the story are quite intriguing - fair enough there have been some copycat films that have followed Blade Runner (the recent Alex Garland film Ex Machina clearly owes some debt of gratitude to Blade Runner). I think the interesting thing about this film is that the replicants are painted in quite a negative light, but to be honest I did find myself having some empathy with their cause - they seemed to just want answers and weren't happy that they were only programmed to live for a total of 4 years. Yes the way they go about their business is questionable, but their cause is somewhat understandable.
A couple of failings with this film lie not with the story, but more with how it is developed; the replicants are represented as being self-aware, but emotionless yet other than this we are given little insight into them as characters. A lot of what I've said in the last paragraph are based on my own suppositions and whilst I don't mind figuring out some things for myself in a film I do feel as though I should be given something to work with in the first place. The same can be said for Deckard and his relationship with Rachael - she's an experimental replicant who is capable of emotion through brain implants (presumably in an attempt to fool the Blade Runners), but again this relationship is glossed over and isn't really given the attention that it perhaps deserves - which in some ways taints the warm and fuzzy way that the film ends.
Where the film does excel is in its visuals - it's a striking and beautiful looking film (it's actually scary watching this film now realising that it's only 1 year before it was set). Rutger Hauer is chilling as the leader of the replicants and his final showdown at the end with Harrison Ford was fantastic. A notable mention also should go to Darryl Hannah whose crazy assed antics made her fun to watch.
Blade Runner's thinly developed story and characters are the only really glaring flaws and are the main reasons why I can't bring myself to love it as much as many other people do. That being said though, it still has a lot going for it and is a film that I would still recommend.