Blade Runner (Director's Cut), My Favorite Sci-fi Film

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 1999)

This review is about the Director's Cut version of Blade Runner which is superior to the original release with its muddled narration and fake ending. The Director's Cut transforms a good movie into a great one.

What are the most popular Sci-fi movies these days, Blade or The Matrix? You notice the trench coats, the dark sets and the hunting for the bad guys plot lines? In many ways these movies are pale imitations of Blade Runner. Movie fans are all excited about virtual reality plots with super intelligent machines. It's all in Blade Runner but in a much more serious way.

Underneath a classic police manhunt/detective story lies visions of the future from author Phillip K. Dick. The super intelligent future machines will be our slaves not our masters. They will be genetically based, created and sold by huge powerful corporations. The wealthy will live in luxury while most people live in dirty, over populated cities in a polluted environment. These are the basic premises of Blade Runner and frankly I think most people have trouble dealing with it because it is likely to happen. Matrix fans talk about sinister forces being in control of the world. Blade Runner makes it clear who these controllers will be.
And the film goes deeper. To create synthetic human beings the creators must be able to program the "replicant's" minds, that is control their reality. What is real or programming? The replicant does not know. It is virtual reality not in the arcade game world of The Matrix. Blade Runner predicts that science will be able to alter memories and thus reality. If a Corporation can alter a replicant's memories why not those of a naturally born human being? This issue is powerfully shown in Harrison Ford's scene at the piano which is covered in family photos, the symbol of memories.
And the film goes deeper still. If "machines" are at least as smart as us, have feelings and are self aware, do they not deserve our respect and have rights? The tortured lives of two replicants illustrate this; Roy, the leader of the small slave revolt and Rachel, the pathetic female who does not know what she is and is later emotionally crushed by the truth.

Blade Runner is more than a collection of ideas or a sharply accurate prediction of the future. It is a technical tour de force. These are the best sets (along with the many costumed extras) I have seen in a movie which truly create another world. The special effects, which are used to make this future more real, are very good. And the "realism" continues; How many typical Sci-fi heroes get hurt? In the typical Schwazenegger and now Matrix tradition the hero can get shot at by ten thousand bullets and not get a scratch. Blade Runner rightfully ignores this nonsense. Harrison Ford has to hunt down 3 very dangerous creatures and he gets hurt doing it! What a concept!
It has been said that science fiction is mostly not about science but about fantasy. Blade Runner ignores this trend. It is very real and is masterfully crafted to create this reality and future. It is a grim prediction and is why this movie has never been a big hit, too much reality probably. I wouldn't have it any other way. Blade Runner is a brilliant film that has the depth to keep me coming back to it again and again.