A superbe film

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2004)

This film excels in nearly every facet and is an example of timeless movie making. Apart from the hairstyles you'd be hard-pressed to know it was made in 1982.
Story line slow? Only for people who are addicted to the mindless overdrama that hollywood pumps out these days. The pauses and deeply atmospheric moments in this film are part of it's overall sombre texture and thoughtful feeling. Indeed, deep themes of love and death are woven into this film noir tapestry. It's the only example that I know of a film noir set in the future, with Harrison Ford doing an outstanding job as a Philip Marlow character.
The lingering scenes of the dystopic Los Angelas futurscape are stunning in their detail and verisimilitude, using extensive sets and modeling to give a texture which is all but lost with the advent of computer-generated imagery. This film is almost unparalleled in its confidence, as the long, lingering shots of the city and the buildings pay homage to an entirely imaginary architecture and cityscape which, all at the same time, seems awesome and lamentable. It's fascinating to see the filmmaker's imagination at work in the commercial aspects portrayed in this futurscape as well. Coca Cola retains its prominence, but Los Angelas has become dominated by Japanese interests and culture, a clear projection of where Japan seemed to be going in the early 1980's.
Story line simple? The story line is epoch. Rutger Hower seeks immortality, or at least more mortality from the "creator." But the modern god is a scientist, a geneticist who has none of the omnipotence that Hower's character needs. The film weaves in the Greek story of odypeus, which is where I'll stop so as to not give it away. The movie is full of myth and allusion and has a lot to offer in repeated viewings, both in visual and litterary imagery.
Do yourself a favor and buy the Blade Runner DVD and play it on a nice TV with a good sound system. If you can, find a re-issue of it in a theatre. It deserves a big screen and it deserves a lot of credit. Anybody who goes to the trouble to try to discredit it on the imdb website simply does not know what they are talking about.