Cannot believe I took this long to watch this.... Mesmerising...compelling...

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2017)

I've been meaning to watch Blade Runner for 20 years. It didn't release in India when I was young but the movie had assumed cult status in the video library circuit in Mumbai even then. I just kept procrastinating - partly because it had been built into such an event that actually watching it would have to be a disappointment compared to what it had become in my mind. Really poor reason but that's what it is. I finally decided to watch it this summer because I know Blade Runner 2 is on it way (finally) and I couldn't not watch it. I've watched it thrice in the past 24 hours! Each time kicking myself for seeing it earlier... much earlier.
It is 25 years old and its still an absolute masterpiece. The visualisation and imagery that Ridley Scott brings just blows the mind - the dystopian reality (I thought the Japanese lady and the "Enjoy Coke" are so symbolic side by side!). Of course the view of the future - which had till then been shiny (Star Trek, Star Wars - to a lesser extent) - looks nothing but dreary. It's a crowded, multi-cultural view of the future Los Angeles - looking anything but how it looks now. Ridley Scott must have really spent a lot of money creating this vision. It is Los Angeles 2019 (now that we are nearly there - am I glad we didn't go as far down as Scott imagine ed!) - and oddly has a New York feel. Rainy, tall buildings, dense... the streets feel like basements...urban decay is at its worst
The characterisations are also special - but my favourite is the character of Rutger Hauer. The Replicant who teaches the human a bit of humanity. I felt there are a few gaps - perhaps because of the print I saw - in that I felt the move from Deckard as an aberrant disestablishmentarian to an obedient cop is too sudden. As also the love between Deckard and the replicant - Rachael from interrogative to something else.
My simple recommendation to those who have heard of this movie and not watched - wait no further. Just watch it. Of course try and answer the big question... is Deckard a Replicant?!