Do today´s directors dream of making a masterpiece like this?

Rating: 10/10 (20 August 1999)

Yes, they do. A science-fiction writer-critic once complained that Blade Runner is one of the most over-rated movies, arguing that it quite doesn´t live up to the book written by Philip K. Dick. Well, yes, it´s not as complex as the book itself, but I beg to differ. Blade Runner is one of the most UNDER-RATED movies ever. Only science-fiction fans talk about it, thus the movie is looked upon with arrogance by other genre´s fans and critics.
Blade Runner tries, -and accomplishes it-, to be sober, realistic and ironic. Mixing action with calm, steady exposition, it brings the viewer the full view of a post-apocalyptic society, ranging from the high classes to the street level lives of some characters.
You get slowly into the movie, experiencing a strange and cold environment, full of hightech gadgets (TV scanners, Videophones, hover-cars, androids, artificial animals, lie-emotion detectors, etc), and watch a detective-mistery-action-love story develop under a very firm and knowledgeable hand (Ridley Scott´s). The mistery and menace portraid by the androids (one of the focus of the film) remains throughout, gripping the viewer until the very end.
The characters are well developed, the plot is complex and has interesting twists. Sometimes you want the detective to finish his job in a determined way, eliminating the cold threats he has in front; at other times, you can´t help but feel strangely sad as the detective becomes the predator against the threat (namely, against the first android woman, as she runs for her life).
The action may be a little slow, but one knows that when something out of the ordinary flow of events happens, then the screen becomes the place for something thrilling. Whatever happens, Blade Runner never gets too violent; it portrays a possible reality. Having many layers of plot and great depth only emphasizes the greatness of this movie, rendering it realistic, dense and thought-provoking. Emphasis is given to the universal quest of finding out who we are, and when does reality, -life-, terminate.
The acting is very good, from a "I´m forced to do this" attitude by Harrison Ford, to the ultra-sophistication of Sean Young. Rugter Hauer has one of his best performances ever, in this movie.
The visual effects are good, even by today´s standards, making certain that the movie stays within "realism" boundaries.
It´s an intriguing, hypnotic movie. It does not offend the book, albeit being different from it. It´s worth seeing again and again, and, if you think of all the sequels happening with some movies (not referring to Star Wars, of course), well worth some kind of continuation (meaning, of course, sequel...). But I doubt this will ever happen. Maybe it´s best this way, who knows? Anyway, this movie is part of my big and wonderful movies constelation: Star Wars, Alien, Dark City, The Matrix. And for me, that´s all, folks!