An In-depth Description and Review

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2019)

Blade Runner was filmed in 1982 with conventional filming techniques. It was directed by Ridley Scott, and major actors in the film were Harrison Ford, Sean Young, and Rutger Hauer. The story itself is based on the short story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick, and Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples wrote the screenplay. The soundtrack was written by Vangelis. The film is a sci-fi/noir detective film. The film is rated R, and compared to other more modern R-rated films, Blade Runner is one of the milder R-rated movies. Many consider Blade Runner to be a classic, and there are several elements in the film that support this feeling. Though Blade Runner is approximately 36 or 37 years old, readers who want to avoid spoilers, pay attention: This review will have spoilers, but warnings will be given beforehand. The section with spoilers will be marked by the following: *-*-*-*-*
The basic plot of the movie is that in the 21st Century, Tyrell Corporation has advanced robotics to the Nexus era, during which Replicants were created. Replicants are essentially cyborgs that are almost identical to humans, and the Nexus 6 model of Replicants were designed to be better than humans in every aspect except one-- due to fear of them overpowering their creators, they were programmed to have a four-year lifespan. Replicants were used for slave labor in off-world colonies until they were declared illegal on Earth after a Nexus 6 combat team murdered people and escaped. Several task forces were formed to eliminate any Replicants who escaped to Earth; these task forces were called Blade Runner Units (hence the title of the film). The main character, a man named Rick Deckard is a member of such a unit who is called into duty (against his will) to hunt down and kill the four remaining members of the earlier-mentioned Nexus 6 combat team who escaped to Earth. The setting is stylized-- Los Angeles in a futuristic 2019 -- and the storyline is told in a linear fashion.
The soundtrack is a major part of the movie. The film uses the soundtrack, characterization, editing, lighting, and camera movement to inspire feelings of calm or dread in order to truly heighten the experience. As most of the film happens in heavy shadow, the few locations that are lit have symbolic meaning; these locations are Tyrell Corporation (which is almost constantly illuminated by sunlight or electrically, and the architecture of the building itself is reminiscent of a Mesoamerican pyramid), and, though less frequently, Deckard's apartment. Cuts were used to establish a rhythm, to shift between characters (Deckard and the Nexus 6s), to transition between different areas, and to mark the passage of time. Specific camera movements and angles are used to direct the viewer's attention to certain things in each scene (objects in the environment that aid character development, etc.). Different languages are used (one character only speaks in English once), and unspoken words are often fairly easy to interpret. Suspension of disbelief is maintained fairly well throughout the movie, and this is broken only by a) the fact that it is now 2019, and the filmmakers gave people too much credit on how technologically advanced society would be now (similarly to Back to the Future), and b) it is raining in Los Angeles in almost every shot, and though this is to maintain the atmosphere of a noir film, it almost never actually rains in Los Angeles.
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There were only two things I personally didn't like about Blade Runner. One was the fact that the relationship between Deckard and Rachael was forced. I'm aware that this was most likely to fill the troupe of "good guy gets the girl," but Deckard clearly forced himself onto Rachael. The romance subplot had a purpose, it was just rushed and didn't have much basis behind it. The second was how needlessly drawn out Tyrell's death scene was. I know this was probably to show off the special effects they had developed, and death scenes are usually exaggerated (especially in R-rated films), but it really didn't need to be that drawn out. Besides, Roy crushing Tyrell's skull and then proceeding to gouge his eyeballs out was a bit much.
The fact that Gaff could suddenly speak fluent English at the end when he never bothered to before was a bit confusing, but I suppose Gaff just didn't feel like it until then.
Also, the only things that gave Blade Runner an R rating were the gore that occured in the death scenes/fight scene at the end, and the fact that one of the Nexus 6s (Zhora) had her "titties" out on screen for about 20 seconds while getting dressed.
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Overall, if you're a fan of sci-fi/noir detective films, Harrison Ford, or Ridley Scott, then you should check out Blade Runner and see what you think.