The film that launched a thousand others...

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 1998)

Ridley Scott's powerful sci-fi thriller is a visually stunning mixture of action and telling social comment.
So many other films, books and TV shows have borrowed from Bladerunner that it is nearly always the look and feel of the film that is commented on. Always dark, always raining, the Earth of Bladerunner is an eerie mixture of Gothic, art deco, pseudo-Japanese high tech and downtown slum. It's gritty, it's noir...it even has a Chandler-esque (Raymond, not Friends) voice-over: apparently added to make the plot easier to understand and, in my opinion, erroneously deleted from the Director's Cut.
It is the basic premise of the film, however, that, challenges one the most: do machines created to be human, with human emotions and freedom of action, remain the property of their creators or should they be free. Almost subconsciously the film makes the audience deal with the question of slavery, and really makes one realise how precious the time we have to spend with our loved ones is.
Harrison Ford superbly plays his usual "ordinary Joe trying to do right", but it is Rutger Hauer who shines the most. As Roy Batty, leader of the Replicants, he achieves just the right mix of ruthless but vulnerable. He also gets all the best lines!
See Bladerunner on the big screen if you can: if only for the soaring views of future LA seen from above and the post-climax "light from the dark" ending. I still think the original version is better than the Director's Cut: but it's a good excuse to see both in order to decide for yourself!