Maybe I'm missing something... *minor spoilers, clearly marked and confined to a single paragraph*

Rating: 8/10 (30 June 2005)

I rented this at Blockbuster after thinking about it for a very, very long time. A friend of mine had recommended to check this out, and that I should go for the Director's Cut version. So naturally I got quite excited when I found this in said rental store and noticed that it was indeed the Director's Cut. When I finally sat down to watch it, I was immediately engrossed in the action. Not long after it starts, something happens. Then the movie kind of slows down... a lot. It keeps that slow pace for a very long time... and then something happens again... and it returns to the slow pace. The whole movie is like that... mostly slow, with a burst of action here and there. I don't know if this was on purpose or not... but as a result, I found the movie mostly dull. Just for the record, I wasn't expecting a huge action-packed sci-fi shoot-everything-you-see extravaganza. The plot is pretty good, just very oddly paced. The acting is pretty much flawless. The actors playing Replicants have to portray a adult characters with the emotional maturity of a young child... and they pull it off perfectly. The special effects are amazing; quite an accomplishment for the time the film was made.
*MINOR SPOILERS*
One of my biggest problems with this film is that the investigative portion of the film doesn't seem to hold water... Deckard pretty much runs into each of the Replicants casually, rather than figure out where they are, or where they will go.
*END SPOILERS*
Now, what I found great about this film(and the main reason everyone loves it, I would suspect) is the great theological and ethical questions it asks. Chief of them would probably be: If we actually created Artificial Intelligence(A.I.), would it be right to consider them lesser creatures... as opposed to equals? It also demonstrates how everything we create are for our own use, not for the greater good. And how everything we create, we exploit and use. The film holds many truths about human nature and much food for thought, stuff that will create discussions between you and your friends... but not enough. Having watched this so close to my second viewing of Abre Los Ojos, I can't help but compare... and this just loses right away. In the end, this is a very good sci-fi film with astounding visuals and some depth, but I fail to see how it's the best sci-fi film of all time. I recommend this to fans of science fiction, particularly of the works of Philip K. Dick(since apparently this is a very accurate representation of his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep... one I have yet to find and read). Be prepared for a oddly paced and somewhat slow film, though. 8/10