A stunning work of sci-fi beauty

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2010)

Despite being one of the most highly problematic masterpieces of the American cinema, Blade Runner boasts an influence few films have exerted. It may be self-(over) indulgent – but who can blame you when you 're so damn gorgeous looking? – it may be so absorbed with its majestic outer environment that it sometimes forgets the inner substance of its people but, incredibly, it is precisely this artificiality of it that generates emotional responses you'd never expect. 28 years and no less than five editions later (!), Blade Runner is a cinematically stunning biblical narrative about Man's desire to confront his Maker – and, maybe, gouge his eyes out Paced like a 70's movie really, yet dressed up in its sci-fi nines (enter '80s), it demands your attention simply by addressing directly such trivialities as mortality, identity and, to this writer, a love story for the ages. Set decoration, detail and gusto is of orgasmic intensity and brilliance, Cronenweth's photography entails textbook perfection and Vangelis' score is of clear, undisputed divine origin.