Favorite Science Fiction Movie imparts pure Melancholy

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2009)

Saw the original cut of Blade Runner in late 80's as a kid growing up then. It was and is an utterly mesmerizing cinematic experience - easily my favorite science fiction film. It's mixture of visuals, music, characters, and dialog rendering a future succeeds in evoking despair, sadness, and finality of something winding down. The movie is wonderfully re-watchable and fantastically brings you down with melancholy. Everything isn't always happy in the world, and it's just as valid and cathartic to experience this in a movie as any other emotion. As counter to many Blade Runner enthusiasts, I'm a huge fan of Harrison Ford's narration - beyond exactly what he's saying I think his octave and cadence lends credence to the mood - it's an enhancement. We feel comforted by his voice validating what his character is going through, unable to make sense of a world and people and replicants blurring together. Vangelis as with Year of Living Dangerously and Chariots of Fire, creates wondrous work key to creating the experience with blue-sy retreads and electronic flat/sharp chords. Ridley Scott has never surpassed himself in scope and detail - his perfectionism and vision have never been better. This is a beacon and marker for other movies to try to aspire to not only in terms of look and design but of effectiveness in evoking an intended atmosphere and mood, exactly what movies are designed to do.