Sci-fi Noir

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2017)

When "Blade Runner" was released, it was not very successful at the box office, but some viewers recognized it for what it was--a stylish sci-fi noir. Harrison Ford plays the retired blade runner Rick Deckard, whose job is to eliminate rogue/illegal androids. A handful have escaped to Earth, so Deckard is drafted to end the threat.
This film served as the blueprint for many dystopian films to follow. Director Ridley Scott's future Los Angeles is dark, oily, rain-soaked, and smoky. A blend of the old and the new are fused in the gritty Sino-American culture that is ground-level LA, far below the forbidding, soaring towers that house the powerful.
The wonderful cast includes Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh and William Sanderson. Their quirks and passions add a vibrancy that is lacking in their environment, though it is rich in detail.
The pace of the film is leisurely, as if Scott wants the camera to linger over every facial expression, every moment, every ephemeral object. It takes us inside Deckard's vulnerabilities, down dark alleyways of decay, and even reveals the hidden reflections of a photograph.
In the end, "Blade Runner" is a contemplation of mortality. Adapted from a novel by Philip K. Dick--a model for many other sci-fi films to follow--it immerses the viewer in an alternate world that feels both real and unreal, and cleverly asks more questions than it answers.