The best metaphysical thriller since "North by Northwest", but much darker.

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2007)

Underneath the spectacular and somehow sad shots of the futuristic urban landscape, deep and disquieting questions are creeping: Are my memories real? Are they my own? And if not, who am I? Was I born, or created with a banal purpose? Is my disappearance preestablished even since before my existence? Will every thought be lost? Not only my thoughts, but all of them? How do we price life?
The eye concentrates all "Blade Runner" simbology: consciousness, conscience, and the unconscious, the faking of emotions, identity, sadness facing an unfriendly future, and the killing of creators: in fact, the murder of aspiring deities. That postmodern Prometheus named Eldon Tyrell could have thought better than creating cold-hearted creatures: his demise at the hands of one of his creations (after an almost incestuous kiss) is coherent in a film obsessed with eyes.
Unforgettable scene when Pris, created to be a living sexual doll, but with a mind of her own that grants her the ability to suffer, is hiding among genuine mindless dolls. And then there is the lyric aspect of the film: a sensible romance and wonderful music, and of course that final monologue just before the last mortal replicant releases his soul (symbolized, in a very classical way, by a bird).
All this is present in both versions of the film, but the director's cut is better, more noir, more conclusive, and with a richer layering: in the commercial cut, Gaff's little figures (besides their symbolism of Deckard's situation) only serve a minor revelation, namely that Gaff had been at Deckard's home and let Rachel live, while in the director's cut the (now absolutely necessary) unicorn dream sequence turns this into a major revelation, because Deckard's intimate thoughts are known by Gaff, which means Deckard is a replicant.
Ridley Scott has never equaled himself, not even in "Thelma and Louise" or "Gladiator", and the merit of his co-workers can not be overlooked: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples as screenwriters, composer Vangelis, designer Syd Mead, FX wizard Douglas Trumbull, etc.
Not to forget Philip K. Dick's inherently philosophical literature, much of whose anticipation will continually catch us in the next years, as unfearful scientists begin to play with the possibility of creating artificial minds: beware of your offsprings!
10 out of 10 for Ridley Scott and all the rest, and perhaps for a masterpiece that, in a certain sense, created itself at the right time.