Living in Fear in a Quest for Life

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2010)

In the beginning of the Twentieth-First Century, the Tyrell Corporation releases the evolution of robots in the Nexus phase with Replicants that are identical to humans, but with superior strength and agility and the intelligence of the genetic engineers who created them. They are used off-world as slave labor in the colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny in a colony, the Replicants are declared illegal on Earth and hunted down by the Blade Runner units, special police squads that shoot them to kill. The execution of a Replicant is called retirement.
In November 2019, in Los Angeles, the retired Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is summoned by his former chief Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh) that assigns him to hunt down four Replicants that are hidden in Los Angeles. Deckard studies the profiles of Roy (Rutger Hauer), Pris (Daryl Hannah), Leon Kowalski (Brion James) and Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) and finds that they had been designed with four years lifespan maximum and they tried to infiltrate themselves in the Tyrell Corporation. Deckard visits their creator, Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), in his corporation. Sr. Tyrell asks Deckard to demonstrate his Voigt Kampff method to discover the Replicants in his assistant Rachael (Sean Young) and Deckard concludes that she is a sophisticated Replicant but she does not know. When Deckard "retires" Zhora and Leon, he feels affected by their deaths and by the question of Rachel whether he has tested himself to know whether he is a Replicant. But he needs to end his mission and find Roy and Pris.
"Blade Runner" is a melancholic work of art that raises existential questions about fear, life, death, emotions, mortality, humanity, dehumanization and love among other philosophical questions in an environment totally destroyed by excessive pollution, technology, marketing and consumption. The wrecked Earth is left to police and little people only, the others inhabitants have moved to the colonies in the off-world. The conflict appears when the retired Blade Runner Deckard is forced to hunt down Replicants again but now with different feelings, after falling in love for the Replicant Rachel and in doubt whether he is also a Replicant. Sean Young certainly has the best role of her career. The bleak cinematography and special effects are awesome and the soundtrack of Vangelis is among the most beautiful of the cinema history. I can not precisely say how many times I have watched the different versions of this film that is among my five favorite movies in the movie-theater, on VHS, on DVD and now on Blu-Ray, but my guess is at least twelve times. The last times I had seen this film were on 06 May 2000 and 31 May 2003. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Blade Runner"