Surprising, exciting, inconsistent: Blade Runner.

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2008)

Upon my second viewing of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, I enjoyed and appreciated the film a lot more. The film is successful in its handling of the loaded subject of artificial life, introducing new ideas of false memories and a unique vision of a dystopian future. The core build up is well crafted, performed and shot, however it loses momentum towards the end, causing me to question the films central achievements and consistency.
Blade Runner follows Rick Deckard, an archetypal retired cop coerced into one final job to catch and kill 4 rogue Replicants (Robots forced to do slave labour for humans). The film plays with crime, sci-fi and noir themes, distorting our expectations and forming a unique twist on the conventions found in each genre.
Running through the film are motifs of eyes and Christian symbolism, the former including the intense Voight-Kampff test scene and the above eye shot with the industrialised, dystopian L.A sprawling ahead. The Christian symbolism is a questionable inclusion in a film with no major connection with religion, one flawed example being Roy Batty's hand pierced by a nail during his pursuit of Deckard. Likening Batty to Jesus doesn't fit with his violent, calculating personality shown through the film. The subtext here seems to have been added as an afterthought, it's too sloppy to relate to any ideas the film has already established, and too major a comparison to introduce at such a late stage.
The film is infamous for its long-running debate about whether or not Deckard is a replicant. Both sides have their merits, Deckard being a replicant would lend to the ideas concerning artificial life and the existence of an objective reality, however it would detract from the complex history and social conditions surrounding replicants the film presents - it would be very unlikely that a replicant would be put in a position of power such as a blade runner, even for experimental purposes. This final mystery disregards the emotional crux of the film, both humans and replicants are shown to be emotionally equal, showing balanced levels of thought and feeling. Deckard potentially being one is almost irrelevant to his character, disregarding the obvious irony of him hunting his own kind and not knowing it. The ambiguity revealed in the final moments distracts from the poetic image of a man and replicant in love, fleeing society and breaking all the rules as they go.
Roy Batty's death speech is the highpoint of the film script-wise; his sudden jolt of heroics is shocking and performed well by Rutger Hauer, who makes the insane robot's bout of divine understanding believable and compelling. However when considering the relationship between Batty and Deckard, Deckard having killed Batty's replicant girlfriend Pris, Batty minutes before breaking Deckard's fingers, and the blade runner's numerous attempts to kill him, his final act of kindness seems like a well concealed deus-ex-machina. One argument could be Batty accepts his fate in his dying moments, no longer having a reason to kill Deckard. But earlier Batty finds out he has no chance of life, yet still mercilessly kills J.F Sebastian - despite well deserving of its iconic status, the rooftop sequence doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
The set design and lighting (or lack of) compliments the narratives stylistic twists, the people in their flying cars don't enjoy a luxurious future of economic stability and urban technological perfection, instead spluttering through darkness, drowning in noirish smoke and patronising talking advertisements. J.F Sebastian's decrepit, rainwater filled home is an excellent manifestation of the state of Earth in the future. Abandoned, half-destroyed, and gradually dissolving away as the opportunity of the future slips by, the rain forever dripping into nothingness.