Your life is not complete without watching this.

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2008)

A while last year, I thought I'd check this film out (this was before the Final Cut version was out). I wasn't that familiar with the whole history of the film's terrifying progress at first and reading 'director's cut' on the cover (this was the unofficial 90's director's cut), I was worried I'd never see the film in its true original artistic form as I thought it would've been. After watching and doing a bit of research, I realised there's no need.
Everything... was beyond anything I had seen the first time watching it. The score is very, very atmospheric all thanks to the mastermind composer of Vangelis, fitting incredibly well with the setting.
Special effects, were almost convincing, I was so awed by what they achieved back in the time. It proves that model effects can do a lot than cheesy looking, mindless and overused CGI crap Hollywood produces nowadays, when it began as a supposed revolutionary advantage for creating more convincing dinosaurs for the time Jurassic Park was successfully released in the 90's.
But what justifies the film importantly is plot and characters. Harrison Ford's role as a Blade Runner has great character development, with the film sometimes trying to pose 'that question' upon the audience: is he human? Rutger Hauer's villain role in the film also has great character development as leader of rebel replicants trying to escape slavery and seeking vengeance upon their masters. Then it strikes me: what if he really wanted to be more human? Indeed, the character mentions wanting 'more'.
When the film was first released, it did of course not go well with the audience. I think at the time, Sci-Fi was more popular with the action sub-genre than the unfamiliar approach of taking a different route, most importantly, when audiences catch Harrison Ford's name in the lead role, they expected the film to follow routes with Star Wars, instead with reusing and blending noir, an old genre probably considered dead. However, that was only half the audience's opinion. The other half was more open eyed to the structure.
Although it had mixed success on its first release, it of course followed a cult following, and considering the theatrical version was edited from the vision Ridley Scott had in mind for 1982's first audience, it has been improved throughout the 90's until an official Final Cut came out on the film's 25th anniversary last year.
Having the unofficial director's cut, I'll probably just stick to it. Whatever version you'll find (commonly the Final Cut for those who are recently new), it will still remain a classic that deserves to be seen.