This film is genius

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2017)

I watched this film a couple of weeks ago as the new 2049 one is coming out and I realised I had never seen the original before. People always told me it was a good film and worth watching. Having watched the film myself I can tell you these people are wrong. Blade Runner is a great film and you need to see it NOW!
The film is gorgeous in every sense of the word. This film is very noir and reminds me of detective noir movies like the Big Sleep or the Maltese Falcon. As you can imagine the cinematography is perfect and the CGI for its time is pretty impressive. The CGI is almost akin to Star Wars IV in how good it looks.
I love the scene in Tyrells office in the first 30 minutes of the film where Rachel is being interviewed. The use of colour and shadow in the office perfectly sets the tone for the interview between Rachel and Rick. The scene also illustrates why Ridley Scott is a great director. He is known in his movies for creating emotion trough darker surroundings and it's perfectly shown here. Ridley Scott has directed some brilliant movies like Alien, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator. However I think his best work has to be Blade Runner from a visual perspective alone.
The music in this film is sublime. It is very synth heavy and perfectly captures the tone and theme of the film. In some parts the music is soft with just faint piano playing to give us a feeling of intimacy which works really well, especially for the scenes between Rick and Rachel. In other scenes we get a fast pace synth heavy track that compliments all the dynamic movement that the characters are doing in the scene. Vangelis knows what he is doing in movies and lends his skills as a composer expertly here. Hats off to you sir "we are not worthy"!!!!
The plot itself was based off a 1968 novel by Philip K. Dick called "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" The film does not follow the book to the letter but the bare bones of the book are there and also the message behind it. The plot is a slow burner in places however there is a fundamental question posed to the audience. "What makes something a human being?" The replicants in the film look like people, act like people and die just like people. There comes a point where the androids in the film become more human than the humans are and they express real emotions that are very complex for androids to understand.
The plot deals with mortality and the fear of death as well. The whole motivation for the escaped androids is that they do not want to die. Roy Batty goes after the "cure" to death and even goes so far as the meet his maker to try and stop death. When his creator says that escape from death is impossible Batty lashes out at first, and kills his creator and several others, however at the end of the film where he saves Rick Deckard from falling to his death he comes to some inner peace realising that death is inevitable.
The plot of this film has so many interpretations and has been discussed so many times that it has taken on a life of its own. I even may have interpreted it differently to others however the fact of the matter is there is not right or wrong way that a film can make you feel, it is personal to you.
The actors in this are brilliant. You can really tell that they gave a sh*t about the film and everyone brought their A game. Harrison Ford is great and gives one of the best performances of his career hands down! His scenes with Rachel where a high point as you could tell his infatuation was real and at the same time you saw Rick's torment as he realises Rachel is an android and not 100% human.
Rutger Hauer is fantastic as Roy Batty and crosses the line between human and android so convincingly that whilst watching the film you see him become more human with every scene. The scene where his character dies actually makes you feel for a murderous android, and his line about his memories being "lost in time, like tears in rain" had a certain melancholy feeling to the scene.
All I can say is that this film is brilliant in terms of plot, acting, music, looks and feel. The pacing is a little slow in parts, which meant I did lose concentration the first time I watched it, but not so much that it distracts from the film. In short this is a true classic and a must see for Sifi NERDS. Go see this film you will not regret it.