The Emperor's New Clothes?

Rating: 4/10 (12 July 2005)

Question - Does this movie truly deserve all the accolades it has received? Breaking with obvious tradition, I would say NOT, and go as far as to suggest that many reviewers are TOO eager with their praise due to the film's solid cult status which was delivered through ground breaking visual effects.
Some may even feel they HAVE to applaud Blade Runner, because to do anything else might cause frenzied bleating within the flock. Lets be clear about this, the gap between cult status and classical status should, and is, as wide as the gaps in this film.
Yes, for 1982 the film had superb, even pioneering photography and visual effects. But so did The Matrix. A truly excellent film has to deliver much more than that. For me anyway. I'm talking about taking the audience on a journey, a common experience that relates a well told story to the viewer. Blade Runner's story telling is confusing at best and at worst, borders on pure laziness.
While the external photography is way ahead of its time, the internal sets are in the main, a blur of darkness where the director takes little time to define any detail whatsoever. The storyline/plot is left SO open to interpretation, that any significant meaning remains undelivered.
Perhaps Scott's numerous arguments with his studio-masters were the root cause of this. His vision of the story clashed with the studio's and many compromises ensued, probably damaging the story and maybe even stalling production time so much that this mess of a film was released prematurely.
Yes, the Director's cut (1991) is marginally better, but that was 9 years later, and re-shoots were not an option. He had little to work with to improve the mess.