The Running Blades

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2013)

Well, it's time to move out of Southern California for, in SEVEN years, it's gonna be one hell of a hellhole and not a single owl in existence!
The gorgeously shot Blade Runner shows a future just shy of 37 years (at the time of release) that "might" have happened considering the technology progressions back then. But, in reality, maybe these "advancements" in technology everyone's so worried about isn't moving as fast as everyone fears. Hell, our hero, Rick Deckard, lives on the 97th floor in his apartment building – which isn't the top floor, and I do not believe there to be a building that size yet erected in L.A., let alone in the process now, in 2012, that would take probably more than 7 years. Oh and there are more buildings just like that one. And half-as-tall, fire breathing pipes!
I digressthis was a fantastic movie, filled with unique characters, grand sets/designs, a fairly decent score, wonderful cinematography and deep characters – especially, but not limited to, Sean Young, who is NOT a favorite of mine, but probably did the best job of all actors in this movie. Sadly, I avoided watching this movie my whole live – its 30th Anniversary is in less than a month – because after two attempts, I "felt it was too slow and dark" and turned it off 15-20 minutes in.
Well, that was my right, but I'm glad I acknowledged the fact it is, as it is, a slow burner, and that I could move forward to an extraordinary looking and good story.
Ricky boy, better known to most as Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a "kind of" ex-cop, or Blade Runner, brought back into the line of duty – isn't every retired cop in movies? – to trace and find five rogue replicants (of humans) because they're outlawed on Earth in the far-distant future of 2019. Lucky for him, these angry robots don't really have any super-powers, aside from being immune to both hot and cold and they're sorta stronger and they're just as bright as humans are.
Of course, the story takes turns, gets complicated and we learn a bunch along the way. And as mentioned, it's a deliberately paced film, so sit back and enjoy both the film noir story unfold and the fantastic shots, both aerial and in new/old buildings.
As beautiful as the cinematography and crisp and original as the designs, sets, locations and ideas, sadly the monitors took me back a bit. I had to laugh a bit, because for all they came up with: the flying cars, the space colonies – oh, I forgot to mention that, they're pulling an Aliens before The Company did – and of course, the replicated humans, themselves, no way they could've made any of that using the computers/monitors displayed in the movie that probably heated up too much when PONG was played.
YES – I know, that's not a flaw, in fact, that was all they had back then, well, those "state of the 1982 art" monitors and little patience on imagining what the future computer screens might look like. Heck, if my argument was valid, Director Scott's own Alien ship, the Nostromo, 3-years prior, may never have left the dock considering their monitors were even less sophisticated. So, I wouldn't downgrade the movie for that, I just thought it was funny.
At its core, it's the grand tradition of detective stories, it's a 1940's private dick plot set in the future. For 99% of the graphics and ideas, this movie was far ahead of its time 30-years ago and is highly recommended for anyone who hasn't seen it.
(SPOILER ALERT – do NOT read on without having seeing the movie) On a side note, I was a tad bit confused with the ending – and I'm not referring to the odd cat & mouse chase scene where our "villain" strips to his skivvies following him kissing a man on the lips in the segment prior. No, I mean, some idiot person I knew many moons ago spoiled the "secret" of who Deckard really was. Since the movie, itself, was left wide open for interpretation, I chose NOT believe my person's take, especially after my research following the film. The original author, Phillip K. Dick, did not make Deckard a replicant and therefore, despite all other theorist's ideas and blatant clues left by Director Scott throughout, I chose to believe Dick. (No Pun.)