A mindtrip

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2002)

Complete Review. Full story told with personal comments.
Blade Runner quickly captures the viewer with splendous views of a futuristic city in the not too distant future. The police come to take Deckard (Harrison Ford) into custody while he is trying to have dinner in Chinatown. The police ask Deckard to come back to the unit and track down replicants, human cyborgs, and retire them. The Blade Runner unit of the police is the group that does this task, and Deckard is soon recalled into service.
Blade Runner shows off the great direction by Ridley Scott in the first section. A quick story ensues about one of the replicants and Deckard is shown a video where one of the replicants kills a Blade Runner who is trying to determine if he is a replicant or not. Deckard quickly takes the job and does some private investigating.
Deckard goes to the Tyrell Corporation for a meeting with Tyrell to obtain some information about the renegade replicants to see if he can track them down. Tyrell's friend Rachael (Sean Young) introduces Deckard to him. Tyrell makes Deckard perform a replicant-positive test on Rachael to test Deckard's skills. Deckard quickly finds out she is one and tells Tyrell, he explains she is a new and improved model.
As we view this section we can see there will be some future chemistry between Deckard and Rachael. This part also shows that Deckard is a hands-on kind of detective willing to go anywhere to do his job.
Deckard eventually finds one of the replicants in a parlor, he chases her into Chinatown and shoots her in the back. One is down, four more to go. Quickly another replicant, the same one that killed the Blade Runner in the beginning of the film grabs Decard by the neck and is ready to crush him, but he is killed by Rachael who had been following Deckard. Deckard and Rachael go back to Deckard's apartment, Deckard tries to bring out some emotions in Rachael but learns replicants have no memories of their own and they can't fully display human emotions.
The first real action sequence is intense and suprising here, a perfect mix to open up a movie. An interesting fact about Blade Runner that few people realize is that Deckard only uses a pistol to retire replicants, the chases and shootouts are fascinating without using a small arsenal of rockets and lazers so many other sci-fi's have used, this is truely impressive. One of the main hidden points is revealed here and will be very important to the story later, replicants don't have memories of their own.
The surviving two replicants, one of which the leader Roy Batty and his friend have hidden out in an engineer's house who has kindly let them stay. Unknowning of their purposes, he accepts them as friends. Roy finds out this engineer works for Tyrell. Roy gets into the Tyrell building and demands "more life" and it is explained all replicants have a "kill counter" on them, which is their lifespan. He kills Tyrell and they go back to the engineer's house.
Award winning cinematography from several festivals and academies are displayed here. This part of the story is a pleasure to watch. Another main point about kill counters are made here.
Deckard finds out about the murder and quickly makes his way to the engineer's house. While he is searching the female replicant tries to kill Deckard. This is a heart pounding scene because the replicant has Deckard in a perfect position to break his neck, but in the nick of time Deckard turns and escapes, then he shoots her dead. These next minutes are the most suspenseful you might ever see in a movie. They are captivating, exciting, and extraordinary. Roy Batty and Deckard fight till the death in the old decrepit house where walls can be knocked down, there is nowhere to hide, it is rainy and slippery and Roy Batty has stuck a nail threw his hand as a lethal weapon. Deckard getting his ass kicked moves to the roof because that may be his only means of escape. Deckard slips and is hanging from the building. Roy comes over with little strength and helps him back up saving his life, right after this his kill counter goes off and he revrently bows towards Deckard as he dies.
Why would Roy Batty want to save Deckard? There is one answer, Roy Batty only hates humans, and he wants Deckard to live.
Deckard has finished his job and continues his romance with Rachael, but on the way out of his apartment he finds a oragami unicorn left by Gaff, a police officer who Deckard has talked to in the past. On his way out he hears "It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?". And this is the scene that will absolutely blow your mind even more than the Shawshank Redemption and The Usual Suspects endings put together. I have given you the entire movie, but I cannot give you that part you will have to comprehend it yourself.