Not the generic, cliché film noir the negative reviews wanted, thank God.

Rating: 5/10 (29 November 2008)

A lot of science fictionfilm, novel, whateverdo nothing but copy each other, then tack on some "deep" moral or generic social commentary. And they get critically acclaimed for it. The best example of this is Fahrenheit 451, which was simply a generic allegory about censorship with a kindergarten-level plotthat is now taught in our schools as one of the greatest novels of all time. What a joke. Blade Runner, at least in film form, is not like that whatsoever, and that was very refreshing to me. Unlike Fahrenheit 451 and the majority of other sci-fi titles, Blade Runner does not just bank on one moral issue. It doesn't create a world around a single issue (like censorship or the value of life or any other cliché issues sci-fi always repeats), it creates a world with ISSUES. This is why it's such superior as allegorical sci-fi and as film noir.
With this world that is so different from any created before it, Ridley Scott's directing really sets the stage. Though I'm not sure Blade Runner can even be mentioned in the same breath as Alien, it's obvious that the two were directed by the same man. Simply put: Ridley Scott pays attention to details that we as an audience will likely only notice subconsciously.
The majority of the negative reviews criticize the slow pace, but the slow pace is what makes Blade Runner what it is. It builds the atmosphere, and if you were to take out even a single scene, the overall movie would lack something. Atmosphere is something modern viewers don't understand. There is a major difference between an action movie filling space with twenty minutes of the main charter staring at a wall and another action filling the same amount of time with slow-paced, atmosphere-building scenes. The former is pointless; the latter is intentional and purposeful. For example, look at The Dark Knight. The pacing is no faster than Blade Runner. In fact, the entire first hour and a half was dedicated to nothing but conveying the one-dimensional plot that we all fully understood since we saw the first trailer. Blade Runner, on the other hand, uses just as much time to immerse the viewer in the unconventional city atmosphere. Scott understands when and how to use music and color. He understands when to give a slow pan of the city and when to blast through the city with action. I find it almost hypocritical than people rave for movies like The Dark Knight and Casino Royale then trash Blade Runner for its pacingnone of them get to the action any faster, and that's fact. If you want a fast pace, go watch Saw. If you want atmosphere, watch Blade Runner. I love both styles, and both styles have their place in cinema.
The casting is also flawless. Some people have trashed Harrison Ford's performance, but, really, I don't see what he did so wrong. He plays the same character he does in every movie he plays in: a brute, somewhat childish, selfish man. He plays the character traits just as well as he did in Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The other actors all fulfilled their purposes, and I didn't find their performances terrible or great.
Though the directing is godly, I don't judge a movie solely based on movie making quality, unlike some mindless people. The story is pretty generic, with some original facets for its time. The somewhat dull plot is the only reason I didn't give this movie a perfect score. A plot twist would really have improved the standard, somewhat predictable formula.
With that said, Blade Runner is far from generic sci-fi, as my opening paragraph stated. It's more intelligent than that, but it doesn't get so lost in a social commentary it loses entertainment value. The last twenty minutes reveal the true adrenaline of the story, after the movie-long build up. It's how Scott directs. It's his staple. And it works. And it's entertaining. If you don't enjoy it, then don't watch it. It's taste, not lack of quality or originality or pointless scenes.
Overall, this is a must-view for any sci-fi fan. Anyone who is looking for something to at least fill the nostalgia of Alien, watch Blade Runner. It's not perfect, and the shallow plot is a bit disappointing, but it's still awesome in it's own way, and is far above its imitators.
5/10