Soul Searching

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2016)

This film is my favorite film of all time (and for the record on my birth year), based on one of my favorite books of all time by one of my favorite author's Philip K Dick. The film also had a universal appeal as it has inspired lots of TV shows (Ghost in the Shell, Batman Beyond, Exo Squad, Phantom 2040, Battlestar Galatica, etc.) and other things. But also changed the way we saw sci-fi, showing how much more it can be.
The production value is just fantastic because it's all practically. The city landscape is just awe inspiring along with the cinematography of it. From the very beginning with the music, once we saw that city I knew we've been transported to the future and I just didn't want to leave as there is just so much to see and take in. From the hover cars (still wonder about the traffic laws in air traffic), the big flat screen displays, the scanner screen in which you can speak out coordinates for the screen to zoom in. I really like the use of the lighting, from the amount of grit and darkness making the world not just feel accessible but also giving the film the noir feel. The futuristic city feels plausible and I personally feel with some of the technology we have now we're starting to get very close.
Music score is just beautiful, I love how it's orchastratic but also a bit of techno beat which sort of fits the film and the world that it's in.
But I just really love the story it is so rich with content that it would literally take more than one watch just to uncover more. It's not so much just a simple detective story but really just like most to all of Philp K Dick's works are really sort of an extensential philosophical meditation on the subjects like life and death as well as what is human? The characters are great, it's true not the deepest characters but sometimes characters we don't know too much about I find more interesting than ones we know everything about. And also what's really interesting is the fact that there are really any good guys and bad guys their all kinda in a gray area which was for it's time sort of rare.
Richard Decard this is believe it or not my second favorite role from one of my favorite actors Harrison Ford, because the character he plays isn't really a hero but most of all human. He's a guy that is sort of broken and haunted by his career that he at first didn't choose to question until now, and just like the rain the guilt is weighing down on him and not stopping.
In a way most of this film is really about Richard regaining his own sense of humanity. This guy was literally from my observations an all business type, it can be a really sad lifestyle because it's a rather two dimensional existence; it's simply a lifestyle but not really a life. We kind of see it from his apartment which doesn't really have much to anything, just some random stuff but no real sense of an identity.
It's until Richard starts to have a relationship with the replicant Rachel, we see him become more balanced. I really like how it's handled, it feels realistic from the way they interact as we see both of them are trying to get a read on one another and warm up. I even like the Rachel has that look and mannerism like most women in the noir genre whom can be helpful but also carry a sense of mystery attached to them.
Roy Batty is played well by another favorite actor of mine Ruger Hauwer whom is an antagonist (well sort of) that you actually sort of feel a sense of pathos for even sort of side with (I said sort of). Roy isn't a Replicant that wants to do take revenge on all mankind cliché. This is a guy that is trying to put more time in his biological clock.
Some of the things he says are great, I really like it when he states and questions with slight frustration and fear why they weren't built to last. That's the kind of questions that we ask, whether were of a faith or not; and to this day still have no answer.
There is an interesting dichotomous relationship between both the humans and the replicates. As we see most of the human have allowed themselves to be less human and the replicates are becoming a bit more human. However we also see the parallels between both human and Replicants, just as the Replicants are looking for more time to live but are also constantly fascinated in their experience with our culture is just like our own common struggle to live life to the fullest and also somehow give ourselves a few more years to live, so we can experience more.
But also we find ourselves questioning things, I really like how there is this revolving notion on Richard Decard possibly being a Replicant and there are some suttle hints. Like one interesting moment was when we saw the eye lights on Richard for two seconds it's easy to miss. The thing is each of the Replicants all have one signature where their eye pupils have light. It sort of makes sense as to why he's so good at tracking Replicants down. I don't know whether Richard is a Replicant or not, I leave that for your own judgment but then again does it really matter.
Decakard is searching for his human soul, just as we are searching for our own.
Rating: 4 stars