Replicants Don't Dream ...

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2013)

I originally intended to compile a selective list on the android (humanoid) theme as represented in Hollywood film industry. But afterwards reconsidered my thinking and decided to put emphasis on the leading 3 titles as I pre-conceive it. So 1st place goes to "Blade Runner" (1982) - a science fiction movie, which credits belong fore mostly to author Philip K. Dick and his successful bargain to sell copyright of his novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" upon which the film was subsequently based. Unfortunately, Dick died prematurely from heart attack at age 53 shortly before Film Premiere. "Blade Runner" is still a Rotten Tomato movie, which means that with score 8.5 out of 10 it remains highly unappreciated by public awareness. This is very strange and pity at the same time, since 30 years have passed and the Movie can't deliver its message which ostensibly purports the idea of World populated by Androids. Today the meaning of "android" is hollow and means some gimmicks or trinkets for everyday use, while the original conception came as semi-organic yet artificial creation. This is at least what lies on the surface etymologically.
My 2nd and 3rd choice are with Isaac Asimov's short stories on Robots. Here comes "Bicentennial Man" (1999) and "I, Robot" (2004) but maybe also some other less popular titles that I don't know or remember. The strength here comes from the fact that those are full length movies with typology Human Characters played by androids (robots). I stress here on the "noxious" implication of humanoids that exempt human life and became its substitutes or alter ego. This is fruitful area of thinking but needs more time for assimilation. For instance, how should be solved the problem for aging given that morbidity doesn't pose threats any longer. How do we embrace the idea of longevity and yet look shrunken, behave numbed. It seems that it's not only a matter of empathy but we have to peg it with self-centeredness as well. Things like that.
Let me see whether I can coin an instant story for this Movie. I owned a perfect VHS copy of "Blade Runner" in the 1980s with the image of apple tree from the Ladd Company. In the 1990s I throw all my VHS cassettes in the garbage bin because there was already satellite TV, PC for mass communication and rudiments of Network; so I worked a lot on sideway activities and did some traveling worldwide. In the 2000s there was slowly this Internet phenomenon that was gaining speed and also the family unification syndrome (as if people haven't seen and know each other for decades); I became strangled in mass hysteria and started to experience globalization on my own ass in the form of arrows and various phantom pains. Everything got screwed since, even my DVD copy of "Blade Runner" didn't look lucrative enough to watch multiple times. Maybe because of that awesome letter-box format that I don't understand to the extent why digital technicians produce it at all. Lastly, a Blu Ray version of the Movie exist from 2010s with over three hours of additional materials that I haven't seen or reviewed personally.
So I will continue my Poor Richard Almanac with some scattered notes. The thing that mostly attracted me in "Blade Runner" when I saw it in 1980s was its perfect Cast. All of them actors that participated in principal roles from the Movie were young, beautiful, daring and enterprising. Today, they are in their 50s and 60s which lump them in category "third age". They are not exactly retired but their performance lack the vigor and dynamism from 30 years ago. That's what the meaning to be an Android - to stay forever in your prime (if you are not bored of it some day).
Brian James in the role of Leon Kowalski was the worst choice for an Android. Except his excellent physique, the dramatic appearance of that Actor is very shallow. But Brian James did many secondary roles in films that I like very much. Something like Anthony Quinn less the international awards. He died in 1999, aged 54.
Ridley Scott is a superb Director. "Blade Runner" was his third successful movie after "Duelists" (1977) and "Alien" (1979). I don't understand what makes him think that the personage of Rick Deckard the Bladerunner (Harrison Ford) was a replicant. Deckard was dreaming and this sole attribute is enough to classify him as Human. Replicants don't dream, they have implanted memories in their mind. Thank You!