Transcends SCI-FI, all-time film classic

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2004)

As Blade Runner Harrison Ford lurks in a paranoid daze through the perpetually rainy, dreary futuristic Los Angeles, we see a story unfolding which although set in a bleak futuristic vision, is as old as the hills. The conflict is not only between the Replicants and the Humans (in fact, as god-like corporate head honcho James Tyrell puts it -they're "more human than human"), but also the conflict within Harrison Ford's character, the government assassin brought out of retirement to slay the 5 rogue Replicants, led by a philosopher-warrior Replicant played beautifully by Rutger Hauer.
Harrison Ford's narration has been blasted by some, and would you believe it, they removed it for the 'Director's Cut', thoroughly eliminating my desire to see said Cut. The narration is the final and crucial complement to an intoxicatingly spellbinding blend of Ridley Scott's masterful cinematography and scene-sense...Vangelis' incomprehensibly beautiful soundtrack (perhaps his best), and the understated, dream-like acting from the supporting cast, creating perhaps the most entrancing color film of all time. To remove Ford's narration is criminal, SEE THE ORIGINAL VERSION IF YOU CAN FIND IT...an increasingly difficult task. I suggest looking in overseas markets, England, etc.
If you've never seen this movie, shame on you. Seriously, no matter what you're into, you'll at least like it, if not love it. Just be in a relaxed frame of mind, and turn the lights low.
Watch for the scene where Tyrell unwittingly meets with Hauer's Replicant...who wants "more life" (the Replicant's lives, though rich with their powerful abilities, are brief..hence Tyrell's effort at explanation: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"). Surrounded by gold and amber materials and ambient lighting in his heavenly apartment, fittingly atop his pyramid-like office building monstrosity, Tyrell emerges in his exquisite silk robes with a god-like light and aura around him...not-so-subtle but savagely effective metaphor. I won't tell you what happens.
The last scene between Hauer and Ford, atop a rusty iron mammoth of a building...in the rain, again, is one of the great dramatic and touching scenes in movie history.
-J. Simmons