Blade Runner

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
1982

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: In the near future, a detective (Harrison Ford) tries to track down a number of murderous androids before they kill again.

Review:

Tim: Ridley Scott directs a futuristic sci-fi classic in Blade Runner. It was revolutionary when it first came out and still holds up today. I recommend watching the Director's Cut, as it adds some interesting elements to an already great film, takes out the weakest parts, and polishes up some of the special effects. Still, regardless of which version you see, this film is incredibly influential.

The film tells its story in a powerful manner, creating a very good viewing experience. Scott's direction sets this film apart from others in its genre. You can definitely see that the source of this film's success comes from a director who knew what he was doing. This is a film directed in a unique, unexpected way. Scott doesn't adhere to the typical approaches for the genre.

Harrison Ford is excellent in his role. I can't imagine anyone else pulling it off quite like he does. In a film like this, everything depends on our hero, and we can't find a better hero for this type of film than Ford. It's a fascinatingly ambiguous performance. It's weird to see Ford like this, but it's exactly the kind of performance this film needed.

Ford hunting down the replicants is an interesting process, once again pitting humanity against technology in that age-old battle. The world in which this all takes place is visually stunning. It is as much a part of the movie as anything else. Blade Runner is the perfect example of a film that creates an incredible world and puts our heroes against the villains in an exciting series of sequences. The film is textbook in that sense and influenced quite a few subsequent sci-fi films. The conclusion of the film is thought-provoking and powerful beyond the first surface-level glance. There's a lot to unpackage about how this movie ends.

Blade Runner is a science fiction classic. Fans of the genre simply need to see this film. It is very good.

*Update- I rewatched Blade Runner a good decade after my first viewing. I was surprised that I didn't love the movie more and thought I'd give it another viewing. I'm older, wiser, and more experienced in what constitutes a great movie. I was a bit surprised to find that my initial viewing stayed consistent, through all the years and hundreds/thousand movies later. This is a really good movie, an influential film, but I can't quite call it great. Ridley Scott's film is unforgettable, but there were just odd choices he made. The pacing of the film is a bit slow. He never seems all that interested in propelling things forward. There are great moments throughout the film, but I always have a bit of trouble sticking with the story. The movie is just under two hours, but it's not the easiest thing to sit through. It's dark and kind of bleak. While there's so much to unravel and some big, philosophical questions to consider, this is a movie that takes a great deal of work. It's not incredibly accessible. You can miss some of the deeper points if you're not careful. So, I really, really like Blade Runner, but I still can't love it. It's a challenging movie, but I think it falls short of greatness. I should mention that in between my first and second viewing, I also read Philip K. Dicks' "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", the novel upon which this film is based. Even after all that background and a good amount of time spent thinking about this film, I still say it's only a very, very good film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Fifth Element, Star Wars; I, Robot; Imposter