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‘Blade Runner’ at 40

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Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#141

Post by blacksqr »

mrandish wrote: post #42
jmyeet wrote: post #9

I am one of the 11 people on Earth that hates coffee. "Hate" isn't strong enough. Even "despises" I'm not sure goes far enough. It tastes disgusting to me. I can't even stand the smell. This has led me at times to wonder if I'm crazy or if everyone else is. I do notice a ton of people consume a ton of sugar in their coffee so it seems like many don't really like coffee. They like sugar. But I digresss. I have the sam…

I first saw BR in a theater the month it originally came out. It's hard to appreciate from today's perspective just how revolutionary it was. The film itself, especially the original cut, is flawed due to the studio making last minute edits which the director, cast and writers were against. Yet, it is still the one science fiction film that has been more visually influential than any other. It changed everything that…

I also saw Blade Runner in its original theatrical release, and it's still the version I prefer. In this case I think the studio heads did Scott a backhand favor by ending the film as they did.

Spoilers:

If, as depicted in the original release, Deckard is human and Rachael is a replicant, then the movie is a true love story. The message of a true love story is that the Other is as deserving of love and dignity as I am. It's the message of Romeo and Juliet, Frankenstein and To Kill a Mockingbird, to name three offhand.

Whether your allotted lifespan is four years or threescore and ten, if you understand that you don't know how much time you really have, then you are entitled to the full measure of decent regard and respect the melancholy of that understanding earns. Batty bought that respect for Deckard and Rachael's sake. Thus the original ending is moving, and completes the film's overall themes.

If Deckard is also a replicant, as subsequent versions try to establish more and more explicitly, then of course he's going to want to be with Rachael. It's a no-brainer, it's no sacrifice, and there's no moral revolution of the characters. In which case I don't really know what the movie is supposed to be about. Boy robot meets girl robot, boy robot loses girl robot, boy robot gets girl robot? Boring. Definitionally cliché.

I suppose the realization of it is supposed to be some kind of shocking twist, but to me it simply empties the film of meaning.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#142

Post by magicalhippo »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #25
modeless wrote: post #3

I had a professor in college who was obsessed with Blade Runner and had us watch it in class. I just didn't get it. I mean I love sci-fi, but Blade Runner was just OK. Maybe in the context of its time it was great, pioneering, all that stuff. But in the context of now, or even back when I was in college (closer to the release of Blade Runner than present day, yikes), it didn't seem that special to me. I guess now tha…

I think it still holds up. Very few films are as bold and original today. Everything is CGI focus group contrived garbage now. What good recent scifi comes close? Dune? Bladerunner 2049?

Not gonna say they're in the same league, but I quite enjoyed Possessor, Annihilation and Arrival.

But I agree it's hard to beat "the originals". I've come to the conclusion that it's probably just as much me that has changed.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#143

Post by deltaonefour »

bsder wrote: post #85
kebman wrote: post #20

Thinking about what was possible to make in 1982, it's pretty amazing. It's an absolute classic, up there with the best of the noirs (the actual film noirs), such as The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and The Third Man; the logical answer to the Neo Noir Body Heat the year before. It's like a legacy moving onto such things as Ghost in the Shell and even The Matrix.

And I think that's why it flopped initially but has such staying power. Balde Runner is fundamentally film noir and the sci-fi is just the setting. The essential conflicts are human conflicts--not technological ones. You can replace the setting and you still have mostly the same story.

But if you replaced the setting with a mundane one the movie would be a generic film noir.

It only works because of the combination of the setting and the story.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#146

Post by deltaonefour »

kennywinker wrote: post #122
divs1210 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Blade Runner seems to age like wine, and becomes more poignant with each re-watch. It has a good pace, amazing visuals, asks tough questions, has some really good action sequences, etc. Of course, everyone is looking for different things in movies and the experience is highly subjective. Blade Runner will always be one of my favorites - right there with Contact, They Live, Jurassic Park, and other top-not…

Starship Troopers, don't forget Starship Troopers.

Starship troopers was a masterpiece. Don't mock it.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#147

Post by the_gipsy »

jansan wrote: post #57
norin wrote: post #33

I've pretty much owned every copy of the first movie. I still hear Roy's haunting message as a razor blade going through my skull.

“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” For me probably the best monologue in movie history.

> Time to die

Timed just perfectly, the spectator's soul has been prepared for death at this exact moment. Time to die.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#148

Post by devoutsalsa »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #26
davesque wrote: post #16

Calling it the "greatest of all time" seems like a total exaggeration. That being said, I've found it interesting that a film that in many ways seems so dated manages to have such a hypnotic effect on me every time I watch it. I think it's just one of Ridley Scott's directorial gifts that he manages to conjure up such an infectious mood in so many of his films. Of course, the other example is Alien . I definitely lov…

> Calling it the "greatest of all time" seems like a total exaggeration I was thinking this at first but I've struggled with a suggestion of a better, and critically more impactful/influential, movie in the genere.

Personally I find Spaceballs to be much more memorable.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#149

Post by einpoklum »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #55
ur-whale wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe Dune I don't think Dune, the 2022 version will make it to the heights Blade Runner is at. There are some scenes that give you Blade Runner level shivers (e.g. the Sardaukar assembly on Salusa Secundus), but they're few and far between. And if you meant the original Dune ... nah, it certainly hasn't aged as well as BR.

I mean the 2022 one. The 1984 one has not aged well. I'm quite the fan of the 2000 tv mini-series one though. Maybe it will rise to the levels of great sci-fi, maybe it will not, I won't judge it till I can see the complete picture. It has the correct aesthetic and the truly shiver-worthy moments are yet to come.

I'd say the exact opposite. The 2022 version - it's nice; I could fault it here or there, but it has a lot of going for it. But... it only goes so far. It doesn't reach the dramatic heights of Lynch's creation, and the mystique of the design.

(Of course one should try and watch one of the longer cuts with more of the dialog and establishing scenes.)

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#150

Post by candiddevmike »

aresant wrote: post #23

The visual language Bladerunner invented has virtually defined SciFi for the past 40 years. If you enjoy it's worth digging into the work Syd Mead - the film's concept artist - created: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5642443624/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5642443252/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5641873923/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_…

Can anyone recommend some music that has the same vibe as Blade Runner's synth stuff?
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