Blade Runner [Director's Cut]

Rating:
Summary: A bona fide sci-fi landmark
Review: The true test of a classic, as everyone knows, is how it survives the passage of time. Blade Runner is a classic. It is as stunning a film today as it was when released more than twenty years ago. Those who think the plot is too slow and the acting subpar are those raised on a diet of explosions and mayhems every two point five minutes in any given movie in order to sustain their interest. Ridley Scott is a master of the mise-en-scene. The "slow pace" serves to heighten the suspense just as it did in the first "Alien," and the theme of the modern man losing his humanity is as appropos today as ever. There has been enough written about the set design and the music that I don't need to repeat the obvious. The only disappointment with this DVD is the picture quality and the lack of bonus materials, both of which, rumor has it, will be remedied in a three disc set to be released some time next year.
Let's hope it will do this film full justice.

Rating:
Summary: Still state of the art
Review: One of the few science fiction films in the last 20 years to rival Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is Steven Spielberg's 2003 effort Minority Report. Guess what: they're both adaptations of stories by Phillip K Dick.

I think Minority Report is in large part homage to Blade Runner (as is the Matrix, actually): the futuristic city, transport and all pervasive advertising is all there, but Spielberg (whilst making an undeniably wonderful film) hasn't mustered anything like the design, style or brooding atmosphere of Blade Runner: Scott's use of backlight (used to great effect in picking out the retinas of the replicants and - ha - Deckard) and constantly swishing spotlights, invading and infusing ones privacy through venetian blinds and grilles, holes and apretures, creates a real sense of resigned paranoia.

It's hardly a case of substance over style, though: the material, being Phillip K. Dick, is first rate - Dick's interest in exploring the irony of the human condition is well tapped, to leave you with a great deal to ponder as you leave the theatre. Is Deckard a replicant, then?

Performances are exemplarary throughout, particularly Sean Young and Rutger Hauer as superhumans with a real achilles heel. Even the Vangelis soundtrack, which no doubt went through a period in the early nineties of sounding horribly dated, has come back into fashion, and suits the mood of the film admirably.

Classic cinema.

Rating:
Summary: Anniversary DVD PLEASE!!
Review: Do we have to wait until 2019 for a special edition DVD
of my favorite film??
Syd Mead's gorgeous set design on 16X9" please!
Ridley, if you see this, consider doing a definitive release
of your seminal masterpiece with director commentary.
DTS sound too!!
Im sure Im not alone in my opinion!!
...Tears in the Rain...
Nick the Greek

Rating:
Summary: Relflections on Blade Runner - 20 Years Later
Review: -
Synopsis: Los Angeles, Ad 2019; a licensed-to-kill policeman tracks down and destroys a group of intelligent robots who have hijacked a space shuttle and returned to Earth.

Review: A sort of climax in the genre...Though Blade Runner does not pysically resemble the modern world, this captures feelings becomming more common: confrontation with the absurd, the meaningless, the superficial. And the search for a soul among the debris of Western Civilization, even if, in this context, that means loving a robot...even if, hauntingly, we are robots, the need for a soul, for transcendence, remains. (Ridley Scott's original cut of the film, which dispenses for the most part with the voice-over narration and has a different ending, was shown to general critical approval in 1991 and also released on video and DVD. It is of this film that I write.)

What Critics Said Then:
'The sets are indeed impressive, but they are no compensation for a narrative so lame that it seems in need of a wheelchair.' Tom Milne, MFB
'A richly detailed and visually overwhelming trip to 2019 which sticks with you like a recurrent nightmare.' Sunday Times
'A massive assault on the senses which seems to have been launched from a madhouse equipped with all computerized mod cons.' Daily Mail
'Glitteringly and atmospherically designed; but ultimately mechanics win out over philosophizing.' Sight and Sound

Importance: I believe this is the highest peak that science-fiction film has reached.

Further: 'Do Android's Dream Electric Sheep,' the book on which Blade Runner is based, by Philip K. Dick. Also, his masterpiece, 'The Man in the High Tower.
In films--other sci-fi classics: 2001 Space Odyssey (Kubrick), Solaris (Tarkovski), Alien (Cameron), Terminator II (Cameron).

Credits:
Writers: Hampton Fancher, David Peoples. Novel: Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Director: Ridley Scott. Photography: Jordan Cronenweth. Music: Vangelis. Actors: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsch, Daryl Hannah.
-

Rating:
Summary: A bit overrated; quality of Director's Cut DVD suspect
Review: Granted, this movie has aged pretty well, after repeated viewings, I'm not sure what all the hubbub is about. The story is slow in developing and the acting is so-so. I will say that the special effects and scenery are great (not quite as breathtaking as "Brazil"). It is a very deep movie and I definitely agree with other reviewers that this is a sci-fi film noir, and strange as it may sound, I could conceivably see Humphrey Bogart in the role of the "gumshoe" Deckard. Sean Young is gorgeous and Rutger Hauer is his usual menacing self (i.e, his role as a terrorist in "Nighthawks" comes to mind).

I am relieved to find out that it is not my DVD player that is causing the inferior quality. I am disappointed that there are no extras in the DVD and the packaging is very pedestrian. This movie and "Director's Cut" deserves better. I wish that the Harrison Ford narration wasn't completely taken out. I think a combination of the Vangelis score and the narration would do the DVD justice. My 3 stars is a combination of an appreciation of the movie and the inferior quality of the DVD.

Rating:
Summary: An important film that hasn't aged well
Review: The original Blade Runner was a big hit because it was the first modern-day depiction of cyberpunk on the screen. Although there were plenty of urban sci-fi movies that came before, none of them had this kind of atmosphere. It helped that Harrison Ford was the world's biggest movie star at the time, fresh from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But as the years went by, the film didn't hold up. The set design is still great --- the atmosphere is still there --- but the acting is weak and the story is dull. The actors talk too slow. When the action begins, the tone suddenly switches. The sci-fi melodrama becomes a bad martial arts flick (in the scene with Daryl Hannah's gymnastic fight). The final fight is better, but not much.

When the director's cut came out, a few of the problems were solved. The most creative was turning a poorly-edited line about the number of replicants into a surprise ending --- Deckard is sent out after five replicants but he only finds four. Who is the fifth replicant? Take a guess.

But the original problems remain. The movie is still too slow, with a poor use of good actors. The visuals can't make up for the weak plot. Looking back at it, this film deserves all the praise simply because it was such a stunning new approach to sci-fi when it was released. But it's still a 3-star movie, even with the director's cut changes.

Rating:
Summary: A science fiction masterpiece
Review: Ridley Scott is a director who, at times, can perfectly create a certain atmosphere he desires for his films, most notably being Alien and Blade Runner. As he captured the void of space, fear of unknown, deadly creatures within confined space in Alien, he is able to channel some of the best qualities of an usual Philip K. Dick novel- surrealism.
Many of Dick's science fictions focus on the grim, dark outlook of the futuristic world he creates, and infuses a sense of other-world into them, which worked well and create a legion of followers, not to mention several films influenced by or adapted directly from his works.
In Blade Runner the main conflict is Deckard hunting down the androids, who possess many humane qualities that Deckard feels certain sympathy towards them, or at least thinks twice about the job he's about to do. At the same time Deckard questions his own identity, and has certain doubts about his own existence of himself being a human, not an android. The androids he terminates also have strong will towards life, a very human desire. Top that theme with the dark portrayal of Los Angeles, with brilliant narratives are the reason this film remains as one of the most influential science fiction films of all times, and easily the best adapted work of Dick. Scott obviously picked up the spine of the original short story, and was able to create the perfect world for the story, and added more character development to be a successful film.

Rating:
Summary: A Ridley Scott Fan Must have DVD
Review: From the director that brought us Gladiator, here is one of his earlier films that is noteworthy. This direcor's cut edition gives the real vision of the movie with a much better ending. Anyone who enjoys Ridley Scott's films should buy this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: A sci-fi classic on a terrible DVD
Review: Ridley Scott's chilling vision of the future has become so revered and so inspiring over the years that it is a crying shame that Blade Runner can only be found on a lackluster DVD like this. The only saving grace for the Blade Runner DVD itself is that it is Scott's original cut of the film minus the happy ending and Harrison Ford's over explanatory voice over. Any sci-fi fan knows the impact Blade Runner made since it's release over 20 years ago, but for God's sake this film is in desperate need of a re-release. Warner Bros. has a dubious track record for first releasing some of their best films on lackluster extra-less DVD's, and then years later re-releasing them on 2 disc mostly extra filled sets. Just look at One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, True Romance, and Unforgiven to see what I mean. If Blade Runner ever does get re-released (and we all know eventually it will be) it should come with a much better picture resolution (the picture on this DVD is terrible), commentaries from Scott, Ford, and Rutger Hauer, the theatrical version and the director's version of the film, full production notes, behind the scenes footage, trailers, and everything else that this film deserves. All in all, Blade Runner is a sci-fi classic, but if you want to buy I would wait a while for it to be re-released.

Rating:
Summary: A Lost Gem That Needs To Be Re-discovered
Review: Blade Runner is one of those movies that made an impact on us viewers of its original theater run. However, over the years it was discovered by millions more and now stands as a sci-fi masterpiece, due to its stunning visuals, storytelling, acting and ambience. Unfortunately, when it was rereleased as the director's cut, and as much as I regard Ridley Scott as a master of his craft, I considered that the elimination of the voiceover was one of the biggest mistakes ever made in cinema history, as most of the storytelling and mood that made it a classic, was gone. Regarding the different endings, either are OK as to me the climax of the movie was really in the final scene between Batty and Deckard.

I am one of many fans that will love to see the original BR restored for DVD, as companion to whatever other version Ridley wants included, which I understand will be the so-called Director's Cut and a new Definitve Cut,that, if made right and honest to its many fans and not solely to the director's ego, should reinsert the voice-over along any other new scenes and edits.

Let me emphasize that I have been a longtime fan of Mr. Scott since the groundbreaking Alien, and really hope he brings back the movie that convinced millions that Alien was not a one time stroke of luck but rather the indication that a legendary career was on the making.