Blade Runner [Director's Cut]

Rating:
Summary: I hated it!
Review: Although I'm a Harrison Ford Fanatic, I simply hated this movie. Frankly I don't know what all the fuss was about. If you're looking to spend a few bucks buy an Indiana Jones instead. I would recommned "the Last Crusade" in which Sean Connery Co-stars.

Rating:
Summary: Top rating for the movie, but where are the extras?
Review: I love this movie! Like many science fiction fans I saw it when it was released, and it was burned into my mind immediately. The stunning visuals, the moody sets, the more human than human performances, and the multilayered meanings have kept my interest for 20 years!

There are many versions of this film out there, and this is one cut that was released at its 10 year anniversary. Released early on in the DVD craze, it has almost no extras. The transfer is amazingly well done, but it got short shrift in the way of extras. LEGEND got a dual disc release, ALIEN is chock full of extras including deleted scenes, and GLADIATOR and THELMA AND LOUISE both got special editions. Ridley Scott is a willing director to supply commentary, and there are so many scenes and tidbits that could be included in a special edition for BLADE RUNNER.

It's worth buying. But you may want to also purchase the book by Paul M. Sammon to detail the different cuts, and supply anecdotes about the making of the film. At least until someone rights the wrongs, and brings us a more in-depth DVD. But in the meantime I cherish my copy of the film that changed movies forever!

Rating:
Summary: Blade Runner
Review: When Philip K. Dick wrote <>, it was planned to depict human and robot differences, as well as entertain. The movie Blade Runner adds what can not in any way, shape, or form in a book..... incredible atmosphere.

Now this DVD, is a 'Director's Cut', which means that it is exactly how Ridley Scott would want it to be seen in theatres. However, it wasn't seen this way, and these are the differences.
1.)Depth with the romance scenes.
2.)They cut out the ending of the original(with the [weak] fight).

Blade Runner has always been considered a classic on 2 levels, because of its unique insight into what the future may look like, and because of it's incredibly original story. The first time you see Blade Runner, it may not take you back completely, and the story will lose you, but after repeated viewings, you will appreciate it.

The Director's Cut also brings about the best ending I have seen in a film in a long time, which implies that the main character *Harrison Ford*, a man whose job is to destroy robots, may actually be a robot himself, and also falls in love in a robot along the way.

The DVD brings the WHOLE movie down to 4 stars... there aren't any special features, and the transfer flat out [smells.] But you can't say much about that, the sound has at least been "digitally remastered."

**** out of *****- no special features, bad video transfer.

Rating:
Summary: Blade Runner - Director's Cut
Review: Stay away from this piece of garbage; try the original version if available.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Tale of What It Means to Be Human
Review: Loosely based on Phillip K. Dick's award-winning Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is one of the most memorable visions of the future presented to date.

The film seizes upon one concept from Dick's novel, the universal question of what it means to be human, and explores it through the pursuit of a group of renegade replicants--androids made to serve on extraterrestial colonies and so increasingly life-like so as to be nearly indistinguishable from humans save for their limited life spans--by a bounty hunter or "Blade Runner" from which the film takes its title.

Unlike Dick's novel in which the humanity of Deckard, the Blade Runner, is made clear and only questioned once, Ridley Scott reinforced the question of human nature by inserting a series of clues meant to suggest Deckard himself may be a replicant.

The director's cut of the film removes a voice-over narration by star Harrison Ford without compromising the story and replaces the "happy" ending of the theatrical release with one darker and more poignant. The rainy, dark, and post-apocalytpic future in which the film is set remains unchanged and as memorable as ever.

Rating:
Summary: Remains one of the great Sci-fi films of all time
Review: BLADE RUNNER is one of the truly great Sci-fi films ever made. Seeing it again over twenty years after it first appeared, it seems as fresh and as vital as ever. Despite having been made before the predominance of CGI special effects, it feels convincing in a way that today's Sci-fi films frequently do not.

There are several reasons this film works so magnificently. First, there is the extraordinary set design, among the greatest in cinema history. For me personally, the set design on this film is as exciting and as visionary as that for Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS. It is one of the few films ever made in which the set design is as important as any other element in the film. Second, there is the great central theme of what it means to be human. In the novel that was the basis for this film, Philip K. Dick's great DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, there is great doubt that the main character is human. This is muted in the film, but the question of whether Harrison Ford is also a replicant is very much in doubt (Dick in interviews just before his death claimed that he was a replicant). Third, the cast is truly great. Harrison Ford is tremendous as Deckard in one of the best roles of his career. He evokes the perfect balance of world weariness, existential self-doubt, dedication to his job, and love for someone who may or may not be as human as he is (or is not). Sean Young, who suffered a premature end to her career through self-implosion a few years later, is remarkably compelling as the near perfect replicant who isn't aware that she is. Edward James Olmos plays a small but crucial role as Gaff, the cop who occupies his time with origami (which leads to one of the great moments in the film). And a host of other actors and actresses perfectly round out the cast. But the actor who nearly steals the entire picture is Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, the charismatic leader of the replicants.

This was one of the first, if not the first, film to come out in a Director's Cut. Not all films benefit from such handling, but this one does. The endings, depending upon which version one sees, are quite different. Few films demand a DVD format as much as this, with the degree of visual detail it requires, as well as the widescreen.

Rating:
Summary: But don't let the original disappear...
Review: Blade runner is a very special movie in either version. Both are dark and brooding and thought provoking. Neither is merely a sci-fi thriller. The movie influenced fashions in both films and dress that persist; in fact I know of no movie of the last half-century that has so influenced clothing and style. The steamy film-noir atmosphere is frequently imitated now, but remember this is THE original. I recently watched then DVD (Directors Cut) and the film has aged not one bit.

That said, it was NOT the directors cut that exerted these influences. It was the original theatrical version with the loved/reviled voiceovers. I recently tried to find a copy of the original version to replace my lost one and could not! To let the 1982 version disappear would be a travesty. I think the Directors Cut may be more watchable to the current generation. However, to lose the original would be a blow to the sociologic history of recent decades.

Rating:
Summary: A different view
Review: I first saw this film on video in the mid '80s, a few years after the theatrical release and was immediately a fan. Then in the early '90s, the Director's Cut was released. Here is where my opinion differs with the other reviews so far. The voice-over is a distraction and completely unnecessary. With the voice-over this film was reduced to a Dick Tracy detective story with a very Hollywood ending. The directors cut has a darker less certain ending with suggestions that Decker is a replicant.

If the SciFi genre can be defined in a single statement, I think it would be "an exploration of possibilities". Many of the SF movies put out by Hollywood are just the same old stories in an unusual setting. Blade Runner is a dark story where much is conveyed though the setting and visual elements. Notice that the only place that the sun shines is when Decker goes to the world of the replicants. The Replicant world is more "human" than earth. This switch in context is a common aspect many SF stories and makes you question your own frame of reference. These elements come through much better without the voice-over because the voice-over attempts to force the viewer to associate with the human aspect of Decker. In the original theatrical version, all hints of the possibility of Decker being a replicant is removed. To me, this negates the core meaning of the film.

The original theatrical version is a good Hollywood movie with a sugar coated ending. The director's cut is a deeply complex film with film-nior elements. The ending of the director's cut alone raises questions of existence and reality that the theatrical version does not.

Rating:
Summary: Blade Runner's Directors Cut does little justice
Review: I'm one who has seen and own both versions of Blade Runner, unfortunately the original (or "Criterion's" version) is unavailable on DVD. The movie as a whole is excellent for a film of 1982, its graphic imagery and imagination matches that of Lucas and the Star Wars Saga of the same time period. It's visually stunning with more unveiling suspenseful drama than action, to keep you glued to the film.

Where the film falls short however is in the "Director's" choice of presenting the film. Alot of Harrison Ford character's thought dialog (found in the Criterion Collection) is axed from the film, in favor of the Director's cut. This can leave the viewer, who has never seen the film, lost as to what is going on. The thought dialogs add ALOT to the film, as to who the replicant's are, his knowledge of the replicant's history (when he picks up a set of photos, his thoughts ask "why... because replicants don't have families" for example. Information that makes the direction of his search more understandable, "vital", and less confusing.), his thoughts to why he retired from the Blade Runner force, and more. The Director's Cut is a real hack job to the original and makes the new script very weak. I can only hope that the "Criterion" version may soon be released, as Blade Runner is an excellent film and NEEDS to maintain its original strong storyline. To those who may be searching, the "Criterion" version may only be found on the large laser discs (as it's been phased out after the Director's Cut release).

Rating:
Summary: Good movie, ok DVD
Review: Should have had more options and features. Widescreen would be nice, as well as both versions of the movie and some information about production...anything. Good movie, though, worth having on DVD!