Rating: 
Summary: Strictly for Cultists
Review: Great photogaphy has been the death of movies. So what is it about movie-fans that makes them insist a pretty movie is a good movie? Blade Runner ushered in an era of movie-making in which terrible scripts became the norm. A story from the filming goes that director Ridley Scott made seventeen takes of a woman smashing through a pane of glass; but where was the same fastidious attention to a coherent script? And the movie has found a niche market among people with the same lop-sided priorities.This book is a fussy, joyless flogging of minutia and trivial debates on line dubbings. It recounts dry facts about the movie, but never gets around to a real anaylsis of the finished work, which is undeniably mediocre. The author acknowledges dozens of script inconsistencies but won't grant that they add up to a seriously muddled movie. In fact, he concentrates only on the script and the permutations of words over the six versions of the movie. But the script was the absolute weakest part of the production! Want to get inside designer Syd Meads mind? Want to know where the sets came from? It's not here. This author lost his objectivity early on. There really isn't a distinct author here. He dissappears behind his slavish devotion. The sub-tile of this could be 'I used to be a Trekkie.' He defends an unargued thesis that Blade Runner is a great film. Superlatives are flung (triumph, classic) without any support. But a single paragraph of decent criticism is worth more than all of this delirious fawning. The author reacts negatively to one viewers response 'What IS a Blade Runner?' without noticing that the movie never gets around to explaining the phrase. He also reacts negatively to negative reactions. (Pauline Kael, etc.) He's just too close to (and defensive of) the material. The movie's problems are defended as if they were personal criticism. His whole agenda is pumping up the rep of this weak movie. Blade Runner remains the best-looking bad movie ever, a ravishing dud, best watched with the volume turned down. There probably is a good book about the making of Blade Runner but it's more likley going to be a cautionary tale called 'Blade Runner - what the hell went wrong?' I couldn't get this book back to the store quick enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Amateurish writing, professional obsessiveness
Review: I approached this book as someone who has always loved watching the hypnotic, gorgeous "Blade Runner," but who has never considered it a particularly good movie, and who was curious about how this undeniably influential film was made and was marred. That curiosity was more than satisfied. Sammon seems aware of every question ever asked about "BR," as he constantly and cozily calls it, and he does answer those questions--sometimes four or five times in the course of this 435-page book. The writing is awful--coy, fawning, and inexpressive. (One minor example: Actor Rutger Hauer is described as "warm but genuine" on the occasion that the author interviews him. Does warmth imply lack of genuineness?) Sammon is also so far inside his own fandom that he is unable to deal with the film or its makers objectively. He goes so far as to say that the critics didn't like the film because it was too good for them. (His actual words: ". . .as if many of the nation's critics had somehow been personally offended by the subtlety and care that had gone into this picture.") That's the sort of thing that a teenager would say: "You don't understand me [my favorite movie] because you're just not as sensitive as I am." This is not a critical examination of "Blade Runner" or a study of its influence on the cyberpunk genre. It is more like a straight narrative "making of" book (the sort that is usually one quarter its length), with the viewpoint that mostly everyone now agrees that it is a great film, so let's see how it got that way. With that point of view acknowledged, if the thing is to be done at all, one might as well go all the way, with all the detail that has been assembled here, and I did find a lot of it quite interesting. The organization is okay, although it could be better. The book could definitely use an index. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it appears, from the comments gathered by Sammon, that it was as much a Rorschach test for the people who made it as it was for critics and audiences afterward: everyone has different explanations for what went into the movie and what things were meant to "mean." Some would argue this is evidence that the film lacked a coherent vision; others that a shambles (such as "Casablanca") can add up to a great movie. At any rate, Pauline Kael was right: whatever you think of "Blade Runner," it definitely has its place in movie history.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for fans of Blade Runner or Electric Sheep
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It provided tremendous insights into the movie and, to some degree, the book upon which it was based. (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) My only complaint was that the author never really explained what "Future Noir" means! Not being a student of the arts, it would have been nice to have had the term "film noir" defined at the beginning of the book. (By the way, it refers to a type of film portraying a dark, realistic view of the world. Apparently this generally includes Post-WW II detective movies.) One thing the author did which I appreciated was to divide the book up into several key sections. In this way, one can quickly flip to a specific area of interest, such as the making of the soundtrack or special effects.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark Secrets of Blade Runner
Review: I fell in love with the film some years back, and with every fresh viewing find it ever more intriguing. This book answered some of the questions I had concerning the film and Dick's book Androids, and also opened my eyes to a few little-known facts and unused ideas concerning the film. I loved the photos and sketches and easy style the book was written in. A must for any true Blade Runner or PK Dick fan.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for the serious Blade Runner fan!
Review: I found this book to be an enlightenning first-hand account of the making of Blade runner, the movie. Taking you from its
beginnings as a source novel up through its adaptation into a script and finally its transfer onto the big screen. This is not only the tale of
Blade Runner's making but the tale of any movie's production.
Rating:
Summary: Informative, entertaining
Review: I just finished this book and it's definitely worth a read for anyone that's interested in film production. It's basically a manual that tells you how NOT to make a film. This book was more a case study of project management horror than a book of Blade Runner visuals or hard-core effects. In any case, it has great interviews of the crew, especially the screenwriters and producers. But the "interview" with Ridley Scott, is completely anti-climactic since it is a patchwork of interviews over the years. It does however, reveal the "practical genius" of the man, especially, when the actors, crew, and producers hated him during the film. It definitely makes you realize how artistic vision and mass appeal are polar opposites in the film industry. Fun read.
Rating:
Summary: FAN-TASTIC!
Review: I'm not an expert in the Shakespeare language. Also, I'm not sure if Sammon is also an expert in it. What I know is that Future Noir was the very first english book I'd read with pleasure, although my own dificulties with English language (is my 4th language!). Blade Runner is a MUST for every sci-fi and/or cinema fan, and I'm very pleased with this book. The irritating relation between Ford and Young, the coolness of Hauer and his bright work, Scott's rudeness with the crew, and several other hundreds of things are there. ALL are there... No other book or magazine could be more complete. If you love BR, you must read this book. If you can't buy it, stole it!
Rating:
Summary: Exhaustive and essential for any film student.
Review: If you love the movie Blade Runner you should be reading this book. It is indispensable. The author shares many insights and personnal experiences on the set of the film as well as never-filmed story lines (some of which would have been incredible) and never before published photo stills. A thorough review of the film in ALL of it's formats and versions comes included-it's a bit dizzying. The book is packed with detail and interviews with cast and crew members. The author is a bona-fide BLADE RUNNER nut. NOTE: Wired Magazine recently named 'Blade Runner' the BEST science-fiction film EVER ('Star Wars' was tenth). A must.
Rating:
Summary: RE-LIVE THE LEGEND AND READ THIS BOOK
Review: If you want to be a filmmaker or you just love the movie like I do then read this book and re-live the legend.
Rating:
Summary: A Journalist With A Vision
Review: Paul M. Sammon reveals an enormous amount of information in this book. Mr. Sammon was able to gain access to all ongoings on the set for a reason; he too had a vision as Ridley Scott did and the crew noticed. Sammon was on top of it, aware that this is truly an epic film being made. I'm anticipating his next book covering all Alien films. So I wait, flame thrower in hand...extra careful when I open the pages.
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