Blade Runner [Director's Cut]

Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi Noir Classic
Review: And unlike many films that get the "Classic" label, this one's actually worth watching, again and again. Unlike anything else before or since, this film -- Scott's best together with his other great Sci-Fi effort Alien -- exists in a world of its own, a gritty, pulpy melange of dispirit elements that come together, but not cleanly, and for that it has a realism, in spite of its hard-boiled detective lead, that is missing from other Sci-Fi classics such as The Matrix. Incredible. Not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Ah, Brade-runner, best move ever made -
Review: This move blew me away back in 1982 and it still
does today. I have an old VHS version of the release
containing the narration by Harrison Ford
and I see it as just as important to own as the
directors cut which I have in vhs and dvd.
I wish they would cut a DVD version of the non-directors
cut just to own both versions. Can't get enough of it.

Rating:
Summary: Good effort but lacks in many ways
Review: The original release with the voiceover at least made this movie interesting. Without it I am sad to say it is just a slow moving peice of eyecandy. The voiceover though hotly debated was one of the main ingredients that gave this film it's Noir feel.
Also by trying to add to the additional idea that Deckard could be a replicant totally killed whatever effect had been built up throughout the movie.
The short story was much better ....
The DVD itself is subpar and has no extra's of note.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Film - A Bad DVD
Review: I had heard so much about this film for so many years that when I finally had an opportunity to rent it, I pounced on the opportunity. I vaguely recall having played the computer game many years ago, but didn't remember any of the premise. All I really knew of the film was that I have been told repeatedly that it is an important science fiction movie that set trends that continue to this day, and that as a fan of film, I ought to see it. So I did.

The film was immediately dark, which I expected, and slow, which I didn't. Indeed, where I had simply been expecting a standard Harrison Ford action film, I found a deeply emotional film that made me think a little bit. The subplot about whether or not Deckard is a human is wonderfully done, as it gives the viewer room to draw his own conclusions. The scene near the end when the final replicant shows himself to be more human than all the humans in the film is tragic, and very well carried off. And that ending... I understand that the theatrical version had an additional ending tacked on. That's a shame; stopping the film where they do is perfect. I love cliffhangers, and it brings a smile to my face as the screen suddenly goes black and the credits roll.

The special effects are splended, especially for the mid-eighties. If it were made today, it couldn't be carried off too much better. The overhead views of Los Angeles; the police cars flying through the air - it's all put together very well. And the sets... They're so gorgeous. I mean, they're dirty, dark, and gritty, but the look of the city is so immersive it's hard to believe it was filmed on a studio backlot. It's suddenly blatantly obvious where George Lucas got his idea for the seedier section of Coruscant seen in "Attack of the Clones."

All in all, the film was better than I had hoped or dreamed. Sometimes it seems almost poetic, which is unusual for an action movie. It made me think. It's chock full of symbolism. And at the same time, it's the exciting movie it's billed as. And so dark... Oooh! I love it!

Why, then, did I only give it three stars? Well, the DVD is the main culprit. I understand that this was released on DVD in 1997, a bit before DVD really caught on, and so I was not expecting great things where menus and special features are concerned. Indeed, both scores are practically nonexistant (they're there, but you needn't bother with them). However, the rest of the package also leaves something to be desired. Now, I've only seen the widescreen side of the disc, as I can't be bothered with losing half the image when it can be helped. But the transder is not very good. The picture is grainy and full of noise. And the very sides of the image have some weird warping effect going on. It looks as though the image was projected onto a screen and then videotaped to be converted into DVD format instead of transferred digitally. And though the surround sound is very well done for two-channel, the general sound quality left something to be desired. So the technical aspects of the disc itself prevent it from receiving a higher score.

The bottom line is that this is a splendid movie that everyone should see. Now, ever though the disc has problems, I think the film is a worthy addition to my library. It is definitely worth buying if you don't mind putting up with the quality. If you do, there is word that perhaps there is a special edition DVD in the works. It could even include the theatrical version of the film in addition to the director's cut (though why you would want to see another version, I'm not sure). But copies of this disc can be had fairly cheaply, and I for one am going to go ahead and buy it.

Rating:
Summary: A classic sci-fi film that set standards, but some flaws
Review: I saw the original, theater edition when "Blade Runner" came out in the early 80's. At that time, just after "Star Wars" created a new standard in science fiction films, we were totally blown away by the visual richness of this film. Plus, it was based on Philip K. Dick's story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" --a good short story by a classic sci-fi master. This film set the tone for many futuristic films to come--look at the references that are probably deliberately taken from "Blade Runner" and included in "The Matrix"--the constant rain and the scene where Harrison Ford climbs out a window and hangs on a ledge. I am sure that is not accidental--the Warchowski brothers quote ideas from classic sci-fi themes throughout "The Matrix" as a sort of homage. They saw fit to pay such homage to "Blade Runner" which illustrates just how key this work is to the genre.

Classic or not, this film worth buying in DVD to put in your library? Well, I am of mixed opinion here. The director's cut, in my opinion, is a big improvement. The theater version was essentially a hunt-and-shoot movie, with Ford as Deckerd the Blade Runner, hunting down the Replicants (artificially created beings who look like humans but live only four years.) The director's cut gives the characters far more humanity and motivation. In particular, Rutger Hauer is allowed to portray a tragic figure as opposed to just being an evil bad guy. The pacing is slowed by the extra scenes and makes for a better, if more quirky, film.

The cast is very good (except I don't much like Harrison Ford in anything past Indiana Jones--that's personal prejudice, he is fine here.) Darryl Hannah does a great job with her physical role as a dangerous wind-up doll, and Sean Young is stunning as Rachel, the most human and conflicted of the replicants.

We changed formats on the DVD to see if letterbox or a more constricted TV format looked better--the letterbox showed how this DVD picture quality is not up to par, and the sound was awful. So I give this three stars--I liked the director's cut, I like the film for what it is, but this DVD left a lot to be desired.

Rating:
Summary: The Worst Movie Ever Made
Review: I can't believe I didn't turn this movie off. I was waiting for something to happen, but nothing happened in the whole movie. It was a waste of my 2 hours and my $1 to rent it. The dvd is awful. Its got no special features, the menus are about as pretty as Christopher Lloyd in one flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. There was no plot to this movie, there was no action in this movie, there was no sex in this movie. So what's so good about it? I don't know. It was awful. Harrison Ford had about as much testosterone as the Olsen Twins. The evil man was an idiot and the naked woman was about as ugly as Whoopie Goldburg. Everybody on the internet rants and raves about this garbage so I figured I'd watch it. This is not a classic. I could have wrote this script in 5 minutes. I'm going to go watch Show Down in Little Tokyo now.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid, pure, and picturesque
Review: This film resonates with dark aura, with clever shafts of light peeking through--if you look closely enough. The light you will look for in the film represents both insight and the truth. You can watch scenes over and over again and it's remarkably fascinating. It can still compel you in the same way it did when you first watched it.

You can't put this film into a genre or perspective. And you can't call it futuristic. This is a very simple film that is clear in its message but haunting in its presentation, and ultimately it is a very lonely journey. It's not meant to be watched with anyone else, just alone, in my opinion. I would recommend turning on closed captioning too, as the voices are generally fairly soft and you could miss key dialogue. It's in widescreen format so the captioned words shouldn't get in the way.

I think everyone can relate to this film in one way or another. But no one can say what it's about. Loneliness, fear, hatred--these are all things we can relate to. But never has it been done in such an artistic way. I think this is one of those forms of art that has the ability to distract you from reality, maybe just long enough to learn something or at least be mesmerized for a short while.

Rating:
Summary: GOOD IQ TEST
Review: If you liked this movie your IQ is ok. I read this in the fifties and Bladerunner is a great film rendering of the original version. Dick was one of the great writers. I knew his name on a piece always meant you could expect a great read.

Rating:
Summary: A mesmerizing, facinating film...
Review: I have not seen the original version of this movie, so I can't compare the two. Regardless of what the other version of this film was like, however, this version was extraordinary - I've never seen anything quite like it before! Besides providing the viewer with a mesmerizing combination of a bizarre setting, appropriate music, and action sequences, this film raised many essential questions about what it means to be human...

Blade Runner is, more than anything, a film noir - in many ways it is very similar to Humphrey Bogart's noir detective thrillers from the 1940s (The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, for instance). But instead of being set in the dark city streets in the 1940s, Blade Runner is set in L.A. in 2019. By 2019, the movie asserts, L.A. has been transformed into a decaying mega-metropolis, and consists of multitudes of people fighting their way through constantly rainy streets (turning the idea of sunny California on its head) filled with strange shops. Great shots of this bizarre city combined with a perfectly fitted soundtrack create a nightmarish, haunting atmosphere in this film.

Essentially, the plot of this movie concerns Rick Decard (Harrison Ford, in an unusual and very, very good performance), a one time blade runner (i.e. police killer) who is forced by to track down several more replicants (androids w/a 4 year lifespan who are used as slaves but sometimes escape and are illegal on Earth). As the movie puts it, replicants "were designed to copy human beings in every way except their emotions. The designers reckoned that after a few years, they might develop their own emotional responses. You know, hate, love, fear, anger, envy. So they built in a fail-safe device...Four year life span."

Anyhow, as Decker hunts down the remaining replicants, he begins to learn to feel again - at the beginning of the film, he seems even less human than the replicants he is supposed to kill. Also, along the way, he meets Rachael, a beautiful replicant who has been modified (she has been given memories) to even more resemble a human. Saying any more about the plot would give too much away...but one thing is for sure - this is a fantastic film which raises many important questions about humanity and life. Watch this soon - don't let this film's moments get lost "in time like tears in the rain." One warning: there is quite a bit of violence, but nothing too terrible by today's standards.

Rating:
Summary: The Special Edition comes out in 2003.
Review: The new edition of Blade Runner was supposed to be released in 2002 for the 20th anniversary but it'll be delayed until 2003, told in a latest news bulletin. The Dvd is expected to be 3 discs with the film being the definitive and final director's cut. The voiceover will be taken out and some new scenes are rumoured to be added into the picture. I read that there are going to be a lot of interviews , a full length documentary on the making of Blade Runner and very likely a commentary by Director Ridley Scott. Other features will include deleted scenes, behind the scenes photo galleries, and theatrical trailers and tv spots.

Director Ridley Scott went back to the original negatives to create a new print transfer of the picture to make the picture much clearer. The sound quality is also expected to be improved and digitally remastered. There is a lot more to be added to this Dvd but this is all the information i have as of now. All you have to do now is wait....