Blade Runner [Director's Cut]

Rating:
Summary: Bring Back The Original!!
Review: Bring Back the Oringinal version that was shown in theaters with the voice over. It's a hell of a lot better than this "Director's Cut." If the studio feels that this crappy director's cut is better, why not let the consumers compare by putting both versions on the DVD? But no, instead of doing something of quality that makes sense, the studios would rather release immediately whatever piece of manure that Adam Sandler decides to put on film.

Rating:
Summary: DVD Tech Review
Review: I resubmit this review as a service to DVD fans... Won't waste your time with movie analysis, just the DVD complaints:

1. No extras, like commentary, outtakes, etc.

2. No 5.1 sound

3. No DTS

4. Doesn't include both versions: with voice over and without.

I keep reading a new version is due out. Consensus seems to be wait and see if Warner addresses any of these complaints before buying. That's what I'm doing.

Rating:
Summary: Would have been good if I wasn't a weirdo
Review: I only saw Blade Runner because it's my dad's favorite movie, and I got it for him for Father's Day. Anyhow, we ordered pizza and sat down to watch the Director's Cut of Blade Runner. As the movie started, I was like "okay, this isn't so bad after all," but I quickly took back my optimistic thought process. It was a depressing 2-dimensional action/sci fi flick about... well, what was it about? I don't know if anybody's sure about it. Another mystery.

Anyway, Rachael, the replicant object of Deckard's affection, has no personality whatsoever. I seriously wonder how he fell in love with her. Maybe he's a replicant too... and, miraculously, that's the amazing question the movie is asking. There is some deep meaning in this film. Is it that Deckard is perhaps a replicant too? Wow. Too hard to handle, for me at any rate.

Most of the film I didn't get, including the white-haired replicant guy who ran around howling with a nail through his hand. He was extremely creepy, if not completely repulsive. The only part in the movie that I enjoyed was the 10-second-long vision of the unicorn. At least I think it was a vision. It was neat, but I'm not sure how it fit into the story. I also liked the end, because it was not really an ending at all, and because that meant the torture was over. But I suppose this all has to do with some mind impediment that I suffer from. After all, I'm just a moron with no taste for sci fi flicks, except of course for the coolest movie ever, Star Wars. Well, I guess if you're like my dad, you'll enjoy Blade Runner. And if you appreciate real plots and characters with emotions, then you won't like this movie at all.

Rating:
Summary: Fair DVD of a not so good "Director's Cut."
Review: My VHS copy of Blade Runner is getting old, so I went ahead and bought the DVD of the "Director's cut" even though I had already seen it and was very dissapointed. I was suprised to get TWO versions of the film on the DVD: a standard version and a widescreen version. That's nice. The interactive menu, especially the scene access section, was pretty lame, however. It seems that not much thought was put into this. Also, the movie seems to play automatically and with subtitles, so you have to stop and turn off the subtitles then restart the movie!

As for the movie itself, I have said I didn't like the director's cut very much and watching this DVD didn't help matters any. The omitted voice-over by Harrison Ford is the biggest problem. Those scenes where he had been talking are now uncomfortably long and silent. If Scott was so insistent on taking out the voice-over, why didn't he tighten up those scenes so it would be more watchable? As it is now, we see Harrison Ford just gazing off into space and we don't know what he's thinking or what purpose these long shots of him just sitting there are supposed to have.

And another thing: the so-called unicorn dream. Part of Scott's original vision? I don't think so. Obviously, this was lifted from his film, Legend, and inserted into Blade Runner to connect with the foil unicorn Deckard finds at the end of the film. It doesn't fit with the rest of the film at all. It's an afterthought, hardly the director's "original vision."

Probably my biggest question with the whole movie is what happened to the last Replicant? We are told six "skin-jobs" jumped ship and came to Earth, but one got fried trying to break into the Tyrell corporation complex. Lets's count now. That leaves five. Rutger Hauer is one, Daryl Hannah is two, "Leon" is three, and "Zorah(?)" the snake dancer is four. What happened to the fifth one? This is never explained and if you start thinking that Harrison Ford is the fifth Replicant, then the entire storyline pretty much falls apart with "then why didn't they..." and "then how come they didn't recognize..." questions.

All in all, a fair DVD of a messed up version of a good movie. I wish I could get the original version on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: A true milestone.
Review: This is the film which started the whole hardware heavy futuristic trend. If it wern't for this, many Sci-fi films, mainly animes like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Bubblegum Crises wouldn't even exist. This film is very good, not perfect though, or perhaps it's just because I'm not a big fan of the hardware futuristic thing. I'm sure every sci-fi fan knows the plot, but just in case not, I'll recap. In the year 2019, there is a group of articificialy created humans named replicants who are used as slaves. They are outlawed on Earth so they are only used in the off world colonies and were only given four year lifespans because of fears that they might rebel and overtake the humans. A group of four who want longer lives have escaped and are running loose on Earth. However, a policeman named Dekkard (Harrison Ford) is hired as a "blade runner", a member of an elite policeforce who's job it is to exterminate the replicants. Dekkard begins a trek for the replicants on the rainy, crowded streets of Los Angeles, but soon his task proves to be more difficult than he expects. This film has many things to recommend it. The Panavision photography is beautifully composed and shot with truly excellent use of lighting and framing in particular and the gloomy futuristic sets are absolutly unbelievable, the eerie electronic score is like nothing I've ever heard before, and Rutger Hauer turns in an incredible performance as Roy Batty, the leader of the replicants. The DVD is the director's cut, which is different in many ways from the original cut and makes an already pretty dark and brooding film even draker. It actually cuts out more than it adds, a few small scenes furthering the character devolopment slightly are all it adds, what it cuts out is the narration by Harrison Ford (which in my opinion somewhat makes the film to easy to understand, the beauty of this film is how it's so hard to understand), and it also cuts out some of the most stomach churning gore (such as in the scene where Batty gouges out his creator's eyes) and not to mention the final happy ending which I think is also an improvement, since it's absence creates a real cliffhanger and leaves audiences wondering many things and I think movies that end in that way (like say The Empire Strikes Back) are very effective. As for the actual DVD, the widescreen presentation (don't you dare watch the pan and scan side, it looks terrible) is very nicely consistent. Color tones are beautiful, and pixelation is generally at a low, although there is some slight artifact, but it's generally a very pleasing transfer. The sound unfortunatly is only in Dolby Pro Logic, and not in Dolby Digital, the dialogue sounds a bit to harsh sometimes but the sound and music is perfactly fine. As for extras, the DVD has NONE!!! The menu is really crude looking, they could have given us trailers and TV spots, they didn't. They could have given us a Dolby Digital Soundtrack and a commentary track by Ridley Scott, but they didn't. But I hear a new DVD is on the way.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible to behold...
Review: The best of sci-fi noir, which is an underused but always good genre. Pure spectacle. Also try Dark City.

Rating:
Summary: Ford's narration
Review: I am a Blade Runner fan. I have an old vcr version. I have seen the 'Director's Cut' on the big screen. It is a huge disappointment. Harrison Ford's narration was added to the released version because the 'Director's Cut' was too unclear on what was going on. The great narration of the Blade Runner was added after looking at the Director's Cut. They knew, and rightly so that the movie would flop without the verbal support from Harrison Ford. His explainations make this a great film. I would really like to get a DVD of the original movie released version.

Rating:
Summary: A superior, yet intimate portrait of a bleak future
Review: Unlike the countless films which have adopted this film's look and feel, Blade Runner was crafted with more tension and more dark human nature than any other sci-fi film could even attempt. Director Ridley Scott creates a vision of Los Angeles, circa 2020, which is one of the most original and memorable future worlds ever put to celluloid. Unimaginable skyscrapers tower over streets that are clotted with humanity; around the skirts of the billion-dollar towers, the city at ground level looks like a third-world bazaar. Amidst this backdrop, a quiet masterpiece unfolds casting Harrison Ford as a blade runner -- a cop assigned to track down and kill "replicants," who are artificial humans, built through genetic engineering. After an uprising on an outworld, six replicants have returned secretly to Earth, where their deaths have been ordered by the Tyrell Corporation. Ford ends up falling in love with Racheal, played by Sean Young, in probably her best performance ever, a beautiful replicant, who just wants to live the life she believes she's been given. Director Scott never allows too much sympathy or emotion to arise in this steel-and-microchip 21st Century Los Angeles but rather allows the viewer to make up their minds about how strong their compassion is without being led on. The bleak rain-slick streets that Ford walks on, though seemingly far-removed from our own, are, in reality, the exact same streets that we ourselves walk on. And the corrupt and dehumanized state of the totalitarian law isn't so far removed from our own questionable ethics and justice system. It poses several questions: Is it a crime to want to be human? Is it moral to play God and give and take life as we please? These all seem to be racing through Ford's mind as the film goes on, and his icy and distant demeanor is exactly what the role calls for. He is, in essence, the prototypical cold and disillusioned lead character, whose conscience over what he knows he must do torments him throughout the film. While this version does seem to be somewhat overwrought with self-indulgence (as is the case in most director's cuts), and while the abscence of the original narration makes it somewhat confusing, especially to a firsttime viewer, this is still a masterpiece. Truly a landmark of science fiction as well as modern film noir. The movie's Los Angeles, with its permanent dark cloud of smog, its billboards hundreds of feet high, its street poverty living side by side with incredible wealth, is so prophetic it's frightening. Without a doubt one of the best sci-fi films of the '80s, and a must-have for fans of Harrison Ford and director Ridley Scott.

Rating:
Summary: What a mess--even with the "do over"
Review: Admittedly, I'm a fan of the book... The film, however, No. When they finally gave Ridley Scott the chance at a "director's cut" edition he should have done the world a favor and put it through a shredder. The sets and special effects: pretty enough. The acting: uninspired (as if under heavy sedation.) The screenplay: heinous! For the life of me, I can't see how anyone ever let Scott make another film, let alone have a second shot at this one.

Rating:
Summary: Classic film needs a dvd special edition
Review: Thia print was relased in the summer of 97. It's not bad but is extremely grainy in places. It mould be nice to see a SE developed from a new fine grain master for 20th year aniversary. So Ridley if you're out there, carry on the legacy of you're great film and bring us a stunning Blade Runner SE reference release. please!