SYNOPSIS
A 23rd century detective tracks down renegade human “replicants” in the seedy future Los Angeles.
CRITIQUE
I clearly remember seeing Blade Runner in the summer of 1982, and thinking — as I picked up my jaw from the sticky theater floor — “this movie is way too intellectual for its own good.” (Okay, maybe I thought “cool” instead of “intellectual” but you get the picture.) Despite any post-post-production, Blade Runner was and will remain a flawed masterpiece, but its flaws are now far less obvious than its merits.
Based on the novella “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by the equally brilliant/flawed science fiction visionary Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner deals with the very nature of humanity. An uphill theme to tackle, for sure… but neither Dick nor Scott have ever let that fact stand in their way.
The basic rundown: Harrison Ford is Deckard, a 23rd century detective/assassin who’s commissioned to hunt down and terminate a handful of escaped Replicants. Unlike, say, the Terminator, these artificial humans are neither robots nor androids. They’re lab-made people; skin and bones and brains. Slaves of the future; shackled to the stars. Their sole function is to perform off-world labor. Understandably they don’t care for the lifestyle too much. So a few ran off the plantation (planet-tation!) to hide back on Earth, where they’ll disappear into the numbly overpopulated society. (At least it’s like that in Los Angeles, a dystopian megatropolis battered by an incessant downpour of acid rain.)
Like any good noir detective worth his salt, Deckard stumbles backwards into a beautiful dame and a sinister plot. Naturally, they’re intertwined. Not in the way Bacall was with Bogie in The Big Sleep — though, like the latter film a father figure is behind it all. The man who created Replicants! And that’s where our summary ends.
Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner needs to be experienced, not read about. Preferably — no, make that mandatory — in the largest venue possible. If you have a big screen TV (at least 40”) you’re in decent shape. Otherwise, the film cannot possibly be appreciated on the level for which it was intended. And that’s many levels besides pure visual spectacle, of which it’s hardly lacking.
Blade Runner was the first science film to seriously consider what makes us human. Implanted in the Replicants are artificial memories. Apparently it makes them easier to deal with than mindless robots. It also makes them pine for lives that they haven’t really experienced; laughter and love and family, for instance. (Spielberg wrangled with this theme in AI: Artificial Intelligence and look where he got.) If you’ve seen Total Recall you have a basic idea of what kind of trouble implanted memories can cause. Not so coincidentally, this was also based on a Philip K. Dick story.
Now, much has been made of Blade Runner’s stunning visuals and rightly so. The opening sequence, cutting between the reflection in Deckard’s iris and the subject he’s watching (the Tyrell Corporation HQ; a series of towering metal pyramids nestled amid shooting glooms of fiery factory exhaust) tells the viewer that they’re about to experience something radically new; prescient because Blade Runner indicated the path to international corporatism way ahead of its time.
But putting FX ahead of the drama is a mistake. Once the city’s retrofitted design and its multi-cultural citizenry is established, Scott allows the “mystery” plot device to hang like a clothesline on which he pins a series of poetic interactions. They reveal the oppressive loneliness and innate humanity of the Replicants (Rutger Hauer/Daryl Hannah) with Deckard’s rigidly inhuman determination. Hauer in particular gives a memorable performance as the “lead” Replicant.
In a strange way his climactic rooftop speech is just as stirring as Jimmy Stewart’s congressional diatribe in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Ford perfectly underplays his role; a veneer of dry cyncism encrusting Deckard’s inner confusion. (Throughout the film Scott deftly plants little clues about Deckard’s unspoken backstory. Hint: ever see that old “B” flick Creation of the Humanoids?)
Having read the shooting script (it’s available online for free!) I can honesty say that all of the elements were in place for Scott to shoot, but the spin he put on the raw material is entirely his own — with a great deal of creative support by his production team. Virtually every inch of Blade Runner is a marvel of and (1982 era) state-of-the-art production/costume design/visual effects. This is the aspect that most casual viewers remember about the film. So thorough is the viewer’s immersion in the 23rd Century that after the initial shock every subsequent sequence registers in one’s brain as 100% believable.
Because the visuals allow the plot to rise to the forefront it also places the narrative under more scrutiny. Certain scenes are uncomfortably stiff, and the chemistry between Ford and his femme fatale co-star (Sean Young) seems somewhat awkward — though upon second viewing the reason becomes clear.
As speculative fiction, Blade Runner has about as much in common with contemporary “sci-fi/action” flicks as Beethoven does to Britney Spears. It has the genre but a radically different approach. Other than Scott’s deliberate editorial pace, the original Blade Runner also suffered from terrible neo-noirish narration and a happy ending — both tactlessly tacked on after the fact under studio pressure to make the visionary tone poem more accessible. At first Scott protested but eventually he caved.
Many years and guilt trips later, Scott found himself still tinkering with the project in a way that only George Lucas could appreciate. (In this case he was making minor but crucial repairs, not wholesale slaughter as Lucas did to Star Wars — but that’s a different story.) Subsequently, Blade Runner rose and fell in a few different forms as a workprint cut, laserdisc re-cut, a director’s cut, etc. Each version had their good points, but none so glorious as The Final Cut!
In an effort to hew to the director’s vision, the film was not only digitally restored (from the finest available 70mm print) but touch-ups have been performed on matte paintings and wires barely visible in the theatrical version. Most importantly, the tacked-on changes were excised and the a few little scenes added (or tweaked). The overall feeling is that Blade Runner: The Final Cut is a triumphant effort; not just for science fiction geeks but for cinematic history.
THE VIDEO
Despite its age, Blade Runner looks as good — if not better — than some contemporary Blu Ray/HD DVDs. The 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation is nothing short of impeccable; a milestone achievement in restoration. Kudos to the restoration team and Charles de Lauzirika for their work. Optional subtitles include English, Spanish and French.
THE AUDIO
Blade Runner is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. A French 5.1 track is also available. The soundtrack has been remixed and remastered to take best advantage of the latest surround sound technology. You’d swear it was recorded yesterday, with judicious surround placement of effects such as the flying “Spinner” cars and multilayered street sounds.
Best of all, when the story requires it to be quiet, it’s really quiet! The sole audio element that hasn’t aged well is the electronic score by Vangelis, though when the ‘puters are tamped down (in some parts) to favor a saxaphonish instrument, the soundtrack remains interesting.
THE EXTRAS
Scott’s groundbreaking approach was hardly overlooked by cinephiles in 1982. The film spawned a host of tech coverage in trade magazines and a book by Paul Sammon appropriately entitled The Making of Blade Runner. Though Sammon’s text extended only to the original theatrical release, his scrupulous work has been carried on in the DVD documentary (presented exclusively on disc 2).
At 3 hours, Dangerous Days: Making of Blade Runner is exhaustive and impressive. It can be viewed as one whole feature or separately in eight chapters. Especially fascinating was a bit about bringing actress Joanna Cassidy to re-shoot a few stunt angles that initially featured an all-too obvious stunt man busting through a plate glass window; and a dialogue bit wherein Ford’s son was used because dad was too old to reprise his part.
Three Audio Commentaries accompany The Final Cut (disc 1):
1) Ridley Scott in a solo track that’s a solid effort.
2) Executive producer/co-screenwriter Hampton Fancher and co-screenwriter David Peoples, and producer Michael Deely and production executive Katherine Haber.
3) Visual futurist/designer Syd Mead, production designer Lawrence G. Paull, art director David L. Snyder and special photographic effects supervisors Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich and David Dryer.
Available on disc 1 is an introduction by Ridley Scott running a mere 36 seconds where he shares his opinion on The Final Cut.
FINAL THOUGHT
They don’t make ‘em like this any more, because they won’t. Thoughtful, provocative studio fare is toast. Ironically, to appreciate Blade Runner’s future you must delve into the past.
