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| A stylish, cool, recent, Italian poster made for a re-release of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner |
Ridley Scott's (Alien (1979)) Blade Runner is a landmark film and a legendary one which most people have heard of and know to be a great film, even if they haven't actually seen it. This review is based on the 111 minute director's cut version of the film.
Let's start with the film's few minuses:
1. Philip K. Dick (Gather Yourselves Together (1950), novel) should rightly have been credited in the opening credits. He wrote the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) that is the basis of the film. Without him there wouldn't have been any Blade Runner. Hampton Fancher (The Minus Man (1999)) and David Webb Peoples (Twelve Monkeys (1995)) wrote the screenplay.
2. Harrison Ford (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)) is Deckard, no doubt about it, but some of his applied mannerisms, especially in the film's first act, feel (to me) like they belong to an adolescent instead of a 40-year-old man.
3. The pace and feel of the film is cold throughout, maybe nearing living room temperature around the sex scene, but even that scene is difficult to get heated up about. The ambience and slow, almost depressed seriousness of it all feels a little impersonal to me, but Scott has said that Blade Runner is his most personal film, so perhaps he just suffers from the notorious English body temperature, (at least ten degrees lower than regular folks'.)
Maybe the slow pacing matters less to others, because the film continues living and breathing due to its stunning visuals and the underlying, impressively original plot. The cinematography is by Jordan Cronenweth (Altered States (1980)). Its mythic power slowly evolves until the point where we gather the thematic implications of the plot:
Deckard is a police detective 'blade runner' whose mission it is to hunt and eliminate robot replicants in the metropolis of Los Angeles in 2019. But the mission leaves him with questions about his own existence.
Fiercely workaholic Dutch actor, Rutger Hauer (Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) is great with his larger-than-life style of acting that is needed to raise the mythical stakes here. SPOILER When he finally meets his maker and decides to squeeze the man's eyes out, - it's powerful stuff.
In other great roles are William Sanderson (Deadwood (2004-06)), Daryl Hannah (Casa de los Babys (2003)) and Sean Young (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)).
Blade Runner's visual side is brimming with references, and the Ford/Young-characters and their romance is obviously heavily influenced by Bogie/Bacall's (Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, that is) ditto in the old Howard Hawks noirs To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). Young in all her beautiful gloom reminds me a lot of contemporary singer/fashion icon, Lana Del Rey. The LA sets, mysteriously rainy throughout, have distinctive Andrei Tarkovsky qualities, especially his Stalker (1979) must have been an inspiration. Lars Von Trier's The Element of Crime (1984) shares similar fancies. Great American SF and horror writer Ray Bradbury is referenced in a 'Bradbury Café' towards the film's end. And many other references and inspirations could be pointed out.
The combination of all these elements makes Blade Runner like no other film, and it is truly worth cherishing as one of those rare, unique film experiences that are not like any other at all, really.
Blade Runner looks stunningly fresh and unaged on DVD today.
I am a Dick fan and recommend anyone who gets taken in by the thought-provoking story specifics in Blade Runner to look him up. He is actually more fun to read than this movie might make you think. His works are intricate, psychedelic, weird, funny and often downright genius.
Of course, numerous films have been made based on his stories, after Blade Runner paved the way, so to speak. Best of them are Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall (1990) and Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002).
Ford hated the long, wet shooting of Ridley Scott's weird sci-fi tale that flopped terribly at the time of its release. - Funny how these things go; today you will have a hard time finding a single person that will contest that Blade Runner is a great film, (although many undoubtedly just nod their heads and go with the flow, and as indicated I personally find it slow going.)
Related posts:
Ridley Scott: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
American Gangster (2008) - Now black
A Good Year (2006) or, Ridley Scott Likes Provence
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News
Watch the 30 year anniversary release trailer here
Cost: 28 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 33.5 mil. $ - many foreign markets missing
= Big flop (returned at least 1.19 times the cost)
[Blade Runner was released 25 June (North America) and exists in several versions, - this review is based on the 111 minute director's cut version. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in the UK, including London, from March - June 1981 with one single day's reshoot in July and one in October 1981. It opened #2, behind holdover hit E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, to 6.1 mil. $ in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#5), leaving theaters after just 5 weeks with a 23.4 mil. $ original domestic gross. This has grown to 32.8 mil. $ with re-releases since then. Scott and the producers fought for the film's marketability by releasing no less than 7 different versions of it. Of the few foreign numbers available is that 2 mil. people paid admission to the film in France and 2 mil. in Germany and Spain collectively as well,- but even if the entire gross grew as high as 50 mil. $, the film would still count as a big flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review, at its 1982 premiere, but later gave the Blade Runner: The Final Cut version a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this review. It was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects and Art Direction, losing to E.T. and Gandhi, respectively. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 3/8 BAFTA nominations and other honors. It stands at #152 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, between Warrior (2011) and Wild Strawberries/Smultronstället (1957). Blade Runner is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Blade Runner?
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