Bladerunner

[Tycho]

Harrison Ford, Edward James Olmos, Rutger Hauer, Darryl Hannah, Sean Young: the cast is brilliant and the visuals just take your breath away even though it's long since been 1982.

"It's time to die."

"I'm not in the business. I AM the business."

This movie is classic. While it's slow for the first hour, it hooks you in to this vision of the future in 2019. (huh - that's the first year after Hasbro's SW license would expire - no wonder the world is so dark!)

Harrison Ford plays a specialized cop - Deckard - who's job it is to kill Replicants that return to earth. They are droids nearly indistinguishable from humans, but they were made with 4 year lifespans to prevent them from getting out of hand. They're used to augment the space military, busy with colonization of other planets, but when they come back to earth, they face their own mortality and mentally break down, making them very dangerous.

Hover cars, the Japanese and Chinese running Los Angeles, and a final showdown between Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer - there's everything to like about this movie. And the end is not what you'd expect.

Bladerunner's a good pick. The end credit music's good too. The Director's Cut runs UNDER 2 hours as well, so it's not too much to take in.

[bobafrett]

I love this film. Although now that I have viewed it many times over, I have a bit of trouble staying awake during that first hour. I remember seeing an ad, or article in a film magazine when my dad was putting us on a train to see our cousins in Pennsylvania. I was intrigued by the pictures and couldn't wait to see the film. It sure did paint a dark picture of the future. I enjoyed Rutger Hauer's performance, hell everyone did a great performance in that. I wish I had picked up the vehicles they had out for this film

[kool-aid killer]

Believe it or not, ive never seen this flick. Ive read that there are two versions: one that has a narrative done by Ford, and another that doesnt. Any advice as to which is better in terms of developing the story and providing insight? I do believe it is going to be re-released sometime this year on DVD. I may pick it up then.

[bobafrett]

I picked it up on DVD, the directors cut for around $5.00 at Wal-Mart last year.

[JediTricks]

One of my favorite films! I was lucky enough to see a rare 70mm print of it at an art house in LA when I was younger that had different segments from the theatrical and director's cuts.

I've always preferred the theatrical cut with its Ford voice-over and neat ending because it felt a little more film noir that way, but over time the more gritty director's cut without the "happy ending" has felt a little more true to noir's spirit (it helped that I watched more noir films afterwards and saw that even the studios back in the day occasionally let some slide without the happy endings).

I don't like the implications that Ridley Scott's made in the past that Deckard is also a replicant.


I can't believe you guys don't like the first hour of the film, I think it shines pretty well setting up a lot of mood and story and the real noir of it all.