#97. Blade Runner

97. Blade Runner - 1982

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Written by: Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples (screenplay) Philip K. Dick (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Previous viewing status: Watched once before - only the director's cut.

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When it comes to original cuts and director's cuts, I'm not sure which category falls into slot number 97 on this list for Blade Runner. To be fair, I've only ever seen the "Final Cut" version of the film, now both times that I've watched it. From what I hear and read of the original version, the main character, Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, has a character arch of disliking (I'm not sure that hate would fit here) 'Replicants' and comes to fall in love with one. From what I've seen in the director's cut, there wasn't anything that I saw that would show his utter dislike of Replicants enough for the story to be really be all that compelling. But perhaps I just need to find an old version of the film so I can judge more accurately.

As for the so-called "Final Cut" - I have to say, it's true to Ridley Scott form for it's unbiased view of the future. He never goes for streamline perfection, but a more real and gritty style. Scott has some similarities to Kubrick in that they know how to milk a moment - almost to the point of losing viewer interest - but Scott has the ability to reward the viewer more for making it through the slower parts of his films with dramatic and intense action. Blade Runner is possibly the epitome of his skill, if you go by the fact that it is his only film on this list. However, I feel strongly that Alien is by far a better film.

Blade Runner feels very uncoordinated while watching it; I never really understand how Deckard decides to go from place to place. Many parts of the film's storyline seem rushed and unpolished. Roy Batty, the leader of the on-the-run Replicants, seems impossibly cruel at the beginning of the film, but as poetic and merciful as Ghandi by the end. I think that his change confronting Deckard makes more sense in the "Final Cut" as opposed to the original - for reasons I don't want to give away for anyone who hasn't watched the film. Roy is definitely the most well-sculpted of the characters, while Deckard is the least, despite being the main character in the story. It never actually feels as if we know who Deckard is beyond the moment, and that also would support the "Final Cut" better than the original.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this film, and describing it is a very rambling experience because of that uncertainty. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. It leaves me with a mediocre taste in my mouth from the lack of solidity in its entire point. There's plenty of plot to go around, but it feels like it doesn't actually lead anywhere in the end.