Rendered at 11:40:02 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Cloudflare Workers.
Lio 36 minutes ago [-]
I love the film but for a long time I really disliked that Ridley Scott changed the plot.
To me Scott's idea that Deckard is a replicant but doesn't know it is just weak. Even the idea that they would make a replicant hunter that's weaker than the "basic pleasure model" it's designed to hunt doesn't work.
I think Scott shoe-horned his change in after the fact and he's had to keep releasing new edits because it doesn't really fit.
PKD's original plot themes are much richer and deeper:
The purpose of this story as I saw it was that in his job of hunting and killing these replicants, Deckard becomes progressively dehumanized.
At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human.
Finally, Deckard must question what he is doing, and really what is the essential difference between him and them? And, to take it one step further, who is he if there is no real difference?
— Philip K. Dick
synecdoche 5 minutes ago [-]
Many aspects have already been mentioned, all great in their own right, that lifts the movie into timeless greatness. I'd like to add one more. The stunning beauty and performance of Sean Young.
liendolucas 4 hours ago [-]
Of the sci-fi genre for me it will always be #1. The whole thing is just perfect, there's no other movie that comes close to the world that is envisioned in Blade Runner.
Gud 3 hours ago [-]
Terminator #1 and #2 are probably more realistic though, despite the time travel.
srean 2 hours ago [-]
But nowhere close to the emotional impact.
People usually do not remember what happened turn by turn but they do remember what it made them feel.
Funnily enough, in the movie, the humans have little no feelings but the androids do -- and that is the central question that the movie made me consider -- what makes us human.
I am ofcourse biased because Blade Runner (original) is not only on my top 5 scifi movie list but also on my top 5 movie list. So much so that I am reluctant to watch 2049.
TheOtherHobbes 1 hours ago [-]
I think Blade Runner and Alien helped destroy mainstream science fiction.
Before Blade Runner almost anything could be science fiction. After Blade Runner science fiction meant detective noir with #tech_upgrade - clones, memory implants, dystopia. Or it was US truckers and/or the military fighting nasty aliens in spaaaaaaace. (Star Wars and its magic space knights was always more fantasy with a science fiction stage set.)
Blade Runner did it far better than the others, but then we had decades of mostly mediocre book knock-offs, especially in the UK. (Gibson gets a pass for taking the new trope even further by being a brilliant stylist, mixing in some tech orientalism, and inventing cyberspace.)
It's a stunning, iconic masterpiece of a movie with an unfortunate chilling cultural effect.
And ironically the Philip K Dick original was... very different.
srean 1 hours ago [-]
> And ironically the Philip K Dick original was... very different.
True. Ridley Scott and Philip K Dick collaborated very closely to tell it like they wanted it to. Studios liked it ... not so much.
swiftcoder 41 minutes ago [-]
The other thing that always strikes me when rewatching Blade Runner, is just how much time to breathe every little scene is given. Maybe a little too much time in some of the longer director's cuts, but it's a really stark contrast to a lot of lesser films, that try and pack as many story beats as they can into their runtime.
ilamont 8 hours ago [-]
This came up about a month ago when someone posted a link celebrating the title cards in Blade Runner. I responded then the same way I will respond now: it’s not just the amazing visuals, it’s also the amazing auditory experience, an additional creative dimension to transport the audience into a dystopian future.
The audio consists of two parts: the wonderful minimalist score by Vangelis, and sound effects that include distant booms, twinkling computer notes, dripping rain, strange languages, the whoosh of futuristic vehicles, even small details such as the crosswalk warning. Along with the set design, photography, special effects, acting, and other visual elements, the audio effectively immerses viewers into this incredible world and story.
Keep in mind that a typical viewer entering the local cineplex in 1982 to watch Blade Runner might have just stepped out of a Chevy Nova with an 8-track cassette player loaded with Juice Newton and Kool & The Gang. The visuals, the score, the sound effects, and the story would have been completely novel, and totally mind-blowing.
kilroy123 1 hours ago [-]
I agree. The other week I saw this at a movie theater. I was blown away by the audio experience. So much better than watching it on my subpar home audio.
It was a cool experience to watch this on the big screen.
alchemism 6 hours ago [-]
The highlight of my summer was Blade Runner Live At the Acropolis. The movie was shown in the ancient theater with a live orchestra performing Vangelis.
They may have a global tour of it in some places this fall.
srean 2 hours ago [-]
Oh vow. Now jealous. My highlight that can even dare to come close would be a Roger Waters show.
Would love to experience the three *katsis in such a setting.
KurSix 6 hours ago [-]
Wow... The venue almost adds another layer to the movie. You're watching a 1982 vision of 2019, accompanied by live electronic-orchestral music, inside a theater built a couple thousand years ago...
jaharios 4 hours ago [-]
Also Vangelis was pretty much inspired by Byzantine Greek Music which was inspired by Ancient Greek music which was played in the ancient theater 2 millennia ago.
MomsAVoxell 3 hours ago [-]
>audio
It's another of those movies which uses light extremely effectively, also.
In fact I've heard it said that every single shot in Blade Runner carefully deals with light specifically.
WalterGR 8 hours ago [-]
> someone posted a link celebrating the title cards in Blade Runner.
The sound is probably why the visuals feel so much larger than the sets actually were
WalterBright 8 hours ago [-]
I stepped in to watch it in 1982. Didn't like it much. But rewatching it over the years, it grew on me.
dtnm 8 hours ago [-]
The re-cuts are definitely an improvement on the original theatrical release. It's a matter of taste, but for me Director's Cut is the better.
srean 2 hours ago [-]
Yup. It's one of those weird and rare movies that grows on you the number of times you watch it. I have watched it at different ages. The later I have watched the better it seemed.
KurSix 6 hours ago [-]
I wonder if part of that is that Blade Runner doesn't optimize for the first viewing. Once you already know where the plot is going, your attention is free to wander into the production design, sound, background activity
clan 4 hours ago [-]
But it does! (Or did)
The first theatrical release had a drab narration by Harrison Ford. At places it makes it sound like a cheap film noir detective story.
The Directors Cut is the unbutchered version.
Maybe 4D chess by Ridley Scott. Most had seen the optimized version first and was prepared for the magic which is the recut version ;-)
I have the opposite feeling with Apocalypse Now. The Redux version killed the pacing and explained too much. The added scenes are by themselves worthwhile (and explains later actions) but makes the complete movie a bit heavy handed.
By comparison Blade Runner feels more ethereal even though the both cover dark subjects of human nature.
objclxt 1 hours ago [-]
> The Directors Cut is the unbutchered version.
The Director's Cut (released in 1992) drops the narration and adds the dream sequence, but despite the name is not entirely approved by Ridley Scott.
The Final Cut (released in 2007) is the only version where Ridley Scott had full final cut approval. It re-masters the audio, fixes some of the effects (replacing faces on stunt doubles, removing wires, etc), and changes a few lines (most notably "I want more life, father" instead of "fucker"). The color is also re-graded.
Some people prefer the Director's Cut over the Final Cut, especially the color grading, although I saw the Final Cut in 35mm when it was released and it looked pretty spectacular. In any event the changes in the Final Cut are nowhere near as egregious as the Star Wars special editions or the AI remasters of James Cameron's films.
shevy-java 4 hours ago [-]
The audio was good but after I listened to it many times, I started to dislike it. On the other hand, for instance, the Conan the barbarian main themes I can always listen to numerous times.
I think Blade Runner stands out for the visual effects though. The dystopian future cities were great. It were these effects packed into a storyline why I did not want to watch the "sequel".
sixtyj 5 hours ago [-]
> The movie even inspired Anders Ramsell to paint 3285 water colour prints, and then turn those into a remarkable short film.
dyzone 4 hours ago [-]
I'm yet to see the movie. Are there any spoilers in this article?
shevy-java 4 hours ago [-]
Well, some characters are mentioned and images are shown, so this is a tiny bit of a spoiler. But your trade-off would be "shall I first watch Blade Runner before reading this article"; watch it today. And read the article anyway, as it is not just about Blade Runner but also e. g. Logan’s Run. Now, Logan’s Run is not as good as Blade Runner, but it has some elements that are quite interesting IMO. So it can also be recommended, even though I find it a bit dated now; Blade Runner is not dated though really. Probably one of the most important science fiction movie ever made. The book is also good, but different to the movie; I was disappointed because I found the movie was better, but the book is in many ways much more logical. It kind of explains why there are so few animals and so many artificial animals (even though from a biological point of view this makes no sense, humans are also animals after all), whereas in the movie, it is rarely explained why there are artificial animals. IMO the book was more intrinsically logical, and more desperate e. g. regular humans were drug addicts, that was totally cut in the movie. I still liked the movie more, even though I think the book had a stronger intrinsic logic; but the performance of Rutger Hauer really was epic there. IMO his best performance in his whole career.
LargoLasskhyfv 1 hours ago [-]
The book felt dry and sort of boring to me. Which made me recognize that some movies can actually be better than the books they are based on. Which is not a given.
That being said, there are sequels for the original movie in paperback, which I've found to be very acceptable.
Alien is the same imho, hard to believe two of the most iconic sci fi's were created by the same guy and only 3 years apart.
huflungdung 3 hours ago [-]
[dead]
DocIsInDaHouse 6 hours ago [-]
It’s one of the very few immersive masterpieces where all elements complement each other: script, acting, score, production design, lighting, cinematography. The core vision was so brilliant that even short-sighted studio bosses couldn't destroy it with a butchered edit.
esafak 7 hours ago [-]
It's amazing that Blade Runner looks as good as anything that has come since. And sounds way better.
KurSix 5 hours ago [-]
The sound especially feels almost impossible to date
cocacola1 7 hours ago [-]
My local Regal is playing it on September 12th. Can’t wait to see it again in theaters.
msephton 1 hours ago [-]
I watched it a week or two ago at my local Picture House (at FACT). Had a great time!
shevy-java 4 hours ago [-]
Ridley Scott is perhaps not quite as script-centric as Martin Scorsese or able to make a multi-faceted movie like Spielberg or visual effects heavy as George Lucas. However had, Ridley Scott has by far the best visual eye and is also able to draw like a professional designer, which the others can't. I think the best example for this can be seen in both Alien (first one) and Gladiator. In Gladiator he was much more professional from A to Z, but I think the first Alien is even more impressive if you look at it. The camera work is brilliant (Martin also has great camera work in Taxi Driver, but in Alien the effect is IMO much more profound) and the work around for visual problems (depicting the alien without it looking like garbage) was really epic. It is not easily possible to rank directors, but from a visual point of view, Ridley is probably the best individual (visual) artist as such (note: I refer to his abilities, not to the final product, which may not require as much individual artistic prowess, in other words, Martin may not be able to draw something with a pencil, but the end result movie has strong visual effects - see the desert scene in Casino or the "Do I amuse you?" scene in Goodfellas).
timonoko 2 hours ago [-]
Bloody annoying POS. It was nothing like the book.
Star Wars looked just cheap flick for children.
Soviet Solaris (1972) was one and only true Sci-Fi. But Alien (1979) fixed this problem.
amiantos 1 hours ago [-]
I really disliked Blade Runner for a long time because I love the book so much. It wasn't until a humanities class in college that I learned to appreciate Blade Runner separately from the book. Now, instead of hating Blade Runner, I love it, and I hate Blade Runner 2049 instead, because that movie seems to have zero respect for the message of the first movie, and zero respect for the intention of Ridley Scott (it's obvious to me they changed some things just to get Harrison Ford back in the film). I know I am in the minority, but we are a minority that has extremely good and valid reasons for being upset about it.
keiferski 1 hours ago [-]
2049 is a pretty mediocre film that would be forgotten if it didn’t have the BR name.
I like both the 1984 film and the book though, but I primarily like the movie for the cinematography and atmosphere, more than the story, which is more interesting in the book.
To me Scott's idea that Deckard is a replicant but doesn't know it is just weak. Even the idea that they would make a replicant hunter that's weaker than the "basic pleasure model" it's designed to hunt doesn't work.
I think Scott shoe-horned his change in after the fact and he's had to keep releasing new edits because it doesn't really fit.
PKD's original plot themes are much richer and deeper:
The purpose of this story as I saw it was that in his job of hunting and killing these replicants, Deckard becomes progressively dehumanized.
At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human.
Finally, Deckard must question what he is doing, and really what is the essential difference between him and them? And, to take it one step further, who is he if there is no real difference?
— Philip K. Dick
People usually do not remember what happened turn by turn but they do remember what it made them feel.
Funnily enough, in the movie, the humans have little no feelings but the androids do -- and that is the central question that the movie made me consider -- what makes us human.
I am ofcourse biased because Blade Runner (original) is not only on my top 5 scifi movie list but also on my top 5 movie list. So much so that I am reluctant to watch 2049.
Before Blade Runner almost anything could be science fiction. After Blade Runner science fiction meant detective noir with #tech_upgrade - clones, memory implants, dystopia. Or it was US truckers and/or the military fighting nasty aliens in spaaaaaaace. (Star Wars and its magic space knights was always more fantasy with a science fiction stage set.)
Blade Runner did it far better than the others, but then we had decades of mostly mediocre book knock-offs, especially in the UK. (Gibson gets a pass for taking the new trope even further by being a brilliant stylist, mixing in some tech orientalism, and inventing cyberspace.)
It's a stunning, iconic masterpiece of a movie with an unfortunate chilling cultural effect.
And ironically the Philip K Dick original was... very different.
True. Ridley Scott and Philip K Dick collaborated very closely to tell it like they wanted it to. Studios liked it ... not so much.
The audio consists of two parts: the wonderful minimalist score by Vangelis, and sound effects that include distant booms, twinkling computer notes, dripping rain, strange languages, the whoosh of futuristic vehicles, even small details such as the crosswalk warning. Along with the set design, photography, special effects, acting, and other visual elements, the audio effectively immerses viewers into this incredible world and story.
Keep in mind that a typical viewer entering the local cineplex in 1982 to watch Blade Runner might have just stepped out of a Chevy Nova with an 8-track cassette player loaded with Juice Newton and Kool & The Gang. The visuals, the score, the sound effects, and the story would have been completely novel, and totally mind-blowing.
It was a cool experience to watch this on the big screen.
They may have a global tour of it in some places this fall.
Would love to experience the three *katsis in such a setting.
It's another of those movies which uses light extremely effectively, also.
In fact I've heard it said that every single shot in Blade Runner carefully deals with light specifically.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49189287
The first theatrical release had a drab narration by Harrison Ford. At places it makes it sound like a cheap film noir detective story.
The Directors Cut is the unbutchered version.
Maybe 4D chess by Ridley Scott. Most had seen the optimized version first and was prepared for the magic which is the recut version ;-)
I have the opposite feeling with Apocalypse Now. The Redux version killed the pacing and explained too much. The added scenes are by themselves worthwhile (and explains later actions) but makes the complete movie a bit heavy handed.
By comparison Blade Runner feels more ethereal even though the both cover dark subjects of human nature.
The Director's Cut (released in 1992) drops the narration and adds the dream sequence, but despite the name is not entirely approved by Ridley Scott.
The Final Cut (released in 2007) is the only version where Ridley Scott had full final cut approval. It re-masters the audio, fixes some of the effects (replacing faces on stunt doubles, removing wires, etc), and changes a few lines (most notably "I want more life, father" instead of "fucker"). The color is also re-graded.
Some people prefer the Director's Cut over the Final Cut, especially the color grading, although I saw the Final Cut in 35mm when it was released and it looked pretty spectacular. In any event the changes in the Final Cut are nowhere near as egregious as the Star Wars special editions or the AI remasters of James Cameron's films.
I think Blade Runner stands out for the visual effects though. The dystopian future cities were great. It were these effects packed into a storyline why I did not want to watch the "sequel".
That being said, there are sequels for the original movie in paperback, which I've found to be very acceptable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_2:_The_Edge_of_Hu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_3:_Replicant_Nigh...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_4:_Eye_and_Talon
Did you know?
Star Wars looked just cheap flick for children.
Soviet Solaris (1972) was one and only true Sci-Fi. But Alien (1979) fixed this problem.
I like both the 1984 film and the book though, but I primarily like the movie for the cinematography and atmosphere, more than the story, which is more interesting in the book.