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View Full Version : The BigSoccer Blade Runner thread [R]


Ghost
06 Aug 2005, 11:07 PM
http://www.btinternet.com/~mat.connor/rachel.jpg


It was a commercial bomb of the first order.

Its star hated the director, hated the female lead, and still will hardly mention the movie. He once derisively commented that the film was about "whether or not you can fall in love with your toaster."

It was released originally in a severely compromised form, scarred by producers who insisted on a ridiculously tacked-on happy ending and a voice-over intentionally botched in the hopes it wouldn't make the cut. (Bad move). It would only put forward its best foot in a somewhat harrried Director's Cut 10 years later.

It has one of the best deathbed speeches in the history of cinema, delivered (and partially written) by a man who would be starring in things like Blind Fury in the following years.

It suffers through a slew of basic continuity errors, some of the worst dubbed dialogue imaginable and Daryl Hannah.

Yet it's one of the best films I've ever seen.

Its impact visually was instant and lasting, so much so that saying "sci-fi movie" and "a look inspired by Blade Runner" are virtually redundant. But it's only now that its themes, centered on the clash of technology, morality and human identity, are becoming increasingly immediate. It's on the short list of most influential movies ever.

There was a lot of love on another thread for this movie, so I figured a thread was in order. Say what you'd like. Me, I just remember being in a club late one Friday night years ago. They were playing Blade Runner on their television system high above the dance floor. I remember watching Sean Young walk into the movie and thinking what a pristine image I was watching.

bungadiri
06 Aug 2005, 11:55 PM
I think it's a flawed movie, but it's still pretty much the first one that evoked the sense of genuine strangeness that well rendered SF can do, and probably none I've seen has done it so well since.

A random memory: I remember watching Blade Runner for the second or third time at film society showing on the U Mich campus. There was a lesbian couple two rows in front of me who'd apparently come just to see the scene where Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) tries to escape Deckard but ends up getting shot repeatedly as she runs (smashing her way through a series of plate glass windows in the process). Once the scene was over they muttered something appreciative and profane, then walked out. That scene evokes the underlying themes of the movie--the replicants are more vibrant and value their lives more than the humans exterminating them.

Agree with you about Batty's speech.
I don't think Darryl Hannah hurts the film at all. Pris was by far her best work.

zpjohnstone
07 Aug 2005, 03:36 PM
Maybe you'll enjoy my Blade Runner Concept Band. (http://www.thelectricsheep.com)

Dune and Blade Runner were my favorite two movies when I was a kid.

I love the cheesy narrative in the same way I liked Double Indemnity.

Sean Young.

Darryl Hannah's inabilty to act worked for the film. Tangentially, I never hated seaweed so much . . . .

NoodlesMacintosh
07 Aug 2005, 06:13 PM
I think it's okay. The original version has flaws. The director's cut has a better mood but inserts an even bigger flaw. The book is a bit awkward and surprisingly breezy.

Out of the three I guess I'd go with the director's cut, so long as I try to mentally patch it up with details from the book, which is still worth reading. I had the misfortune of reading the book after watching the movie. The book's climax is very calm and matter-of-fact when compared with an all-out fight between Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. It's too bad that there's really no place in the movie for the whole replicant compound with the other bounty hunter arc, what with its effects on Deckard's mind and his decisions. Anyway.

Hooray Blade Runner.

nancyb
07 Aug 2005, 09:33 PM
I loved this movie in its original form. I don't know why, I just did. Interesting how it nailed the whole being constantly bombarded with advertising thing.

Stud83
07 Aug 2005, 10:16 PM
I had to watch it for my philosophy class about a year ago. Also had to write a paper about it. I can't say the movie changed the way I look at the world, or that I've seen it many times since then, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. And I sure would've liked to see something similar come out right now. But is anyone brave enough to even try?