The Blade Runner Appreciation Thread.

[GremlinZilla89]

Well, it's the thread to discuss and appreciate one of the best films ever made. Beautiful, melancholy, transcendent, enigmatic, hypnotic, and all out wonderful. It's a film that feels a little different every time I see it. Not many films can do that.

Lets talk BLADE RUNNER!!!

 

[Lord]

A masterpiece

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

The final cut is one of my all time favorites. I've finally got the workprint so I'll watch it soon.

 

[Piper Maru]

Blade Runner is one of my all-time favorite movies! The plot, the acting, the visuals and music really stand out to me.

I love this song;

[YT]JAwo7DPUFUM[/YT]

 

[GremlinZilla89]

Vangelis' score is a thing of beauty.

Rachels Song is my favorite track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIBKbhrniUQ

 

[vinsanity]

One of my favourite movies ever. Probably my favourite sci-fi movie.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

So, I figured I would start the inevitable "Is Deckard a Replicant or a human" argument. It's been done to death but I like getting differences of opinion from all around.

I was surprised with how many fans simply hate the idea of Deck being a Rep. I thought that is was generally accepted he was a Rep, but doing some digging on fan boards, podcasts and the like the concept is challenged greatly.

I don't take sides because I can accept if he is one or isn't one but I DO learn toward to Rep interpenetration of things.

I don't think the human thinkers are wrong but I do disagree with a major point they often bring up.

They would say the whole point of the film is lost if Deck turns out to be a Rep because the theme of him getting his humanity back is utterly pointless. I wholly disagree.

What does it matter if he is a human or not? Why does the character learning humanity make it any less poignant if he is a Replicant? By disliking the fact he is a Replicant because of his humanity arc that draws a line in the sand between the Reps and humans the characters in the film draws as well. It sets up an "us" and "them" thinking right from the get go. That is acknowledging that they aren't us, simply because of how they were made. The point of the film, I feel, is that these Replicants ARE human. They hurt, they love, they feel pain and anger and happiness and joy. They have their own thoughts and personalities. They ARE human. It doesn't matter if they didn't come from a womb because we have advanced so far as to create humans a different way.
That is the magic of the film. The central themes are intact. If you prefer the human cuts of the film then Deck learns who he is. If you prefer the Rep cuts of the film HE Still learns who he is.

 

[Octoberist]

Who else thinks that Mary Elizabeth Winstead looks like a young Sean Young, especially her in Blade Runner.

 

[Spidey's Curse]

Glad to see a thread for Blade Runner, one of my fav movies. I fully believe Deckard (and Gaff) are a replicants in both of the "cuts", and I have no problem with it. It kinda plays into the book, where he finds the whole police station is full of replicants.

 

[Jochimus]

Great movie. I got the set that's got four different versions for Christmas last year.

While I don't fully care to take a side in the whole "Is He Or Isn't He?" Deckard debate, I do tend to prefer the irony in the Replicants turning out to be more human than human in their mission, while Deckard's mission has him coming off as more of a machine than any of them. Plus I'm also one of the scant few out there who actually doesn't mind Ford's voiceover in the theatrical version, mostly due to the noir-detective story aspect of it.

Part of me also kind of wishes that they'd been able to shoot some of the wilder ideas that were originally going to go with, like the intended version of Zhora's striptease and the revelation of Tyrell's actual fate after Roy and Sebastian come to his suite.

 

[Loki882]

The voiceovers were unnecessary and you could tell that Ford thought so to just by the way he spoke. I am one who believes that Deckard IS a Replicant. Someone mentioned Mary Elizabeth Winstead earlier. She'd be a good choice for the female protagonist in the upcoming sequel. I hope that Ford and Olmos make appearances, even if they're just cameos.

 

[Jochimus]

I'd rather they NOT make a sequel, to be brutally honest about it. Not just because I don't think it's all that good an idea to make a sequel 20 to 30 years after the fact (I feel the same about Ghostbusters 3), but because even if I wanted to believe that Deckard is a Replicant, I would want it to remain something that's never clearly answered. Like the Norwegian camp in THE THING...I don't want to know what happened, because for me anyway it ruins the whole point of leaving it a mystery in the first place.

 

[Brother Jack]

One of my favorite movies of all time, the final cut that is. I first saw the director's cut in my early teens and it blew my mind.

Come to think of it, it's one of the few cases where a director going back and altering the film made it exponentially better. Usually it is the other way around.

 

[Still Wynning]

Has anyone seen this? It's a thing of beauty!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXFqPzAFv8o
[YT]JXFqPzAFv8o[/YT]

 

[Spidey's Curse]

Has anyone seen this? It's a thing of beauty!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXFqPzAFv8o
[YT]JXFqPzAFv8o[/YT]

AMAZING!!!

 

[Tequilla]

So, I figured I would start the inevitable "Is Deckard a Replicant or a human" argument. It's been done to death but I like getting differences of opinion from all around.

I was surprised with how many fans simply hate the idea of Deck being a Rep. I thought that is was generally accepted he was a Rep, but doing some digging on fan boards, podcasts and the like the concept is challenged greatly.

I don't take sides because I can accept if he is one or isn't one but I DO learn toward to Rep interpenetration of things.

I don't think the human thinkers are wrong but I do disagree with a major point they often bring up.

They would say the whole point of the film is lost if Deck turns out to be a Rep because the theme of him getting his humanity back is utterly pointless. I wholly disagree.

What does it matter if he is a human or not? Why does the character learning humanity make it any less poignant if he is a Replicant? By disliking the fact he is a Replicant because of his humanity arc that draws a line in the sand between the Reps and humans the characters in the film draws as well. It sets up an "us" and "them" thinking right from the get go. That is acknowledging that they aren't us, simply because of how they were made. The point of the film, I feel, is that these Replicants ARE human. They hurt, they love, they feel pain and anger and happiness and joy. They have their own thoughts and personalities. They ARE human. It doesn't matter if they didn't come from a womb because we have advanced so far as to create humans a different way.
That is the magic of the film. The central themes are intact. If you prefer the human cuts of the film then Deck learns who he is. If you prefer the Rep cuts of the film HE Still learns who he is.

I don't think there should be a lot of debate. The final cut show very unambiguously that Deckard is a Replicant. It actually leaves absolutely no doubt.

And is that important ? .I feel it heightens the central theme of existentialism that runs through the story , and how there's really no distinction between us and them without the self aware.

It also breaks the duality between them . He's part of what he's chasing (one of the most classical noir tropes).

It's Ridley's Magnum Opus and simply one of the greatest works of all time.

Vangelis Soundtrack is also the most beautiful audio experience ever created for a motion picture.

 

[MOVIELORD101]

This is truly one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE movies of all time. Hell, I even won the new BluRay gift set on my 21st birthday last year! I personally prefer the 2007 Final Cut version over all the others. It's a phenomenal movie, indeed, and I recommend it HIGHLY!

 

[GremlinZilla89]

I don't think there should be a lot of debate. The final cut show very unambiguously that Deckard is a Replicant. It actually leaves absolutely no doubt.

And is that important ? .I feel it heightens the central theme of existentialism that runs through the story , and how there's really no distinction between us and them without the self aware.

It also breaks the duality between them . He's part of what he's chasing (one of the most classical noir tropes).

It's Ridley's Magnum Opus and simply one of the greatest works of all time.

Vangelis Soundtrack is also the most beautiful audio experience ever created for a motion picture.

I personally don't think there should be a lot of debate either, but a whole slew of fans who saw the theatrical cut where Deckard is more or less human is burned into their minds. I can't blame them for preferring their first cut, even if Scott always intended Deck to be a Replicant. Some still claim he just shoved Legend footage into the Directors Cut and Final Cut just to make Deck a Rep, even though it's been confirmed by various sources the unicorn was shot for Blade Runner.

 

[C. Lee]

This is one of my favorite movies. I was lucky enough to see it on it's first run in the theaters. I love the soundtrack, it's one of the few cds I set time aside to listen to. I personally like the Ford voiceover. I grew up watching film noir....it gives a nice old timey atmosphere to the future. I've collected a lot of memorabilia over the years, last year I was able to meet Joanna Cassidy and have her sign some....

 

[Loki882]

I'd rather they NOT make a sequel, to be brutally honest about it. Not just because I don't think it's all that good an idea to make a sequel 20 to 30 years after the fact (I feel the same about Ghostbusters 3), but because even if I wanted to believe that Deckard is a Replicant, I would want it to remain something that's never clearly answered. Like the Norwegian camp in THE THING...I don't want to know what happened, because for me anyway it ruins the whole point of leaving it a mystery in the first place.

That's a valid point. Personally, I kind of see that as a copout. "We don't feel like answering things, or we don't know how, so lets just not." That was one of my big problems with Prometheus, but certainly not the only one.

 

[Tequilla]

I personally don't think there should be a lot of debate either, but a whole slew of fans who saw the theatrical cut where Deckard is more or less human is burned into their minds. I can't blame them for preferring their first cut, even if Scott always intended Deck to be a Replicant. Some still claim he just shoved Legend footage into the Directors Cut and Final Cut just to make Deck a Rep, even though it's been confirmed by various sources the unicorn was shot for Blade Runner.

Oh , if their discussions are based on the theatrical cut or the workprint , obviously the question remains unanswered. But the director's and final cut put that aside. That's why i was saying there was little debate regarding that , considering that's how the director intended the film to be.

And as you said , he originally wanted it like that until it was scrapped by the producers.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

My fifth favourite film and an utter masterpiece.