blade_runner

Blade Runner: The Director's Cut

U.S. Release Date: 6/25/82
Running Time: 1:57
Rated: R (Language, sexuality/nudity and drug content)

Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson

Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, based on the Phillip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Music: Vangelis
Studio: Warner Bros.

One of the first films to edit, restore, and re-release its way onto a director’s cut DVD was Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Nowadays, this process is quite common; countless pictures are released, re-released, and re-re-released in different versions. However, in more ways than one, Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut is one of the forefathers of modern-day cinema. It is the granddaddy of amalgamating action, science-fiction, romance, and film noir into one cohesive classic.

The year is 2019. The place is Los Angeles. The huge conglomerate, Tyrell Corporation, has created the Nexus 6 Replicant—“a being virtually identical to a human.” These artificial humans possess no unique memories and are programmed to self-terminate four years from their creation. In addition, the Nexus 6 model is illegal on Earth.

Enter Rick Deckard, a former Blade Runner, who specializes in the “retirement” (not execution) of these synthetic beings. Rick is assigned to hunt down five replicants who are loose in LA. These five consist of: Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), Leon (Brion James), Pris (Daryl Hannah), Batty (Rutger Hauer), and Rachael (Sean Young).

Influenced in itself by Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and more, Blade Runner is a sci-fi masterpiece. It challenges the meaning of life, emphasizes the impacts of urban decay, and sets the stage for a dark and rainy future. Furthermore, Ridley Scott’s film is the inspiration for many modern day marvels—some of which include: Minority Report, A.I., Back to the Future, The Matrix, and I-Robot.

In both Blade Runner and its inspirations, there is a steady struggle between man and machine. This rebellion of the made over the maker is typically a result of the ignorance due to a series of unanswerable inquiries. For instance, in Blade Runner the humanoids consult their creator for an answer to life and a means of immortality. When no answer is realized, they revolt. Likewise, this endless cycle is observed in countless other motion-pictures. Despite this aforementioned battle being a widespread concept, in a patriarchal sense, one could easily declare that Blade Runner is – by far – the cinematic father figure.

Perhaps the most striking qualities that make The Director’s Cut such a masterful feature are the additions/changes that were made in contrast to the theatrical release. For starters, Scott opts to throw Deckard’s narration out the window. This disproves that having the lead character narrate is always the wisest of options. In addition, Scott elects to delve deeper into the romance between Deckard and Rachael. This allows for increased emotion and a much-needed surge in chemistry. With this accentuated romantic tone, Scott also adds possibly the most intriguing scene of all to the mix. A scene in which Deckard dreams of a unicorn—suggesting that he himself may in fact be a Replicant. Moreover, by truncating the original “Hollywood” ending and closing with the unicorn origami, followed by the couple entering the elevator, Scott succeeds in raising ambiguity and wonderment—as opposed to false sentimentality.

All-in-all, Blade Runner is one of the finest representations of science-fiction. It’s a noir quest that challenges the basic ideas of identity and what it means to be a living, breathing human. For certain, Blade Runner is not one of those run-of-the-mill features that soon becomes lost in your memory “like tears in rain."