Foo - Blade Runner

Warning: If you haven't seen the movie, don't read the thread. You've been warned.

I'm starting this thread because my signature has caused a thread I authored to go on a delightful tangent, but to fully discuss a movie of this caliber, it deserves it's own thread.

Blade Runner is arguably one of the best movies of all time. It it understood by few, and loved by even less, but it's cult following is fervent and fanatical. Please write your praise/criticisms and questions in this thread and hopefully we can make a few believers out of some of you.

I'll start us off...

Deckard is a replicant. Yay or Nay?

Discuss.

nay

Forms illogical emotional attachments and frequently acts irrationally.

edit: considering how many times I've seen the movie and read the book I must be barely scraping the surface......doh!

I've seen Blade Runner many, many times and I still don't know if Deckard is a replicant or not. Its kinda like Total Recall; did it really happen? Or was it part of the fantasy. We'll never know for sure.

I last saw this movie when I was a kid in the 80s. I need to go rent it soon.

He actually is a replicant. Read the book, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

That said, the movie was a milestone in setting landmarks for SciFi movies, introducing themes that had never been seen in movies before, and have since been immitated many, many times over. Much like Tron, it was groundbreaking for it's time, and remains a staple for the avid scifi fan.

Im not a huge Sci-Fi fan but Blade Runner has to be
one of the best films of all time ! The end is incredibly moving !!

which ending? heh
the "director's cut" chopped a large portion of the ending, including the narration. If you saw it in a theater, you were lucky to see the original, full version. Not Scott's remade, trimmed version.

Rutger Heuers(sp?) deep narrative at the end when hes about to die
and he just goes off peacefully when you think hes going to go berserk ?
Is that the one ? If I rent it again I dont want it to be without that part.
Last I saw it was in the mid 80's, did they have time to goof it up then ?

Scott had no inlfuence over the director's cut - it was a studio produced thing to piggyback the wave of earlier sales.

If you can, watch the "final cut" version that came out last year.

Nah I believe Ridley Scott did the narration, or it was Harrison Ford. It's been what, 25 years since I saw the original? lol Anyway, it was a narrative when they were flying North together in the shuttle car, at the very end.
The Tannhäuser Gate soliloquy by Rutger Hauer is still in all versions.


Batty: (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000442/) I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Slashdot had a few good threads on this:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/13/1118258&from=rss
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/09/2342255
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/07/09/2058217

The last one is key where it discusses an Ridley Scott confirming that Deckard was intended to be a replicant. Awesome movie, the effects still feel fresh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/825641.stm

Anyone read Blade Runner 2 by K W Jeter?

A lot more intense than either the movie or the original P K Dick novel, I'd still have rather read it written by Dick.

Ugh. Sorry, but I believe this movie sucks donkey balls.

depends which version of the movie you watch

one of my all time favorite movies, I was already a big fan of Phillip Dick before it was made. the sets and cinematograhy are stunning, and this movie was made before all the computer FX of today were even available.

Ugh. Sorry, but I believe this movie sucks donkey balls.

:eek:

someone call the grand inquisitor plz, k thnx

I read the book recently. He fells empathy therefore he passes the test and isn't an android. You're welcome.

Having said that, I missed the point of mercerism, and I thought the book fizzled out, as interesting as his thoughts are, he doesn't really do excitement in his book, so my opinion probably isn't worth much.

BR is da bomb. I love the movie--
my fave is where Roy/Rutger Hauer chases
Harrison Ford around trying to kill him.
I want to be a super-powered replicant.

I want to be a super-powered replicant.Maybe you are...

I don't like it that much. Feels unfinished. Like they had the final editing all worked out and decided to just take a quick coffee break, but then never returned to finish it...

The acting was generally quite good in it, though. And Darryl Hannah was HOT!

:eek:

someone call the grand inquisitor plz, k thnx

Meh. I just don't like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right?

It probably doesn't help that when we saw it we missed the first ten minutes of it.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right?Perhaps you are new to the internets? A difference in opinion calls for a flamewar to the death!

THUNDERDOME.NET!

Perhaps you are new to the internets? A difference in opinion calls for a flamewar to the death!

THUNDERDOME.NET!

Bring it on, man!

*puts up his internet dukes*

*circles around x, growling menacingly*

*screams, runs to the corner, and curls up in the fetal position*

Hahaha!!! That'll teach you to flame me!

I'm such a vicious animal.

Tell me about it. I got rabies the last time you bit me. Rabies!

Mother kept on telling me to get those shots. I never listened.

The shots just implant government mind control probes into your blood anyway.

I knew it!!! See mom? I'm not crazy after all!

Ugh. Sorry, but I believe this movie sucks donkey balls.

Agreed. http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/tongue.gif

I'm not crazy after all!Well now, I wouldn't go that far... :p

Warning: If you haven't seen the movie, don't read the thread. You've been warned.

I'm starting this thread because my signature has caused a thread I authored to go on a delightful tangent, but to fully discuss a movie of this caliber, it deserves it's own thread.

Blade Runner is arguably one of the best movies of all time. It it understood by few, and loved by even less, but it's cult following is fervent and fanatical. Please write your praise/criticisms and questions in this thread and hopefully we can make a few believers out of some of you.

I'll start us off...

Deckard is a replicant. Yay or Nay?

Discuss.
I haven't read the other posts yet, so maybe this has already been covered, but Yes, definitely -- he was definitely a replicant. No question.

*******
The dream sequence by the piano. The unicorn in the dream.

The unicorn near the end of the movie....

*******
Was Olmos a replicant?

What is the significance of 'replicant'?


If it has something to do with living without any real freedom, according to memories and conditioning, then who is more human, Rachael or the so-called humans?

Jeez- has anyone thought of looking at his knuckles?

The replicants are 'more human than human' in the words of their creator.

Many humans have lost their humanity, and the replicants have surpassed them.

PKD was inquiring into what it is that makes us [potentially if not yet actually] truly human, and what makes us mechanical [most people are already dead, as someone put it, and are just living mechanically] -- is there anything besides memory and conditioning?

Empathy and feeling, yes; but that is a bit too easy.

It's an interesting inquiry: what else is there, or are we just conditioned?

This thread got me going. I ordered Blade Runner: The Final Cut from deepdiscount.com and it was shipped today.

I am looking forward to seeing it again.

What is the significance of 'replicant'?


Perhaps we are effectively replicants ourselves if we are living second-hand.

If we are imitators.

If our art is mechanical and conforming.

If we are living according to programming (='conditioning').

If we are living according to ideas and concepts.

If we are approximating our actions and ourselves to ideals and standards stored in memory.

If we are not living in freedom.

I always that that he was a replicant.

When I was in architecture school, we had a 4th year design studio nicknamed the "Blade Runner" studio where the students would build architecture based on the movie, with a given program. Unfortunately, I didn't take that studio, I did a design-build studio that quarter. Both were fun, but sometimes I wish I did a little more future design.

I need to watch that movie again. A true classic.

I only watched it once on video, and I remember I wasn't impressed. But maybe I just wasn't paying attention, I usually like this kind of stuff.

I want to see it again. I think my friend has the package with all versions. So the question is, which version to watch? The original release, the Director's Cut or the Final Cut?

My understanding is that Ridley Scott fought with the studio over the original release and it wasn't what he envisioned, so I guess that would be the version to avoid?

nay

Ugh. Sorry, but I believe this movie sucks donkey balls.

I am just so emotionally conflicted right now.

Blade Runner 4:
The story follows Iris, another Blade Runner, on an assignment to find Tyrell's owl, which seems to have special importance for the Tyrell Corporation and other dubious organizations.

Tyrell's owl? OMG!?!?

And Darryl Hannah was HOT!


Meh... Give me Joanna Cassidy anyday.

OK, I just watched Blade Runner The Final Cut in HD Blu-ray on a 50" plasma home theater. Visually it is fantastic; sharp, clean, and vibrant. The package also had the previous releases in SD, so we watched some scenes is SD afterwards and the difference is huge.

As for the movie, I had seen it once before long ago but couldn't really remember it, but I remember not being impressed the first time. So years later, this is my current take on Blade Runner. I can see why it was a box office flop and a classic now. The futuristic theme probably suggested action film, but it was more of a cerebral, noir-ish mood piece. Set design was fantastic, the themes were deep (what does it mean to be human?), but the pacing was slow, and there was very little real dramatic tension (Harrison Ford is not exactly a great actor). It's a classic for good reasons but for me, it's not a "great" film.

As for one of the main questions, I think it works much better if Deckard is a human falling in love with a replicant. It makes a more stirring question of the meaning of our humanity.

http://boards.buffalobills.com/images/smilies/popcorn.gif