My Favorite Movies -- Blade Runner

Blade Runner -- Ridley Scott

No matter which version you prefer (Ridley has famously tinkered with this movie at least 3 times), Blade Runner usually sits on most sci-fi fans top 10 list. The main Blade Runner,Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, is out to kill a band of rogue replicants. Replicants are genetically engineered "humans" that have a limited life-span and extraordinary strength. The lead Replicant, Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer, is out to find his creator and try to find a cure to his time-bomb life cycle.

Everything about this production is top-notch.

The cast is fantastic. Along with Ford and Hauer is Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh...etc.

The visual effects are spectacular and bar-setting for all future-visions to come. Douglas Trumbull's visual effects work is really the un-sung star of this movie. Trumbull, who was also responsible for 2001 and Close Encounters, creates a future city-scape that is constantly dark and rainy. The enormous skyscrapers rise like pyramids, only seen by the rich or blade runners with flying cars. Most of the people live in perpetual night surrounded by a cultural hodge-podge of neon signs, abandoned buildings, and road-side vendors.
The story is complex and intriguing. Based on the Philip K. Dick story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Blade Runner considers love, creation, and the nature of humanity itself. But, even in the shadow of these heavy themes, Blade runner also works as both a love story and a futuristic Film Noir.

The soundtrack by Vangelis is also perfect and helps set the mood... both dreamy and mysterious.

clips from the film set to Vangelis music...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uJrOVLEUBgw

There is so much goodness packed into Blade Runner that it's no wonder it was considered a moderate flop at the time of its release. After all, it was competing with popcorn movies like Star Wars for the American audience. But, time was kind to Blade Runner.