I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life - anybody's life; my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die.
- Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) Narration from the original 1982 release.
Sean Young is far to beautiful for me to not run this without her face on it somewhere. <3
As part of the Future Films Strand, the BFI on the Southbank
in London has been showing Ridley Scott’s adaptation Blade Runner: The Final
Cut of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Android’s
dream of Electric Sheep? As I am not quite old enough (don’t hold that
against me!) to have seen the picture for the first time at the cinema, this
was a little bit of a no-brainer. Not to say I haven’t seen this before, I am
not a hermit. Blade Runner was meant to be watched on the big screen, the visual
feast and Vangelis’ score can be admired in its full glory. Upon entering the
cinema we were handed a printed Credit’s list for the picture along with a brief
summary and excerpt from producer Michael Deeley’s Book; Blade Runners, Deer Hunter’s and Blowing the Bloody Door’s Off. I
only actually got around to reading pamphlet when I sat down to write this and there
are some points that Deeley makes that underline my existing thoughts on the
changes. I was a little concerned that I may have forgotten some of the details
it’s been a while since I last watched it. The ‘Final Cut’ doesn’t rip apart
the original and try to rehash it together as Deeley says it does simply ’restore’
it. The poorly cut scene of Zhora’s (Joanna
Cassidy) demise is re-edited, as is Roy Batty’s (Rutger Hauer) symbolic release
of the dove; those scenes now have a better flow to them. There are a few other
minor tweaks to it but Blade Runner is still the masterpiece it was.
Everyone in the cinema shared a chuckle as the movie stated
it was set in Los Angeles in 2019. I’m pretty sure we are a little way from
experiencing anything similar to the dystopian future Blade Runner set up. With rumours floating around of a Blade Runner
2 without Ridley Scott, I am unsure of the need to revisit the story. Anyone else
have any thoughts on this? Harrison Ford has as we all know is involved with
the return to the Star Wars saga along with the announcement of Indiana Jones 5
, can Ford jump into something now that isn’t a reboot/sequel or some damned
awful The Expendables movie. Sorry! There have always been questions around
whether or not Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant; a short shelf-life synthetic
human who is implanted with false memories, I think this story ends well where
it does. Blade Runner has made a path for young filmmakers inspired by the
neo-noir sci-fi thriller. Can’t we just leave it on the pedestal the story
deserves?
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