(The Final Cut)

“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly,”

You have movies from around the same era as Blade Runner, such as the original Star Wars trilogy, Tron, Star Trek, and The Thing that had great special effects and visuals then, and don’t get me wrong, still look pretty good today, but they wouldn’t necessarily get attention for their visuals if they were to have come out today. Then there is Blade Runner. Somehow, Ridley Scott was able to make a movie that not only was revolutionary for its time when it came to its visual effects and cinematography, but still to this day remains one of the best-looking movies ever made. Even if this were to come out today, people would still praise it for how good it looks. That’s what’s so unreal about the original Blade Runner.

I’m a sucker for cyberpunk visuals, and so yeah, Blade Runner of course delivers on that front. There surprisingly aren’t a ton of cyberpunk, dystopian movies out there, at least not like this and as creative and gorgeous as this one that fully embody their own worlds. Blade Runner does this with ease. Every, and I mean every single shot is breathtaking both from a straight up visual standpoint, as well as a filmmaking standpoint. The framing, lighting, and blocking are just unbelievable to say the very least. Even if the story was a stinker, I would still probably thoroughly enjoy Blade Runner.

But thankfully, the story is really good and compelling here. It’s about a man named Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, who is a Blade Runner, a person tasked with terminating replicants. Replicants are basically just artificially made humans who act just like regular humans, at least for the most part. They are born as full-grown adults, but similar to babies, don’t quite have emotions or an understanding of the world yet. Over time though, they begin to develop feelings and emotions just like any other human, making it harder to differentiate them from normal people. The replicants, who are the main antagonists, have gone rogue and escaped from their original home back to Earth in order to extend their short lifespans, which they were programmed with. Deckard’s specific task is to take this group of replicants out, as they aren’t allowed on Earth in the first place and have committed serious crimes.

This story and overall feel of the film manage to somehow both have an element of suspense and tension, but also kind of an ambient and relaxing feel, probably due to the atmosphere and vibrant visuals. Oh yeah, the rain too. This is a movie you could just put on if you were tired and wanted to go to sleep. It’s not even close to boring, it’s just the relaxing and soothing feel that this movie has that I just explained. When it comes to the tension and suspense, that all comes from the central story, which was already probably conveyed when I specifically talked about the story.

Harrison Ford’s Deckard is a pretty basic character at face value all things considered. However, his moral complexity really adds intrigue to his character, and what gives him a human side is his relationship with the main female love interest, Rachel. We learn pretty early on some interesting things about Rachel, and they make for an effective message (the main message of the movie) about what it is to be human and to have an identity. Her relationship with Deckard adds to that as well.

I don’t really have any negative things to say about the film, because nothing really impacted my viewing experience in a negative way, but there are certainly some mixed things to talk about that some people may or may not like about the movie. The first one being that it can be a bit weird at times, especially if you don’t quite understand the themes and messages it’s trying to convey. The first time I watched it, I had to pause it a few times and do some research to fully understand, or at least somewhat understand, what the meaning was behind certain scenes.

The second more mixed thing about the film definitely adds onto what I just said – it can definitely be difficult to follow at times. In fact, for those that didn’t know, the studio was concerned that audiences would have a hard time understanding the story (hence what I’ve been talking about), so they had Ridley Scott get Harrison Ford to do voiceover narrations to add clarity to what was happening throughout the movie. Though I haven’t seen the original cut, I completely understand why they did this. However, I think I prefer the more subtle and atmospheric feeling that Ridley Scott originally wanted and eventually got, even if there is still stuff I don’t quite understand, even after my second watch.

Despite some of the more mixed things I’ve talked about, like I said, they don’t get in the way of the overall experience for me at all. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this movie all the way through both times I’ve watched it, and the ending speech, though short, from the main antagonist has given me chills each time.