With Blade Runner 2049 coming out in early October, I thought I could start a thread about the original movie, a scientific masterpiece that scared the heck out of me as a boy and impressed the heck out of me as a young adult.
The first question is was Richard Decker, played by Harrison Ford a human or a replicant? To me clearly, he was a human.
1 ) Replicants only live 4 years due to genetic manipulation and breakdown of the genes, he’s still alive 30 year later in Blade Runner 2049. So unless the new film specifically states that he was made special or differently, this very interesting debate has a conclusion.
2 ) He has a handle on his emotions. Replicants due to their shorter life spans do not.
3 ) He’s not as physically capable of any of the replicant’s he’s hunting.
In the next movie, he could be a different replicant of the same type. I refuse to watch trailers anymore so I can’t comment for real until I see the movie.
Watched the original about a month ago for the first time in a long time. I actually have only seen the director’s cut(or maybe the “final cut”). No narration from Harrison Ford.
I still think that it is 50% great and 50% only OK.
One of my all-time favorite movies. Probably in the top 5. No, I’ve never bought Deckard being a replicant.
(BTW, there were official sequel novels to the movie years back–I read the first one, didn’t actually know about the second two until googling for a link just now.)
I’m supposed to see it with some buddies next Friday around noon (before the kiddies get out of school). Looking forward to this one. The latest trailer being shown on TV is a bit confusing (lots of flashes of images not very well tied together), but I’m hoping for the best. Loved the soundtrack of the original, and I saw it right about the time I started traveling to Japan a lot and I remember telling the folks I saw it with: That’s pretty much Shin-Juku!
I just finished watching this movie for the first time. I think I agree with the bolded.
Visually, it’s pretty great, and it’s thought-provoking, I guess, but wow, it’s slow. Not a lot of plot. One comment I read was that the voice-over narration in the theatrical release helps fill in some of the pacing. It might be interesting to compare.
I do like that Roy is a much more interesting and empathetic character than Deckard, which is ironic if Deckard is human. I think the film makes more sense, philosophically, if he isn’t a replicant but it’s hard to care much either way.
The sex scene between Deckard and Rachael has not aged well.
I saw the trailer a few times. Hey, I’m a fan and could not help myself.
If you don’t want to see the trailer, I can tell you the visual sets, sound, and tone of the movie feel very " Blade Runner ".
If you watch the trailer you will pick up a key part of the plot, and a hauntingly accurate quote about a civilization that will hook you into the movie on the spot.
Stay away from the trailer if you can!
I wasn’t a fan of Ryan Gosling being cast as the lead role, however, there was a lot of emotion in the original movie, and I think Gosling will deliver the goods in this department, so maybe he’s perfectly cast as long as they don’t drastically change the personality of Richard Decker.
Regarding the original movie, Harrison Ford did not like to discuss the movie until recently. He said he didn’t want to narrate it and went into studio kicking a scramming thinking, okay I say a few words and they won’t use it in the movie. They ended up using his voice, and Ford, later on, regretted not doing a better job.
I get the feeling that the Ford was also jealous that Rutger Hauer, who should have won an academy award for best supporting actor, got to work with director Ridley Scott on altering parts of the film, while he did not.
Is the original theatrical release available? I only ever found Ridley Scott’s edited versions without the voiceover, which I didn’t like nearly as much. I liked the 40s film noire feel of it with the narration included.
I didn’t know this until recently, but there are multiple-disc DVD and Blu-Ray sets that come with the original version. (Something I’m drooling over–I still have the original bare-bones DVD I bought in 1998 or 1999.)
These are some of the comments I had the very first time watching it:
What’s with the hard-boiled detective narration?
Cool - they used real products in the ads!
Wherever they filmed the police station, that’s a cool building.
Is it five or six replicants? Can’t they count?
That’s a weird way to say “owl”?
“Fluctuation of the pupil. Involuntary dilation of the iris.” That’s the same thing!
Did he just make an origami guy with a hardon??
Joanna Cassidy! RAowr! (hey, I was 20!)
hey! The Bradbury building! Cool!
Roy’s speech really sums up the movie! That was awesome!
Hey, that narration really adds to the movie. Glad they did it.
Wow, that blows. I think the version of the movie that was released into theaters should always be available because people should be able to understand the experience that theater goers had back when it was released.
Bad as it is, I even bootlegged the Star Wars despecialized editions because finding a high-quality version of the theatrical Star Wars movies was impossible.
I get re-editing and even kind of get finishing movies, but it’s not worth suppressing the original. I know Spielberg has come to this realization as well. I think he is committed to “no more special editions”.
When you guys start seeing it, do me a favor and give me an idea of the degree of violence. I can take some violence, like in Alien, Aliens, the original Blade Runner, etc., but I’m not okay with extreme stuff or torture.
As I mentioned, I only recently discovered that a modern release of the theatrical version even exists. Last time I saw that version was on TV, I’d bet somewhere around 30 years ago. (I’m not even sure if the VHS version I probably rented at some point was the theatrical cut.)
I’ll be seeing it in the theater for the first time in at least 15 years on Tuesday. Ford’s voiceover is one of the worst ever recorded (he sounds bored out of his mind and almost verges on parody, the opposite of “hard-boiled”) but I’m still not a fan of the original theatrical being so hard to find. But from what I remember with the blitzkreig of director/alternate/new/final “cuts”, the film hold up remarkably well and what’s good remains genuinely game-changing and what isn’t is far more easily forgivable. Looking forward to revisiting the original and catching the new one soon.