Whats so great about Blade Runner?

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2007-04-04 05:30am

Big Orange wrote:Blade Runner is not awful, but I find Alien (Ridley's earlier effort) much more watchable and entertaining - Blade Runner has that unique feel and Rutger Hauer kicks ass, but I feel it has few minor plotholes that even the Director's Cut does not fix (why is Decker supposedly a Replicant clone? How did Roy Batty enter Tyrell's inner chamber in his massive pyramid headquaters?).

Your question about why Deckard must be a replicant has been answered by others in this thread. As to how Roy got to see Tyrell - Tyrell invited his chess partner J.F. Sebastian to come in and Roy tagged along.

In regard to the OP - simple answer - you either grok this movie or you don't. Longer answer - people differ in their tastes and perceptions, plus it also seems the younger generation has many who have a different perceptual space to older fans in regard to some classic movies (& also new movies). In the future you may come to appreciate this movie.

Both the Director's cut and the one with the voice over have advantages compared to the other.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-04-04 06:43am

Shinova wrote: Fifth Element: way too bright, colorful, and the high-techness is too blunt.

Smoke you! I actually though New York featured in The Fifth Element was as equally convincing as Blade Runner's LA, even though it was a more flamboyant and brighter future city (it was not as sterile as it first seemed either and appeared to be of higher population density).

I loved the Tyrell Corporation's twin pyramid complex though, a huge Aztec temple complex of steel and glass looming out of the golden smog (although you wonder why Eldon Tyrell needs 3889 square miles of office space and why he hasn't got decent security).

I've also only seen the Director's Cut of Blade Runner with the more sudden and ambiguous ending - I get the impression the Director's Cut was more popular among fans.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-04-04 06:45am

B5B7 wrote: As to how Roy got to see Tyrell - Tyrell invited his chess partner J.F. Sebastian to come in and Roy tagged along.

Yeah, but can you tag along with somebody who's seeing the US President?

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2007-04-04 07:49am

Big Orange wrote:
B5B7 wrote: As to how Roy got to see Tyrell - Tyrell invited his chess partner J.F. Sebastian to come in and Roy tagged along.
Yeah, but can you tag along with somebody who's seeing the US President?

I suppose Sebastian *could* have been using a private, back-dooresq entrance, with minimal security. Which Roy then eliminates. Pure speculation mind.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2007-04-04 07:51am

The atmosphere, the sceneries... It pulled me right in

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2007-04-04 08:25am

Big Orange wrote:Yeah, but can you tag along with somebody who's seeing the US President?

Yeah.

Cheney: Hey, Mister Secret Service Man, this albino's with me.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-04-04 08:49am

Well, it's end credits rule, on top of everything else.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2007-04-04 09:40am

I enjoyed it for the atmosphere, and it's overall enjoyable Science Fiction nature. It wasn't so out there that you had the thought it was closer to fantasy then not.

As for wondering how Roy getting to see the head because the boss' chess buddy tagged him along? Because the chess buddy could've easily vouched for him, and then told security to fuck off if they got to antsy. Jesus, BO and Shroom I know you can be retards, but think guys...try to use your fucking head instead of spamming the submit button.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2007-04-04 10:41am

Hey, I was saying that the chess buddy did vouch for Batty!

BO (heh) asked "but can you tag along with someone who's seeing the US President?"

And I said yeah, since someone like Dick Cheney could say "this albino is with me."

Even though Batty isn't really an albino.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-04-04 01:08pm

Big Orange wrote:I've also only seen the Director's Cut of Blade Runner with the more sudden and ambiguous ending - I get the impression the Director's Cut was more popular among fans.

The Director's Cut was much more well received by both critics and audiences, while the theatrical edition was more or less a critical and commercial failure.

Anybody interested in the film, I heartedly recommend picking up the book Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon. It's the definitive book on the production of the film.

Also keep a lookout for a massive 25th anniversary DVD box set to be released in the fourth quarter of the year that contains four versions of the film (US theatrical, European theatrical, Director's Cut, and a new definitive cut by Scott)...

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-04-04 05:45pm

DocHorror wrote: I suppose Sebastian *could* have been using a private, back-dooresq entrance, with minimal security. Which Roy then eliminates. Pure speculation mind.

That would make sense and you have to bear in mind that Roy Batty was an elite combat Replicant, so he could've easily dealt with the limited opposition guarding the tradesman entrance to Dr. Tyrell's penthouse suite; Roy did lead a group of Replicants that escaped from a big military base, killing a dozen or so people so he must've been a expert at infiltration (Roy and his merry band also attempted to get to Dr. Tyrell through the front entrance but with much less success).

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2007-04-04 07:07pm

On a slight tangent, the Blade Runner adventure game was one of the few movie to game conversions that worked, with at least 16 possible endings for the main character. Plus it used a lot of the main setpieces like the hotel that Sebastian stayed in.

As a soundtrack fan, I have to admit that the Vangelis score fitted the film beautifully.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-04-04 07:44pm

I enjoyed Blade Runner, but if you're asking 'what's so great about x famous movie', I just saw Godfather for the first time. Now it's pretty awesome, don't get me wrong, but it's not THAT awesome. The second one is actually kind of clumsy, and I haven't dared watch the third one yet.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-04-04 08:04pm

Jade Falcon wrote:As a soundtrack fan, I have to admit that the Vangelis score fitted the film beautifully.

Now if only they'd get around to releasing a proper and complete soundtrack album that isn't a bootleg...

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2007-04-04 10:39pm

Stark wrote:I enjoyed Blade Runner, but if you're asking 'what's so great about x famous movie', I just saw Godfather for the first time. Now it's pretty awesome, don't get me wrong, but it's not THAT awesome. The second one is actually kind of clumsy, and I haven't dared watch the third one yet.

Keep it that way, the third one is lousy.

But on Blade Runner, the thing that most struck me was that humans take life for granted because theres always that feeling of "this will last forever". Roy didn't have that feeling because he knew he had a termination date, and so he more than anyone appreciated life, because once yours is gone, thats it.

Quite a message for a movie with Daryll Hanna, flying cars and a mystery-ethnicity Adama with a cane.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2007-04-05 12:19am

Jade Falcon wrote:On a slight tangent, the Blade Runner adventure game was one of the few movie to game conversions that worked, with at least 16 possible endings for the main character. Plus it used a lot of the main setpieces like the hotel that Sebastian stayed in.

As a soundtrack fan, I have to admit that the Vangelis score fitted the film beautifully.

I liked the way they didn't try to shoehorn Blade Runner's plot into a videogame format, instead telling a new story with a new group of characters taking place at around the same time. Plus, they worked in quite a few elements from the novel that never made it into the movie (including adapting one scene pretty much word-for-word.)

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-04-05 04:38pm

I still don't like the idea of Decker being a replicant.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-04-05 04:40pm

The book, like pretty much every Philip K Dick book, is supposed to be ambiguous to the end. (If anything it's slightly more weighted to Deckard being human, albeit slightly dysfunctional).

Ridley Scott preferred the opposite reading, so his Deckard is a replicant.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2007-04-05 05:06pm

LadyTevar wrote:I still don't like the idea of Decker being a replicant.

Dumb question since Bladerunner bored me so much I failed to pay any attention.

Where does it show Decker being a Replicant ?

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-04-05 05:15pm

Sarevok wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:I still don't like the idea of Decker being a replicant.
Dumb question since Bladerunner bored me so much I failed to pay any attention.

Where does it show Decker being a Replicant ?

See page one of this thread... It's been brought up 2-3 times

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2007-04-05 06:17pm

Actually I find how Deckard is a replicant more interesting than why he is a replicant.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2007-04-06 01:27am

I saw Blade Runner at the drive-in. I was 11 years old and a lot of the deeper aspects of the movie went over my head. Once, I got past the idea that this wasn't Han Solo or Indiana Jones I liked the film a good deal. As a kid I remember thinking the flying cars were great! I remember wondering why the world was so polluted, why so dark, why are all the animals gone, etc?

Seeing the film in college and later I can appreciate the deeper ideas about what it means to be human. But I think I will alwasy like the theatrical release best because it gives background details to the things we see.