fumanstan

When I first saw this in a class in college I thought it was boring. When I watched it again in Blu-ray I thought it was fantastic. Maybe my tastes changed, or maybe seeing it on Blu-ray versus an old copy in a crappy class room helped.

TomOpus

I saw the Final Cut in a movie thread and it was a real treat seeing it on a big screen after seeing the original in a theater oh, so many years ago.

lee_hero

As awesome as this movie is, it fails in comparison to the book.
For some reason no one has yet to adapt one of Phillip K. Dick's stories to film correctly. Blade Runner, Screamers, Total Recall, Next, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Imposter...all have failed.

And they're currently remaking Screamers. Just saw a trailer for it the other day on something.

Everyone always says that book to movie translations can never be right, but they can be better. David Fincher proved that with Fight Club.

DthRdrX

I watched a ton of Hitchcock films in a class I was taking on the director. The movies were better viewed at home.

Sanjuro37

I'm watching it right now before I leave my HDTV to go back to my shitty-ass college TV. One of my all-time favorites. Really the closest Scott ever came to actual subtlety.

Hokeyboy

Some movies take more than one viewing to reveal the entirety of the depth and meaning. BLADE RUNNER is one of them. It's a poetic movie. I love the feeling of how the humans in the film are little more than abandoned children, left behind by those who have left Earth for the colonies, stuck in a cold, lifeless tomb. while the Replicants, abandoned by their own parents/creators, value and relish life with a passion long-since left Earth. Thats maybe one of three dozen ways you could juxtapose the similarities between the two beings. Every time you watch the film, you see something more. Great movie.

I also like "Ishtar".

moonraker

Mirror image, here, of the original poster. I just watched the "Final Cut" the other night for the first time, having only seen the original version once several years ago. For me, it's the opposite feeling. I'm just not a fan of this film, I'm afraid. I wanted to view the "final cut" to see if it made a difference for me but it didn't. The film just doesn't appeal to me for repeated viewings and I plan on selling my copy back. For one thing, it's a bit too dark (in tone) for my tastes. Also, none of the characters -- including the humans -- make me care about them in any way. Deckard -- whether he's really human or not -- has absolutely zero personality. He might as well be a computer. I simply can't find any character in the film that I like -- as a hero, if you will -- to root for. In many ways, its a very depressing and bleak vision of the future. I realize that many people here consider this film to be nothing short of a masterpiece, but aside from some nice visuals of the futuristic city there just isn't anything in it that appeals to me as a movie fan, I'm afraid.

B5Erik

I have yet to watch the final cut, but I really like the narration in the theatrical cut. It has that 40's or 50's film noir feel to it.

I know that the narration is flawed, and that Ford didn't want to do it, but it works for me.

It will be interesting watching it for the first time without the narration (and the happy ending).

hasslein

The work print commentary is awesome.

RagingBull80

It's one of my favorites.

I think you have to view the book and the movie as two separate entities. They are both good but very different from each other.

Supermallet

It failed in being a word perfect adaptation of the book, but apparently Dick saw an early cut and loved it. It's also one of the most influential science fiction films of all time. Don't see how that's a failure.

Minority Report is pretty fantastic, but I don't see what you have against A Scanner Darkly. That movie actually did take whole passages from the book and put them on screen, and was very effective.

al_bundy

it's not a good book for a direct to film translation, just like LOTR you have to make some changes to keep the pace going.

I think Harry Potter was supposed to be a straight book to movie translation and even though they are pretty good, i got bored a bit watching them

Giantrobo

I love every version of Blade Runner I've seen. It just "does it" for me on many levels.


I'm glad the OP has had a chance to rediscover it.

Holysmoker

I have some questions about this movie. Let me start by saying I've always loved Blade Runner. Since I've upgraded to Hi-Def I've watched it a few times. My question is why does Bryant have to explain to Deckard (an experienced but retired Blade Runner) what a Replicant is and why they needed to be "retired"? Maybe the "fail-safe 4-year life span" on the Nexus 6 was different from previous models. But if Deckard had a reputation for being the best at detecting Replicants, would he really need a quick re-education? He just seemed clueless during this briefing.

.unholy

Within the world of the movie, the Nexus 6 model is supposed to be the latest thing, an android so advanced ("more human than human") it may not even realize it's an android. I suppose the implication here is that Deckard may have not dealt with this particular model before--at least not one with implanted memories.

On the more prosaic level, Bryant is not really explaining all this to Deckard; he's explaining it to the audience.

Lord Rick

+1

Also, if you watch the extras on the Scanner Darkly HD-DVD, you see Dick's family is pleased with the film.

Brian Shannon

I don't want to spoil anything, let's just say there is an alternate theory as to Dekard's "experience". Do some searching.

Giantrobo

Yeah there's been some heated debates here on dvdtalk over this one.

StephenX

Speaking of which, I love Frank Darabont's opinions on the third disc of the Ultimate Edition. He's so vehemently opposed to a particular 'point of view' that he goes so far to say Scott's entire film and story is ruined if you adopt one of these points of view.

Good stuff.

jfoobar

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Blade Runner - Tears in Rain (in LEGO) from Zach Macias on Vimeo.

Troy Stiffler

Blade Runner is part of why I love movies.

The last ten minutes altered my thoughts and ideas about what a conventional end is.

jfoobar

I lieu of starting a new thread:

Gallery of Sean Young polaroids from the set of BR here:

http://s94802126.onlinehome.us/msy/M...Polaroids.html

Sonic

Same here. It's the only movie that takes me to imagination. My mind always starts to wonder what the future will be like hundreds of years from now. I personally think it's one gorgeous film.

Needless to say there is not another sci-fi film that comes close. I think Dark City is awesome too but never in the level of Bladerunner.

JoeySeven

Nick Danger

The future isn't what it used to be.

2019 gave us Akira, Blade Runner, and The Running Man.

2020 gives us Mission to Mars and Pacific Rim.