Blade Runner Rewatch 2016

By Mitch Cooper

When I first watched Blade Runner it was about 3 years ago and I didn't like it. It didn't hit me emotionally at all and I didn't really understand anything that was happening, things just were happening with no real explanation in my mind. I, however, watched The Director's Cut and figured that might have been the reason why. Blade Runner is considered one of the greatest films of all time and I've never understood what the fuss is all about. After watching the recent trailer for the sequel, Blade Runner 2049 directed by acclaimed director Dennis Villenueve, I decided to give it another shot. I watched The Final Cut this time around; Ridley Scott's preferred vision for the film. Ridley Scott is I think within my top 10 favourite directors of all time so I hoped this rewatch would win me over. Unfortunately this isn't the case.

Blade Runner is a beautiful, brilliantly shot film. The overheard shots of the city and it's architecture are magnificent and hold up really quite well. The set design both inside the buildings and down in the dirty grimy streets lit with neon is a cyberpunk appreciator's dream. The film sets up not only a scarily surreal and realistically grim vision of the future in 1985 but also a dour moody tone throughout. The camera work was for the most part above your average film but I didn't find anything particularly special about it that stands out. The editing was also serviceable except for some of the dialogue driven scenes, where it cuts back and forth between characters talking, feeling rather choppy.

Blade Runner holds an interesting premise about AI, the moral grey area of intelligence that AI can be considered life and really what it means to be human. It's one of the first films of its kind to explore the theme of artificial intelligence in depth and with such wide appeal, acclaim, high production value and talent behind it. The film however for me ended up being as dull, lifeless and unengaging as I remember it being the first time I saw it back in 2011. Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, besides the "is he/isn't he a Replicant" idea, is so uninteresting as a character. He has no personality whatsoever and while that may be part of the idea, it doesn't make for an engaging protagonist. Most of Harrison Ford's line delivery sounded like he was falling asleep reading it. This was most surprising to me as Harrison Ford at the time was at the top of his game and one of the charismatic actors in the business.

The film moves at an excruciatingly slow pace and never really picks up. Now a slow movie can still be intriguing and engaging with interesting characters, dialogue and imagery to keep you glued to the screen but Blade Runner never felt like it was succeeding at any of these things except for any scene involving the character Rachael and the "teardrops in the rain" scene at the end. They were really the only parts of the film that I enjoyed and felt like the film was getting somewhere with me emotionally.

There comes a problem with Blade Runner where I find myself comparing it to films and other media with similar themes that just, to me, explored it better. Ex Machina, Westworld, Moon, I, Robot and even Tron: Legacy, as average as that film was, dealt with the ideas of artificial intelligence more effectively. They made me question myself and humanity. You may think that it might be unfair to compare Blade Runner to these films because "it's the original" and to that I say no. Psycho is a film that was released in 1960 and when I compare that to mystery thrillers or films about multiple personality disorders that have been released since then it holds up immensely in comparison. Yes, I do understand that Blade Runner also brought many elements of the neo-noir detective story genre to the table which I honestly do appreciate and is one of Blade Runner's biggest strengths but I can still name other films such as Brick, Memento, The Usual Suspects, Watchmen and Pulp Fiction that employ this genre's conventions just as effectively but still tell a more compelling story.

I didn't even like the score, nothing that happened felt like it had any weight. I am still interested in the sequel based on the director alone however. Disclaimer also that if you do like Blade Runner and that's clearly A LOT of people, I'm not here to tell you you're wrong, just that this is how I felt about the film. I really wish I liked it. I went in wanting to like it and thinking my 12-13 year old self was just inexperienced. But there you go. An above average sci-fi film with some good themes but overall unengaging story.

6 Blades out 10 Runners