Blade Runner (1982) The Final Cut (2007) Review

 Blade Runner (1982) The Final Cut (2007) 5.5/10

Hello and welcome to another movie review. Today, I’m revisiting one of the founding fathers of the cyberpunk/dystopian genre. Based on the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner was originally released on June 25, 1982, with the movie being directed by Ridley Scott. Upon its release, it underperformed, but later became a cult film, with it even being entered into the National Film Registry. Throughout the years, Blade Runner has seen numerous revisions, but I watched the 25th anniversary Final Cut version, in which Ridley Scott had the most creative control.

I have seen this movie before, and the last time I saw it I enjoyed it. But watching it now, I’m confused as to why this movie became a cult classic. Yes, Blade Runner helped create one of my favorite genres, but I’d argue that this isn’t a good movie. Numerous issues and weird decisions hold it back from being a genuinely great movie. Let’s begin.

This movie takes place in a futuristic dystopian 2019 Los Angeles. In this universe, the Tyrell Corporation has bio-engineered robots called Replicants that look identical to humans. With super strength and durability, Replicants were produced for slave labor on space colonies. A group of advanced Replicants classified as Nexus 6 had escaped their slave duties and arrived on Earth, searching for a way to expand their limit lifespans. Word gets out and the LA police bring on retired Blade Runner, Detective Deckard, to hunt them down.

Blade Runner is a really cool premise that’s saved by its setting. Remember this was made back in the early 80’s. At this time, the world hadn’t really seen a futuristic dystopia like this. The world hadn’t seen robots like this either (to this degree). Through the movie’s slow paced plot is a rich atmosphere for sequels, spin-offs, and other pieces of media to take inspiration from. But enough of its legacy. The movie itself was honestly pretty boring. I don’t mind slow-burn plots if done well, and I believe Blade Runner was not done well. The screenplay alone felt amateurish, with scenes feeling like the actors were waiting for the queue instead of a natural flow of events. Hell, all the actors (except Rutger Hauer) kinda sucked here. The guy who played Deckard’s boss Bryant fucking sucked, and I blame Ridley Scott with his direction. Hauer (who played Roy) was the best performance here. But yeah, there was this whole side plot with Racheal, another advanced replicant and I genuinely did not care for her. She came out of nowhere and somehow Deckard falls for her. There was no fucking chemistry. between the two. I felt nothing. NOTHING! The only good parts about the movie were: Deckard doing the photo enhancement thing (and even then, I have no idea how the fuck this device worked lmao), him confronting Zhora (the synthetic snake girl whom Deckard shot in the streets), and his confrontation with Roy at the end. I do have a question: how did Roy learn Deckard’s name? There was no indication of him learning this info. But yeah, I just didn’t care for the rest of the film, despite its attempt to build up the world and Deckard’s investigation.

As I said earlier, Blade Runner is saved by its setting. I do think the movie could’ve used more color, but I guess I’m more used to later interpretations of cyberpunk with all the neon advertisements everywhere. Idk, the movie was too dark sometimes, with blinding lights contrasting at every chance. There were some cool wide shots of the city and the Tyrell building, with giant Coca-Cola ads, which helped drive home the cyberpunk feel. And one little detail I loved was at one point, all of the replicants (and synthetic animals) all had the reflectors in their eyes shown, to show that they are different to regular humans. And on that note, there is a theory that Deckard himself is a Replicant (this is brought up when Rachael said he should get the Voight-Kampf test done on himself, as well as a scene where you can see Harrison Ford’s reflectors in a scene). There’s also further evidence of this with the original ending regarding the unicorn. But since I watched the Final Cut, that unicorn scene right before Deckard starts analyzing the photo was so out of place lmao.

Another thing. Apparently the movie was nominated for best soundtrack, and to that I say I’ve heard better. The only memorable song was the end credits. Whatever was done during the film’s duration was solid, but nothing stood out to me. 

Blade Runner is an important movie solely because it helped create one of my favorite genres in media. Without this movie, stories like Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2077, Bubblegum Crisis, and several others wouldn’t be what they are now. I recognize the movie’s influence, but I don’t think I will ever watch this again. I am glad I did rewatch this though, but here’s to hoping 2049 will be better.

Thanks for reading.

This is Zorgak, signing off.