Blade Runner: Final Cut, in the cinema.Screen was completely packed, I arrived early and could only get a seat in the front row. On the plus side, those skyscraping pyramids look even bigger when you're cricking your neck to look up at them. And despite being so full, the audience was
totally silent throughout the entire movie (aside from some early sweet packet rustlings).
The effects still look pretty much flawless even when viewed at such an epic scale, and the film just looks thoroughly convincing, CRT screens and prolific smoking notwithstanding.
I'd forgotten what a grisly film it is. One particular scene I can't even bear to watch, but all the rest of the deaths feel so much more powerful and horrible on a giant screen in a dark room with no distractions. But it all ties in to the core theme of mortality's unspeakable horridness.
I think the main reason the audience was so quiet is that the film's so absorbing and thought-provoking. It conveys such a believable and well-realised world, with the music sending shivers down your back, and the storytelling doesn't hold your hand. Lots of themes at work, lots of layers, lots of pathos.
Couple of missteps. One - we're not given much reason to empathise with the androids.
Spoiler
I suppose Deckard and Rachel are supposed to be our emotional touchstones there, but they're coming from a different place - they don't come from a life of slavery, just a false life (assuming Deckard is, etc etc). I think the slavery aspect needed to be depicted on the screen - we're encouraged to experience the Nexus androids' mindset by the end, but showing what they'd escaped from could have elicted empathy much earlier.
Two - how does Batty know so much about Deckard? He somehow knows exactly whom Deckard has and hasn't personally killed. I'm not sure why he even knows Deckard's
name.
