Poll
Question:
Was Blade Runner actually a good movie?
Option 1: Yes
votes: 25
Option 2: No
votes: 1
Hey everyone,
I've been mulling over classic sci-fi films and couldn't help but dwell on "Blade Runner." Despite its now legendary status among sci-fi enthusiasts and film scholars, my understanding is that it didn't exactly make a splash in terms of critical acclaim or box office success upon its initial release. Some say it was ahead of its time, with its dystopian vision and complex themes concerning identity, humanity, and technology. Others, however, argue it might be overhyped, benefiting from the nostalgia and the romanticism of underappreciated art being recognized in hindsight.
Given this polarizing reception, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you believe "Blade Runner" truly is the masterpiece it's often hailed to be? Or do you think it's a case of an overrated film that gained traction years after its release, perhaps more for its aesthetic and influence on the genre than its narrative strength or coherence?
I'm particularly interested in hearing from those who may have seen it around its original release and have observed its trajectory through the lens of cultural and cinematic evolution. How has your perception of the film changed over time, if at all? And for those who've only discovered it in recent years, does it hold up to the contemporary standards of science fiction and storytelling?
Looking forward to a lively and insightful discussion!
Your friend,
Local Trouble
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Someone wake up @𝔈𝔩 𝔒𝔠𝔱𝔞𝔳𝔬 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔞𝔧𝔢𝔯𝔬 :o
It's slow. There are times when it's in danger of disappearing up it's own arsehole.
At the time it was marketed as action adventure, and everyone bought into it because Han Solo and Indiana Jones was in it. I didn't see it in cinemas but later on video or TV and I thought what the hell is this rainy dark depressing crap? And why can I see the wires on that flying car? I re-evaluated it as I got older and liked it more.
Now it's a movie like 2001 or Apocalypse Now where I can enjoy the slowness and just get a bit lost in it.
Overall I'd say yes it's good, don't think it's a masterpiece. And obviously influential.
Yes, it's a masterpiece. I think that almost nobody is going to be disagree with that, but yes it's slow af and I never could watch the entire damn thing in one shot. I always watched one half a day and the next day the other half, and that considering that I love long and slow movies mostly
Quote from: SM on Mar 29, 2024, 01:08:10 AMIt's slow. There are times when it's in danger of disappearing up it's own arsehole.
At the time it was marketed as action adventure, and everyone bought into it because Han Solo and Indiana Jones was in it. I didn't see it in cinemas but later on video or TV and I thought what the hell is this rainy dark depressing crap? And why can I see the wires on that flying car? I re-evaluated it as I got older and liked it more.
Now it's a movie like 2001 or Apocalypse Now where I can enjoy the slowness and just get a bit lost in it.
Overall I'd say yes it's good, don't think it's a masterpiece. And obviously influential.
Well, Apocalypse Now (the theatrical cut) it's one of my favourite movies and I never considered slow. For me it's like Alien, I didn't feel like this movies are slow. I just love all the ride. Having saying that, the extended cut of Apocalypse Now it's real pain, the newer scenes didn't made the movie better
Well for me personally, when I first saw it as a kid, I'm not sure I finished it (I think I nodded off waiting for something to happen, possibly because I was expecting a sci-fi action flick). However revisiting it years later, I fell in love with it (particularly the Final Cut). I think in honesty, I didn't quite understand it the first time around. Then again, tastes change as you get older; in example 9 year old me would have rated 'Aliens' as my fave flick followed by 'Alien 3' and 'Alien' last... adult me puts that list in reverse order... so yeah.
Blade Runner was a snooze fest on first viewing. Now? I could watch it on repeat. (Just watched a copy of the theatrical cut I got on 35mm last week). I own every comic book, all the novels, binged Black Lotus on release, had 2049 on pre-order, can't wait for the new TV series, I'm working through the 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' comics /graphic novels - and have started a play though of the 1997 point and click game. Can't get enough of it. I think it's one of those movies that is often misunderstood on first viewing.
It's up there with the Ghost in the Shell franchise for me.
EDIT: It's worth noting, one of the nicest ways to watch Blade Runner (to me) is the fan released 'Penultimate Cut' - basically it's the Final Cut, but with the original colour grading restored(more brown tones than the new blue/teal presentation) and all original effects have been restored (minus the strings on the spinners)
Trailer: https://youtu.be/nsdmYjF_064?si=DpkdIDdfwBaJ2l9O
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 29, 2024, 12:59:18 AMSomeone wake up @𝔈𝔩 𝔒𝔠𝔱𝔞𝔳𝔬 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔞𝔧𝔢𝔯𝔬 :o
(https://www.reactiongifs.com/r/tbt.gif)
I was eleven that year. I was majorly hyped for the release, while I recall one of my friends dismissively saying, "I don't like his haircut."
Bought the Marvel comic adaptation. Loved it. Bought Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, loved that. Went to E.T. with my brother, and was this close to sneaking into Blade Runner, but thought better of it (in those days, ushers would patrol the aisles and kick you out).
Missed it in the theatres, but saw it immediately when it came out on video in '83. So then, on top of the story, I got the music, I got the sound, I got the visual effects, I got it all, and I f**king loved it.
So even without having seen the film, I was captivated by Blade Runner, and I think that says a lot.
People massively changing their opinion over time is herd like behavior, typically human.
Personally I love the films soundtrack, sounds design, set design and overall look and atmosphere and I can watch it for those reasons but it is probably not a masterpiece I'd say because yes it is boring and I have been known to fall asleep while watching it.
Alien is also slow but there is an ever present sense of doom which keeps me glued to the screen, blade runner just leisurely moves ahead, it is kind of a dream state.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/35/a1/5a35a183aa1ddc7e86e102a21e4c9905.jpg)
Absolute masterpiece.
imho it s a good movie. i don t consider my opinion on movies as a gold standard of any kind.
but
i think most will safely say it s a good movie that you can rewatch now and then. that s my take on it.
question:
how many cuts does bladerunner have?
and which one is considered the best. i am sure most people knows this but how many people have seen the final and presumably best cut?
Final Cut is definitely the best cut, and my go-to for rewatches. I adore the movie. It sounds like hyperbole, but it's quite possibly the best looking movie ever made, honestly, and I find the film to be just utterly hypnotic and captivating, and that doesn't let up no matter how many times I watch it.
Last year I saw it on tv and it had the ending where Deckard rides off with the girl at the end. What cut is that?
Quote from: nanison on Mar 29, 2024, 04:29:56 PMLast year I saw it on tv and it had the ending where Deckard rides off with the girl at the end. What cut is that?
It's a theatrical cut that employs unused stock footage from The Shining and adds that voiceover. It's not the ending Scott wanted. And this is the ending I personally don't like, either.
Quote from: SM on Mar 29, 2024, 01:08:10 AMIt's slow. There are times when it's in danger of disappearing up it's own arsehole.
At the time it was marketed as action adventure, and everyone bought into it because Han Solo and Indiana Jones was in it. I didn't see it in cinemas but later on video or TV and I thought what the hell is this rainy dark depressing crap? And why can I see the wires on that flying car? I re-evaluated it as I got older and liked it more.
Now it's a movie like 2001 or Apocalypse Now where I can enjoy the slowness and just get a bit lost in it.
Overall I'd say yes it's good, don't think it's a masterpiece. And obviously influential.
Good, not masterpiece, influential. I can agree with this assessment.
Stock footage from The Shining :o
QuotePeople massively changing their opinion over time is herd like behavior, typically human
And people viewing things differently as an adult than they did as a child?
This whole thread
(https://www.reactiongifs.com/r/tbt.gif)
Quote from: 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯 on Mar 29, 2024, 11:24:21 AMQuote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 29, 2024, 12:59:18 AMSomeone wake up @𝔈𝔩 𝔒𝔠𝔱𝔞𝔳𝔬 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔞𝔧𝔢𝔯𝔬 :o
https://www.reactiongifs.com/r/tbt.gif
Quote from: SiL on Mar 29, 2024, 08:26:50 PMThis whole thread
https://www.reactiongifs.com/r/tbt.gif
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Yes, we don't want Hicks to nuke it from orbit inside the Sulaco ???🙏
Blade Runner is
crème de la crème!
PS I have a strange feeling that Local used ChatGPT here :)
The MrBTongue video's better.
I voted "yes" btw
Yeah me too :)
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 29, 2024, 10:58:30 PMYeah me too :)
What would happen if someone vote "no"? :o
Quote from: aliens13 on Mar 30, 2024, 12:13:06 AMQuote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 29, 2024, 10:58:30 PMYeah me too :)
What would happen if someone vote "no"? :o
I don't know...it could be the start of a war maybe🤔but let's be optimistic
I'll bite. The theatrical cut isn't a good movie.
:o
Because of the voiceover?
Brilliant movie. It made me actually feel for artificial life, which never has happened in other films covering the subject.
Quote from: E. Shaw on Mar 30, 2024, 02:46:54 AMBrilliant movie. It made me actually feel for artificial life, which never has happened in other films covering the subject.
Not even WALL-E?
Quote from: Local Trouble on Mar 30, 2024, 02:48:46 AMQuote from: E. Shaw on Mar 30, 2024, 02:46:54 AMBrilliant movie. It made me actually feel for artificial life, which never has happened in other films covering the subject.
Not even WALL-E?
Haha I did love Wall-E, but Bladerunner made its AI life feel real and you develop empathy for their desires to live and have rights.
I wonder if the theatrical release of Blade Runner is better or worse than the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Mar 30, 2024, 12:24:58 AM:o
Because of the voiceover?
The voiceover, the hamfisted ending...
It bombed for good reason and needed multiple revisions to make good for a reason.
It was always good, just had bad elements.
It was always bad, just had good elements that let people tolerate the bad.
Later revisions trimmed the bad while accentuating the good.
😱
I didn't mind the voiceover. Gave it an old school PI vibe. The happy ending was beyond awful.
It was, but having just read Do Androids Dream Of Electic Sheep (again), the book is slightly better.
Quote from: SM on Mar 30, 2024, 05:18:23 AMI didn't mind the voiceover. Gave it an old school PI vibe. The happy ending was beyond awful.
The voiceover could've been good, but you can hear Ford is delivering lines at gunpoint and it adds nothing.
I thought it fit his weariness.
Quote from: SM on Mar 30, 2024, 05:18:23 AMI didn't mind the voiceover. Gave it an old school PI vibe. The happy ending was beyond awful.
It was tragic, he knows she will die like Roy, presumably.
Deckard says she won't die like Roy.
Which is part of what makes it a bad movie.
Quote from: SiL on Mar 31, 2024, 06:56:04 AMWhich is part of what makes it a bad movie.
Is the final cut still a bad movie?
No, it is not.
Yes.
I still find it boring but it's a good movie.
AvPmeter 94%
Positive: 16
Negative: 1
Who voted NO? >:(
I said, I took the bait.
(https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/09/mck2ptbn0dmhcizwmstb.gif?quality=75?quality=75)
Your rage proves you're human. You're welcome.
In the world of BR, anger and other emotions do not mean that someone is human.
(https://64.media.tumblr.com/024b6e48b8821dd2f29e0f8f3d43bbdc/b30a922e1de8d6e1-9c/s540x810/0e26455b34d6b98a22679831818019bf3cc19f6d.gifv)
PS also I'm not angry. I'm just taking a mickey.
I know, it's all in good fun.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 01, 2024, 10:59:46 AMI said, I took the bait.
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I think it's a brilliant film and looks gorgeous. The sequel is way more accessible, though.
It's also interesting how accurate BR actually was with predictions.
Where is the war between 𝔄𝔲𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔞 & 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡?
(https://s12.gifyu.com/images/SVZT2.gif)
On the cricket pitch?
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Apr 02, 2024, 06:46:21 PMWhere is the war between 𝔄𝔲𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔞 & 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡?
https://s12.gifyu.com/images/SVZT2.gif
Maybe England conceded to Australia on the matter. :o
Troll thread is troll thread.
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Spoiler
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Quote from: Stitch on Apr 02, 2024, 10:36:22 AMI think it's a brilliant film and looks gorgeous. The sequel is way more accessible, though.
It's also interesting how accurate BR actually was with predictions.
Which ones?
The film was set in 2019, none of it was accurate.
Quote from: SM on Apr 02, 2024, 09:16:23 PMQuote from: Stitch on Apr 02, 2024, 10:36:22 AMI think it's a brilliant film and looks gorgeous. The sequel is way more accessible, though.
It's also interesting how accurate BR actually was with predictions.
Which ones?
The general design of cities, the fact that we have massive light up adverts in our faces constantly, the way that people in power are constantly trying to limit the lives of people without power, the flying cars...
Not much turned out particularly accurate... Except what already existed, that being postcolonial affects on class, the Replicants basically being the subaltern.
And it getting more extreme over time.
Quote from: Stitch on Apr 02, 2024, 09:32:59 PMQuote from: SM on Apr 02, 2024, 09:16:23 PMQuote from: Stitch on Apr 02, 2024, 10:36:22 AMI think it's a brilliant film and looks gorgeous. The sequel is way more accessible, though.
It's also interesting how accurate BR actually was with predictions.
Which ones?
The general design of cities, the fact that we have massive light up adverts in our faces constantly, the way that people in power are constantly trying to limit the lives of people without power, the flying cars...
All of those things existed before the movie except the flying cars, which we still aren't using as every day vehicles.
It lied. To our faces.
Blade Runner has robots and off world colonies and we have rockets that blow up a lot and Grok.
Actually we do have underclasses that we exploit and scapegoat, that are excluded from conversations that concern them (happens in Rachel's very first scene), and dictate their right to medicine (Roy Batty).
And the promise of off world colonies we never get to see.
We've always had slaves - literal or figurative.
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Apr 02, 2024, 09:34:04 PMExcept what already existed
And the highlighted specificities.
Dammit, I had a whole response to this post and somehow it didn't get posted.
Basically, I wonder every now and then whether the world we currently live in would be classed as a cyberpunk dystopia if someone in the past was looking at it. We have massive megacorporations who seem to be beyond the law, cities made of glass that go way up into the sky, and a class divide that seems to be getting bigger and bigger.
Wasn't thinking of stuff like cityspeak and spinners, but how sci-fi stories tend to be an allegory for contemporary times, but that current times don't necessarily seem that different.
There was a lot of words and stuff, and it sounded better than this.
Quote from: SM on Apr 02, 2024, 09:16:23 PMQuote from: Stitch on Apr 02, 2024, 10:36:22 AMI think it's a brilliant film and looks gorgeous. The sequel is way more accessible, though.
It's also interesting how accurate BR actually was with predictions.
Which ones?
Climate Change
Video Calls
Smart Homes
Virtual Assistants
Smart Keys
Forensic Software
Computational Photography
Large scale electronic/digital billboards
AI
Voice Activated Technology
It is actually a good movie, you should give it a watch sometime.
I mean it's ok.
Quote from: SiL on Mar 31, 2024, 09:40:23 PMI still find it boring but it's a good movie.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 03, 2024, 11:50:33 AMI mean it's ok.
Sounds like it's depreciating.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Apr 03, 2024, 07:00:31 PMQuote from: SiL on Mar 31, 2024, 09:40:23 PMI still find it boring but it's a good movie.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 03, 2024, 11:50:33 AMI mean it's ok.
Sounds like it's depreciating.
Just like Alien, it's just been copied TOO much over the years, stylistically. Even people who haven't seen Blade Runner have seen Blade Runner a million times by now.
Similar to most folk. Thought it was garbage as a kid, couldn't sit through more than 20 minutes without wishing they put Predator on the TV instead.
Now sip wine looking at my Blade Runner framed prints while stroking my Unicorn die cast collectable.
Have to wonder if it's not understanding it more, but also just missing the aesthetic,the actors, the music etc , being 10 and not 43 :laugh:
Love, Boomer.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Apr 03, 2024, 07:00:31 PMSounds like it's depreciating.
It's a fine film. It's not bad, it's good. It's just OK good.
Like Roy Batty is neat and all but I think something like Vision in the MCU or
Ex Machina are more compelling portrayals of the conflict of what it means to be human, since they're more explicitly artificial and yet their consciousnesses seem so human.
Batty's cheating because he's basically a lab-grown human, which makes the argument more akin to when does fake meat start being real meat.
Yeah, I never really did get what the difference was between a Replicant and a garden variety clone from Star Wars (or any other sci-fi series).
"We can't tell them apart!"
Maybe stop making them out of actual organs??? Like come on. Fill them with milk and glass beads like a good sci fi and be done with it.
You can tell them apart by their hands and interrogating their eyes, all part of the class metaphor, I do not think this stuff would be as strong if they had more science fiction like qualities.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 04, 2024, 12:51:10 AM"We can't tell them apart!"
Maybe stop making them out of actual organs??? Like come on. Fill them with milk and glass beads like a good sci fi and be done with it.
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Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Apr 04, 2024, 12:54:15 AMYou can tell them apart by their hands and interrogating their eyes, all part of the class metaphor, I do not think this stuff would be as strong if they had more science fiction like qualities.
You tell them apart by checking their subconscious reflexive responses to questions designed to elicit empathy. Androids are psychopathic and a human who could fail the test would be unable to function in society.
Which is not very clear in the movie (and I don't think I could argue Batty is completely psychopathic).
They are not psychopathic. They are more human than the humans who interrogate them, not less.
Which is why the book is better.
*slaps 'Citizens Against Replicant Slavery' stickers on the windshield of everyone's spinner* 😋
Blade Runner is the first movie that made me appreciate human like "monsters". When scifi/horror/fantasy used to come up, and had the hunting monsters trope in it, when I would watch a film and find out it had no monsters, I'd be so f**king pissed off. 13th Warrior is a prime example of this. I realize BR came out before, but I saw it much later. In 13th Warrior, when you are first watching it, expecting them to fight big bear humanoid monsters, and find out they are human in the first silhouette that you see them in, your like wtf, what a disappointment.
BR made the replicants interactions with decker so off the f**king wall, and different than a typical encounter at that time in scifi film with such adversaries, that I began to look at it as plausible.
I'd eventually go back and watch 13th Warrior (and read the book) and the film would end up on my all underrated movie list.
A man who appreciates an actually good movie.
In all seriousness 13th Warrior is a great time. I'd love to see the McTiernan cut.
Blade Runner is a work of art and one of the best looking films of all time. What's even better is that the beauty has interesting depth. Love it even more now I'm older.
Soundtracks can definitely elevate the films also. Like Disneys Tron with Daft Punk.
I remember I worked in a castle ( yes a real one) as a barman and people were getting married and they asked me to hit play on the CD when they started walking down the isle (shitting myself?) and it was the Vangelis Album they played two songs from to get married. I remember thinking they were complete weirdos and now that's one of my favourite vinyls :laugh:
I'm not saying Blade Runner isn't great without Vangelis , but it's definitely part of the "why was this movie great", a big part.
It has lots of things that make it great that aren't just the story.
The music is great but also the reason I can't watch the film these days. It puts me to sleep over those overindulgent City model shots (like Star Trek The Motion Picture, but less interesting).
The runtime helps too. It's easily rewatchable, not overstaying its welcome and still creating a rich universe in that time.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 04, 2024, 09:06:00 AMThe music is great but also the reason I can't watch the film these days. It puts me to sleep over those overindulgent City model shots (like Star Trek The Motion Picture, but less interesting).
I get ya. These days it's why I go back to older movies. Get a minute before something blows up 🤣
Just checking to see if any votes have changed.
I can make another account to vote No again if you want.
Quote from: Local Trouble on May 08, 2024, 12:03:49 AMJust checking to see if any votes have changed.
Could you check up on the Empire thread as well please? ;D
Quote from: SiL on May 08, 2024, 12:40:15 AMI can make another account to vote No again if you want.
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Quote from: Local Trouble on May 08, 2024, 02:08:58 PMQuote from: SiL on May 08, 2024, 12:40:15 AMI can make another account to vote No again if you want.
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I've only seen it a few times over the years tbh, but I always found it to be a style over substance film. But the style is so monumentally, astronomically high that it makes up for all faults in the substance.
The "tears in the rain" monologue is an all-time great in film history.
There is plenty of rich substance in Blade Runner. It's not just the visuals.
There's some interesting sci-fi world-building I enjoy. I just don't find the plot and characters particularly engaging. I just don't get a whole lot out of it aside from the amazing visuals, personally.
That's just my opinion tho. Not dogging on anyone who loves it.
Been planning on giving it a revisit and finally watching 2049 so maybe that will change.
Back in the 90s I took my best friend to see it at a revival house. His take:
"I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who likes a plot."
I was furious at first. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized he wasn't wrong. 'Detective hunts and kills androids, falls in love with one.' That's enough for me, because for me the tale is in the telling. But some people need more narrative 'crunch' than that. These are the same people who can't sit through 2001. Both sides are legit.
It's a (neo)
noir film. Falling in love with
femme fatale is one of its trophies.
QuoteThe Fading Femme Fatale in Contemporary Genre Films
Blade Runner's Rachel (Sean Young) is visually coded as a femme fatale, with a distinctive dress, hair, make-up and clothing that also sets her apart from other women in the film. Her attraction to Deckard (Harrison Ford), her uncertain alignment, and her ability to kill when necessary are consistent with the femme fatale. Her identification as a replicant should make her an enemy, but she does not appear to share the other replicants' desires, or at least have sympathy with their methods, so Deckard's decision not to kill her is understandable. In addition, his moral code is not challenged by letting her live, as killing replicants is his job as an agent of the state, something he was not given any choice in, not an action in support of his personal morality. Rachel's decision to leave Tyrell, her maker/father (although she probably was more in the role of mistress), and enter into a relationship with Deckard, the man who sees her as she really is, is essentially the dependent daughter growing up and moving from the father's house to the husband's. This is not the action of an independent woman. The origami unicorn at the end suggests innocence and links her to Deckard's dream, (and suggests that Graff is aware of Deckard thoughts as a replicant) but the symbolism is awkward. The unicorn is a fierce beast that is partial to laying its head in the lap of a female virgin, after which it becomes tame and can be captured. Thus it can be read that Rachel has captured the once free running Deckard. However, he appears to be protecting her. When she kills Leon, this is the element of the couple working together on the investigation, but in the context of the film this is an action that reinforces Deckard as a danger primarily to women. This should make his affection for her more difficult, yet he never seems to struggle with his decision to save her.
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Quote from: Ingwar on May 08, 2024, 07:26:23 PMIt's a (neo) noir film. Falling in love with femme fatale is one of its trophies.
Everyone knows that.
Falling in love with an android (concept of so-called the Other) makes the movie way more interesting. Without this sub-plot BR wouldn't be such a great film.