Does Han Solo dream of electric unicorns? Tom Eydmann re-visits the 1982 classic Blade Runner to find out what makes a one off Sci-Fi noir so popular over 30 years later.
Obviously contains major spoilers
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| Post Apocalyptic LA. Complete with oil rigs and electrical storms |
At first glance it's hard to work out why Ridley Scotts Sci-Fi Blade Runner is still one of the most popular movies of its type. Base on the Phillip K Dick story
'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep' it didn't launch a franchise or even a sequel (so far). A couple of spin off books and a ground breaking computer game (ground breaking read: 'based on a film and not shit') are the only signs of an extended Blade Runner universe outside of the now 7 different versions of the movie that have been tinkered with and released to date. In fact when the movie first came out it didn't fare too well in cinemas due to going up against more mainstream Sci-Fi affairs such as ET and Star Trek 2: the Wrath Of Khan. Scott and most of his production team saw the film as more of an art house flick anyway and weren't expecting it to be a box office smash. But surely even they couldn't have been prepared for the success the film found on the home video market (resulting in it being re-released in cinemas in 1992 and being one of the first movies to come out on DVD). And now over 30 years later film and sci-fi fans hold Blade Runner in the same regard as Star Wars, The Terminator and Scotts other future set movie Alien.
"Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother"
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| Scott tells Ford how to hold a gun |
So what makes it so successful? The general key to making a decent sci-fi movie is creating a world that the audience can believe in. Whether that be on a spaceship, a remote alien planet or a future version of earth we have to buy into the environment these characters live in or the whole movie will be taken as a B movie joke ala Battlefield Earth. Scotts movie starts off in the right way by borrowing off Star Wars and having a title card explaining the world we are going to be spending the next 2 hours in. We find out straight away that robots (replicants) exist in this universe and that they are illegal on earth. This immediately puts us at ease when we first see 2019 LA. We know it is going to be futuristic but nothing can prepare you for the dark gritty city that Scott created. By combining familiar sights and sounds such as billboard advertising (for brands everyone in 1982 would have been familiar with), sushi restaurants and newspapers stands with futuristic contraptions like the flying Spinner cars, the oil rigs jetting up flames into the night and the Voight-Kampff machine Scott shows us enough of the future to make it believable whilst not creating a ridiculous landscape where every other person is an alien and we all eat our meals in pill form.
"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."
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| Fords Deckard. Bad taste in shirts |
It is the hustle and bustle of LA that is Blade Runners real success. This is a living and breathing post apocalyptic city not a movie town. Every detail is perfect to make you think this is how LA could end up evolving in 20/30 years. From the city speak talked by Edward James Olmos' Gaff to the neon lights that illuminate the dank feel to the place. You can almost smell the city as Harrison Fords cop stalks the night looking for his targets. Which brings us onto Ford. It is no secret that Blade Runner had a troubled shoot. Scott reportedly didn't enjoy working with an American crew which led to a massive divide between the Brits and the Yanks working on set. Ford had a definite way that he was going to play his character and whilst he and Scott may not have seen eye to eye it is still his best performance without a blaster or a whip in his hand. Ford cared a lot about the look and feel of the film. When the producers felt that the audience wouldn't understand much of what was happening they dragged him into a sound booth to record a voiceover narration. Ford was so against this he deliberately did bad take after bad take until the narration was eventually scrapped (you can still hear it on some versions).
"I'm not in the business... I *am* the business."
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| Pris and Roy Batty as a couple of Skin Jobs |
As for the rest of the cast most of them give career best performances. Rutger Hauer plays replicant leader Roy Batty with steely eyed intensity. Everyone remembers him for his tears in the rain speech at the climax (which he wrote himself) but his scenes with J F Sebastian are also a treat. Sean Young looks every bit the eighties sex bomb as replicant with fake memories Rachel. It should have been the role that shot her to the Hollywood big league. instead she decided to just go mad instead (just Google her and you'll find out for yourself). Daryl Hannah plays acrobatic pleasure replicant Pris with schoolgirl naivety. She was most recently seen in Tarantinos Kill Bill as the one/no eyed killer Elle Driver and that was 10 years ago now. It would seem that only Scott and Ford went on the greater things after Blade Runner. And Olmos of course who stared in Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica.
"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
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| Sean Young as Rachel. She *is* the business |
So what else can be said abut this groundbreaking movie. The score by Greek composer Vangelis (which you can hear some of now if you played the earlier YouTube track) has become one of the most iconic and copied of recent times. Perfectly complementing the isolated mood and the melancholy tone of Fords speech it helps to bring home some of the films key messages and fears. And what are those messages? Well at the basic level Blade Runner is a film about paranoia and fear of technology like so many Sci-Fi movies. In the eighties and early nineties technology was progressing faster than it had ever done before and people were untrusting of it. We feared it would lead to our downfall hence movies like Blade Runner and The Terminator where technology is essentially the bad guy. Genetic modification and cloning are the real enemies here and bring us into the next big theme. What does it mean to be human? Just because Roy, Leon and the other replicants are artificially made does that mean they are merely machines? They feel pain and pleasure so does that not make them alive? What about Rachel who has memories implanted in her. Surely having those sorts of emotions make her as human as Deckard? The continued use of eyes in the movie is important here. At the start an image of an eye is superimposed onto the screen, Eldon Tyrell is killed by having his eyes pushed in and later on Roy and Leon meet with Chew who creates the replicants eyes. Humans eyes are supposed to represent the window into the soul. As Batty and co put it to Chew "you wouldn't believe what I've seen with your eyes". Surely that makes them in someway 'real' if not human. It is worth pointing out that despite being classed as the enemy for most of the film Batty, Pris and Rachel show much more emotion than any of the human characters on screen. Remember Roy saves Deckards life in the end. A final act of humanity from someone who isn't classed as human. Of course Scott has said himself that he wasn't trying to create any major message with the film but just create an enjoyable movie so again how much you read into it is entirely up to you.
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| Replicant proof? |
Which brings us nicely onto the big argument. Is Deckard a replicant or human? As with most of these movie type debates it is open to discussion and interpretation. Ridley Scott is adamant that Deckard is a replicant. Harrison Ford and some of the screenwriters are adamant he is human. Personally I sway more towards the replicant argument. During the scene where Deckard falls asleep at his piano he dreams of a unicorn running through a field. At the end of the movie when he leaves with Rachel he finds a paper unicorn left by Gaff. This would suggest that Gaff knows Deckard dreams of a unicorn because his memories are implanted. And why a unicorn? What is it's significance? A creature that is not real and yet yearns to be free. Sounds pretty similar to the replicants doesn't it? Other suggestions to this theory include Rachel telling him that they were 'Made for each other' and Gaff questioning whether he is a man now after Batty dies. Although lots of these small pieces only appear in certain cuts of the movie it would definitely lean more to the replicant side of things. But each to their own and if you see Deckard as a human who happens to fall in love with an artificial woman then it won't hamper your enjoyment of the film in the slightest.
Blade Runner has been one of the biggest influences on modern Sci Fi and you can still see its reach in movies today. If you enjoyed it then it's definitely worth checking out the following movies. Most are pretty common but if you've only just seen Blade Runner it's good to watch them now and see the influence
- Minority Report
- Inception
- Primer
- Wall-E
- The Matrix
- Seven
- Looper
- A Scanner Darkly
- 12 Monkeys
- Prometheus
The main reason Prometheus is listed here is because there is a strong chance they are set in the same world. On the Prometheus DVD there is a clip of Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce) talking about his mentor. He then goes on to pretty much describe Eldon Tyrell (who represents
The Man in Blade Runner) bang on. With talks of a Blade Runner sequel in the air for around 20 years now it's interesting to see how these two movie universes could cross into each other in the future. Or maybe it's just one of those things designed to give fan boys like myself an erection. Still take a look at the below article about the sequel and it seems pretty likely; although with Scott seemingly tied up for his next 2 projects at least it wont be any time before 2016.
http://collider.com/ridley-scott-blade-runner-2-sequel-interview/170633/
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| Extra on the Prometheus DVD alluding to Eldon Tyrell |
Christopher Nolan showed Blade Runner to his crew before shooting Batman Begins. After it was finished he simply stood at the podium and said 'And that is how we are going to make Batman.' If that isn't enough evidence as to how this Cyberpunk, Ultranoir piece of arthouse cinema shaped modern film I don't know what is. It is a work of art and an enjoyable piece of Sci-Fi at the same time and deserves to be in a museum as much as it does on your DVD shelf
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die."
Next Week.
MEMENTO
Arguably Christopher Nolans best work (I said arguably Batman fans) Mementos backwards plotting made it the first classic thriller of the new millennium. Scripted and directed by one of the best of his generation how does Memento (a film that I once described as the best of the last 10 years) hold up some 13 years after its release?
Rent it, stream it, borrow it or steal it. Then we can discuss it next week.
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Tom Eydmann is a blogger, writer, icon and possibly a replicant, possibly a human. He doesn't have a website because he doesn't know how and he dreamt of unicorns last night. He will be back next week
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