Friday, August 19, 2011

TOO MANY BLADE RUNNERS

My favorite movie for many years was "Blade Runner," a 1982 sci-fi classic starring Harrison Ford, about a cop in a corrupt and decadent Los Angeles of the future. 

The cop, Deckard, is a blade runner, i.e., he hunts down and "airs out" rogue replicants, humanoid robots that were programmed as warriors, workers, entertainers and "pleasure models" to meet the needs of humans.

Four or five replicants have escaped together and are on the loose in L.A. and up to no good. Deckard is assigned to terminate them. You can't really "kill" them because, technically, they aren't alive.

But they sure seem like it. Deckard falls in love with a hot babe (Sean Young) whom he thinks may be a replicant. Turns out, she is.

What I love about the movie is its use of 40s film noir transported into a vision of a future, in which androids are "more human than human," which is the motto of the corporation that makes the replicants.

I think it is deliciously ironic that humans have ruined the Earth, and the only good people are not people at all.

Seven different versions of "Blade Runner" exist, and there has been a lot of controversy over the years about which is the best.

My own favorite is the originally released theatrical version, which is not the one preferred by the director, Ridley Scott.

In the movie Scott wanted to make, Deckard himself turns out to be a replicant. An ironic twist. Here is a "man" who risks his life to destroy his own kind.

But to me, that is the wrong theme. What is more interesting, I think, is that Deckard finds the replicants preferable to humans and ends up in love with one, and he takes her away to protect her from other blade runners. 

To me, Scott's version is a terrible letdown. So Deckard has been killing his own kind. No honor among androids. But I think that is a less interesting twist.

In 1982, "Blade Runner" was a flop at the box office and with most critics, according to the NY Times. It could not compete with "E.T." and it disappointed moviegoers, who expected something like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," both more mainstream but without as much depth, I thought.

If you haven't seen "Blade Runner," I recommend it highly. It is still great, after all these years. No matter which version you prefer.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

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