Blade Runner (The Director's Cut)

What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Afsheen Nomai and Marjorie Kase

BLADE RUNNER is set in dystopian Los Angeles, circa 2019. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former Blade Runner, is recalled from retirement to exterminate a gang of rogue replicants (a type of human android). Replicants were invented to perform slave labor on off-world colonies. Law forbids them to live on Earth. Despite their artificial intelligent makeup, a glitch has allowed them to develop human emotions and a lust for life. The longer they live, the more powerful their emotions. Unofficial replicant leader Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) leads a pack of them to Earth to find and convince their maker, Tyrell (Joe Turkel), to invent a way to extend their five-year lifespan. As they become more desperate to find Tyrell, they grow weaker. Grappling with an intense love for model replicant Rachael (Sean Young) but bound by his duty to uphold the law, Deckard must rethink his views on what it means to be human, as he hunts down and kills his android nemeses.

Is It Any Good?

Based on the short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by legendary sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, BLADE RUNNER is a deeply philosophical yet violent picture. While it may come across as an action/adventure science fiction film, the movie is, in actuality, very slow-paced and visually dense. When it premiered in 1982, BLADE RUNNER bombed at the box office. Critics decried its unnecessary voice-over and inconsistent Hollywood ending. Audiences were alienated by its lengthy pace. As rumors circulated of studio interference, a cult following emerged seeking director Ridley Scott's original ending. The director's cut confirmed their suspicions in 1993 when the film was rereleased, this time without its original voice-over and cheesy finale. After well-deserved acclaim, BLADE RUNNER (THE DIRECTOR'S CUT) is now considered one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.

Families considering viewing this film should avoid the original like the plague; instead go with Ridley Scott's original vision. Children in their mid-teens with a strong interest in the science fiction genre are more likely to enjoy this film. However, it is not appropriate for teens under age 15.