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[The Mule]

So I've watched bits and pieces of Blade Runner over the last decade, never sitting down to actually watch it in full until last night, finally. And honestly...I thought it was "fine". I don't think I can understand the sentiment I've seen from quite a number of people claiming it as "the best sci-fi film of all time" or something similar.

I really like Harrison Ford as an actor generally but, nothing really stood out to me in the film itself. Props for an incredible setting though. I love cyberpunk and it just oozed of atmosphere. But overall, what exactly are people looking at when they praise it so much?

There weren't really any standout scenes (that I saw anyway), what 'action' there was felt low key and strangely shot, Harrison Ford and Rachel developed a deep relationship seemingly out of nowhere, and just felt like nothing of consequence really happened in the movie. I'm not sure how else to describe it. In the end I just had a "that was it?" feeling. Guide me GAF.

you also have to remember that praise for old movies like this is largely due to the inertia they got when they first came out. they were AMAZING for the time when they came out, but lots of the techniques and sfx have been bettered since, so they don't seem so impressive now... but they still have the perception of greatness.

it's the citizen kane effect

 

[Winter John]

I think you're overstating this.
Like, it looked good, but it didn't even win the academy award for best special effects. Now I think it probably should've have won that year, but it wasn't this "OMG we never seen anything like this!" movie, and again, it didn't really set the world on fire when it was released.
It's current status of routinely being mentioned as one of the best science fiction films ever was something that happen in the years after its release.

I don't think that's the case of you had to have seen it in the 80s for the movie to work for you, I know many people who seen it in the 21st century and love it, much more than I do, and I watched it in the 80s.

There really wasn't anything else like it at the time. There were certainly other films which had better special effects, but taken as a whole it was a pretty unique film. When I saw it I wasn't that impressed but my buddy was blown away by it. He thought it was one the best things he'd ever seen. He had the posters and movie shots all over his room. I've watched it a couple of times since then and it's grown on me. It's not something I'd go out of my way to watch. Anyway, people should switch off their tv's and go read Philip K Dick's stuff, it's fantastic.

 

[Ozium]

it comes from people who haven't read the book on which it is based

 

[HariKari]

You're coming into it now after its influenced film for decades. You don't have the context of what is was like when it first premiered-the look of the film was revolutionary.

The Half Life of Sci Fi?

 

[CosmicGroinPull]

All I ever watch are modern movies so the movie's subtleties are lost on me. Love the soundtrack and look of it though. I enjoyed the Blade Runner videogame more than the movie.

 

[Window]

you also have to remember that praise for old movies like this is largely due to the inertia they got when they first came out. they were AMAZING for the time when they came out, but lots of the techniques and sfx have been bettered since, so they don't seem so impressive now... but they still have the perception of greatness.

it's the citizen kane effect

In both instances, neither film were considered amazing (less so for Kane) when they first were first released. Blade Runner was a critical and box-office failure. Many old great films were not well received upon their initial release.

 

[nortonff]

It's the best sci-fi movie off all time, along with 2001.

 

[norinrad]

Unless you've been there and have seen what Roy saw through his journey's you'd never understand.

Just chipping in to say there will never a science fiction film better than BR as long as i live on this god forsaken planet.

 

[Red Hood]

Great art direction and atmosphere, but I thought the rest was meh. I watched the Director's Cut, so I'm not sure if I got the right version or not, but I couldn't help but feel overall disappointed. Maybe because I was expecting too much, because I love the cyberpunk genre (ignited by DX:HR). I'm thinking of either re-watching the Director's Cut, or see if I can find a better edition.

 

[Abounder]

I'd wager most people are fans of the 5th Element style of scifi storytelling than Blade Runner; nonetheless BR has great world building, cinematography, and an outstanding lineup of talent. Its impact can be seen in video games galore as well

 

[PhoncipleBone]

It is a film that takes a few viewings to fully get it, in my opinion. The first time I watched it, I felt it was a gorgeous, but bland film. But on each subsequent viewing, I picked up more and more and it started to click.

I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of The Final Cut when it was doing the roadshow tour back in 2008. Man, was it gorgeous seeing a pristine print on the big screen.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

A lot of people find it really hard to work out what the film is about even with the ham fisted monologues they added to the theatrical version. The monologues may make it easier to follow on some level but they distract from the real meanings laid out in the script and imagery that even many fans of the film angrily reject. Most probably even the people making the sequel don't understand the original script or will willingly ignore it to make some money. Ford's acting is not that great in the film and the action is not amazing in that it has huge set pieces. But really it's the world and the meaning behind the characters actions and identity that defines the film along with the cinematography.

 

[Harry Stewart]

Blade Runner's impact is undeniable, but I'm with the OP in it leaving me cold. I'd honestly rather watch the behind-the-scenes material on the Blu-Ray again than the film itself.

 

[Frog-fu]

NyQuil in film form.

Still a gorgeously atmospheric film with considerable thematic depth and cinematic significance that pushed the scifi genre forward.

I'll have to get around to watching it again for Blade Runner 2.

 

[Sapiens]

When I think of blade-runner, I think of a lot of nice moments surrounded by a layer of sleepy moodiness. It's kind of a film you have to get in to to really enjoy - otherwise, you have a lot of boredom until Batty's tears in the rain scene. Don't watch it if you're sleepy.'

The production design is incredible.

 

[dragonyeuw]

Don't feel bad TC, I 'don't get it' either the 3 or 4 times I've tried to watch the film. I'm sure it's brilliant given the heaps of praise, but I've never had the discipline to watch the entire thing. Maybe it's one of those 'you had to be there' situations when it came out, or I'm just not a particular fan of that style of film.

 

[Perfect Blue]

There weren't really any standout scenes (that I saw anyway), what 'action' there was felt low key and strangely shot,.

It's almost like the film isn't an action movie.

 

[half a moon]

It is a film that takes a few viewings to fully get it, in my opinion. The first time I watched it, I felt it was a gorgeous, but bland film. But on each subsequent viewing, I picked up more and more and it started to click.

I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of The Final Cut when it was doing the roadshow tour back in 2008. Man, was it gorgeous seeing a pristine print on the big screen.

What did you pick up in later viewings?

 

[Sesuadra]

just started watching the movie for the first time.

my version is 117~118min long..don't know which one that is, sorry ^^"..but amazon says 118min is the final cut

looking forward to watching it.

 

[ShemhazaiX]

Because tears in the rain. If you dont well up all teary after that I don't know what to say. :[

 

[Real Hero]

because people think it's amazing and it is

 

[vagabondarts]

Watch it again.

Then watch it a third time.

Hopefully somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd viewing, what it's actually doing will start to work on you, as opposed to what you think it's supposed to be doing.

edit: And it doesn't really matter what cut he watched. The voiceover doesn't make enough of a difference to cause the overall quality of the movie to suffer. The theatrical version is the one that caused the thing to become a critically acclaimed cult success post-release, anyway. The idea there's a "wrong" version doesn't make any sense to me. The "wrong" version is the one that built the fanbase and garnered a decade of brilliant word of mouth. The "right" version is the one where the director proved he didn't quite understand what his fucking movie was doing, either.

(workprint cut is best cut)

I agree completely.

 

[marrec]

it comes from people who haven't read the book on which it is based

Well that's bullshit.

Blade Runner's high praise I think is because of many elements of the movie but most of all it oozes a mood and style that's not been adequately replicated (heheh) since.

 

[Sesuadra]

uh an owl

Spoiler

he was just forced to take the case and become a blade runner again >>

smoking? ha 80s movie.

 

[teruterubozu]

A mixture of nostalgia and geek cred. It's kinda like Freddie Mercury and Queen. People enjoyed them back in the 80s but now people are willing to defend them til death for some reason.

 

[nortonff]

A mixture of nostalgia and geek cred. It's kinda like Freddie Mercury and Queen. People enjoyed them back in the 80s but now people are willing to defend them til death for some reason.

I watched it recently for the first time and thought it was brilliant. So I don't agree with your point.

 

[teruterubozu]

I watched it recently for the first time and thought it was brilliant. So I don't agree with your point.

That's fine. I'm not soliciting for any acquiescence.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

A mixture of nostalgia and geek cred. It's kinda like Freddie Mercury and Queen. People enjoyed them back in the 80s but now people are willing to defend them til death for some reason.

I think that you are talking about films like Aliens and Terminator.

 

[teruterubozu]

I think that you are talking about films like Aliens and Terminator.

ooooh. Now that's edgy. I lose.

 

[Real Hero]

A mixture of nostalgia and geek cred. It's kinda like Freddie Mercury and Queen. People enjoyed them back in the 80s but now people are willing to defend them til death for some reason.

You could say this about anything made in the 80's

 

[Eighty Deuce]

Born to early for the dystopian cyberpunk future

 

[marrec]

Born to early for the dystopian cyberpunk future

Born too late to appropriately appreciate Blade Runner.

*dank meme gnome*

 

[teruterubozu]

You could say this about anything made in the 80's

I don't know, I just watched a Milli Vanilli documentary. Not many defenders there.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

ooooh. Now that's edgy. I lose.

Yeah naturally. It's always been relatively safe to shit on a movie like Blade Runner I honestly don't know why you would say otherwise.

 

[Catdaddy]

Saw it on HBO back in the 80s, and at that time was brilliant visually and had a good story to match. The last time I watched it few years back (one of the newer versions, forget which) it held up okay, but no where the same impact from when I first saw it years ago.

 

[teruterubozu]

Yeah naturally. It's always been relatively safe to shit on a movie like Blade Runner I honestly don't know why you would say otherwise.

Damn, cutting.

 

[genjiZERO]

The film is smart OP. It creates ambiguity on what it means to be a person. It also does this as a film noir cyber punk. What's most interesting about it is that the robots are biological - something you almost never see in film. Honestly, I can't think of a more modern film that does this better. Ex Machina did it well, but I think Blade Runner is still better because it's ambition.

it comes from people who haven't read the book on which it is based

The film is better than the book. The book is cheesy dystopian detective genre with no subtlety or ambiguity.

 

[eot]

For me it's the cinematography, and the atmosphere that makes me love it. I do think the narrative is good too, but to me that's less important. Have you watched Ghost in the Shell OP? If you have, did you like the "canals" scene? Because to me Blade Runner is essentially that for an entire movie.

 

[Messofanego]

i can understand its influence and things it did at the time, but despite all that I found it a very boring movie.

Which is weird since i love sci fi, and i LOVE ford.

Do you love Stalker, Ghost In The Shell, 2001, The Fountain, Altered States, Primer, Solaris, Videodrome, Moon, Ex Machina, Gattaca, Brazil, A Scanner Darkly, Animatrix? Slower paced, slightly arthouse fare?

Cause there's different kinds of styles strived for in sci-fi.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I think you're overstating this.
Like, it looked good, but it didn't even win the academy award for best special effects. Now I think it probably should've have won that year, but it wasn't this "OMG we never seen anything like this!" movie, and again, it didn't really set the world on fire when it was released.
It's current status of routinely being mentioned as one of the best science fiction films ever was something that happen in the years after its release.

I don't think that's the case of you had to have seen it in the 80s for the movie to work for you, I know many people who seen it in the 21st century and love it, much more than I do, and I watched it in the 80s.

Actually, I think that did happen. Not from an effects perception, but from a production design perspective. I was raved about from day one for being one of the most immersive SF movies.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

it comes from people who haven't read the book on which it is based

I've read the book. The book scores a lot of points for some great ideas, but it feels very rushed and sloppy like a first draft (which it probably was, if I understand PKD's life correctly).

The movie loses some of the grand ambition of the book, but it also makes a million times more sense. I don't really consider it an adaptation so much as inspired by it.

Somebody could adapt Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep and it wouldn't even seem like the same movie, apart from a couple character names and the Voight-Kamf test.

 

[Kain]

Because of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAwo7DPUFUM

 

[teruterubozu]

PKD was asked to rewrite the book for a "movie version" but he said fuck off. The book has some great stuff the movie left out, like the Mercerite religious cult. There's also a more detailed explanation of the illegal fake animal trade and replicants working in space.

 

[Mr.Pig]

I was wondering when we would get this month's "I don't understand Blade Runner"-thread.

 

[eot]

There's one thing that's better about the final cut, and that's the shot of the dove flying away at the end. In the directors cut the background is some random warehouse building that looks totally out of place. There's even a blue sky despite the fact that there's rain in the scene.

 

[genjiZERO]

I think you're overstating this.
Like, it looked good, but it didn't even win the academy award for best special effects. Now I think it probably should've have won that year, but it wasn't this "OMG we never seen anything like this!" movie, and again, it didn't really set the world on fire when it was released.
It's current status of routinely being mentioned as one of the best science fiction films ever was something that happen in the years after its release.

I don't think that's the case of you had to have seen it in the 80s for the movie to work for you, I know many people who seen it in the 21st century and love it, much more than I do, and I watched it in the 80s.

That's not true. People have been raving about the film for as long as I can remember and I saw it in the 80s too.

 

[God Dayumm]

I appreciated the movie more for the setting than for the plot. It had good world building, I think

 

[Window]

That's not true. People have been raving about the film for as long as I can remember and I saw it in the 80s too.

It may have gained cult status but I don't think it had the universal acclaim it has today.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

If they could take the same tone and art direction and FUCKING FINALLY MAKE NEUROMANCER, JEEZE! I would be over joyed.

 

[Bishop89]

Do you love Stalker, Ghost In The Shell, 2001, The Fountain, Altered States, Primer, Solaris, Videodrome, Moon, Ex Machina, Gattaca, Brazil, A Scanner Darkly, Animatrix? Slower paced, slightly arthouse fare?

Cause there's different kinds of styles strived for in sci-fi.

Only ones ive seen from that list are Ghost in the SHell and 2001, and I only liked Ghost in the shell.