Blade Runner, originally released in 1982 was, at its time, at the cutting edge of the film industry. Set in a desolate world with Harrison Ford as the lead character, people loved it and overtime it has been heralded as a classic. I have been asked to review the film, but I am not sure I agree that this film is a timeless masterpiece but I do however like it. I can see why people think this is a classic, and I hope to show this in my review.
Blade Runner throws us right in the deep end of confusion as the film begins, and me being the audience, I sometimes enjoy this. The beginning turned into the middle, and I felt I needed to concentrate harder to keep up. Films should be entertaining, not taxing. The world of Blade Runner is set in the future in 2020, in a dystopian world. This earth is corrupt with politicians only living for the short-term and only caring for themselves.
The parts of the city we see in Blade Runner make us feel that it could be seen as a city in a developing country. There are so many people and I was shocked to find that this was a portrayal of an American city and maybe reflects on what is to come. Does the film hint on what may happen?
The city seems like a terrible place to live. It rains a lot. The buildings are like ancient Aztec pyramids. They stretch up miles high in the sky. Prisons lay abandoned. Everything is dirty and blackened – there is never any sunlight. All these factors add to the mise-en-scene and I think Ridley Scott, the director, has done this well. This area of the film I have no problem with and people should see the film on this fact alone.
The issue I have with this film, is the element of a storyline within all the confusion I mentioned earlier. For me it works on its own but the storyline element will turn many people off. The version of the film I watched was the updated version of the film. When Ridley Scott tested his film and showed it to the public no one was able to understand it and voice overs were put in to compensate for this (like in the version I saw). If they had kept the film the same I feel the film would have been much better and would make the characters more mysterious and dark, as it should be.
The soundtrack to this film suits it well but is nothing special, as all the music seems to be very synthetic. These sounds do create tension but I can’t see how people are not bored of the discords and never-ending-notes. The sounds sound like someone has just fallen asleep on top of a piano! It would have been better to have created an orchestral film score with a live orchestra to give a feeling of realism and spark life into the film. But as I am writing this, does the music reflect the future, where everything is artificial and nothing real…
In today’s world, many popular sci-fi books have been turned into films and so many of them fail miserably and don’t get what the author was trying to portray. Take ‘I-Robot’ and you will see an excellent story ruined by Will Smith. It is not his fault as he was cast in this role. Without him though the film would have flopped and not be as popular as it has become. Blade Runner uses Harrison Ford (famous at the time but not too famous) very usefully to turn a book into a film, which isn’t bad.
Fresh from Star Wars, Ford delivers another brilliant performance which for me makes the film. His presence within the film link all the other characters together and Blade runner is what it is. If the film was remade today, all the actors would be famous and I think the film would become too much of a Hollywood blockbuster. It was right to be released when it was and has influenced many films since. Blade runner is the film other sci-fi films should emulate.
If every film was like Blade Runner, none of us would be bored. Star Wars would not be the centre of our sci-fi lives. The film must be seen and I, myself cannot wait to see it again.
