Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Blade Runner: The Final Cut



Every great director has their own personal Magnum Opus; A testament to their ability and the one true crowning achievement of their career. More often than not, this film is plagued by tortuous shoots, massive rows with the cast and crew and illness - mental and physical. Coppola had Apocalypse now, Welles had Citizen Kane and Ridley Scott has Blade Runner...

Based on a novel by the super-massive literary legend Phillip K Dick, the story, set in 2019, follows Deckard (Harrison Ford) who works for the police as A Blade Runner. His job is to hunt down and kill 'Skin Jobs' or human replicants. Four such replicants have escaped from an off-world colony and are now hiding on earth.

The four replicants, led by Roy (Rutger Hauer), are trying to find the key to extending the length of their lives. The Tyrell corporation, who manufactured the Nexus 6 models, have designed and instilled a four year lifespan for each of them.

So far, so action movie. But, the truth is, this film works on levels you don't really appreciate until you've seen it a few times. There's the four replicants who seek out their creator to extend their lives, which is exactly what Christians do when they pray to god every night. There's the heavy question of what exactly constitutes being human, best displayed when Deckard falls for replicant Rachael (Sean Young), who initially doesn't even realise she's not human.

Everyone knows about the speculation that Deckard himself was a replicant, further stressing the point -(As it stands; Scott says he was, Harrison Ford disagrees). If it takes something as flimsy as a Voigt-Kompf (pupil dilation) test to separate humans from their android counterparts, is there really any difference at all?

The cityscapes are still visually stunning, like they were originally, back in the eighties. Digitally remastered in this latest and 'Final' cut, it only serves to heighten the impact.

The stand out performance in this film has to go to Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty. Ultimately, the villain of the film, it's hard to call him so as he draws so much sympathy for his fruitless plight. His ad-libbed monologue in the final scenes is one of those brilliant moments that only comes around every decade or so. The sort of brilliance that can only grow from a chaotic and tumultuous shoot. Which Sir Ridley Scott certainly provided.

Verdict 10/ 10
A film that gets better every time you watch it.