Los Angeles circa 2019 is an ugly cesspool of crime and dirt. It looks as if an industrial complex mated with the ghettos and spawned a black filth which enveloped up the city. Steam stacks belch out fire and smoke; the metropolis is a haze of greens and yellows, tobaccos and grays. Yet this is the center of the world, for it is where the replicants are made--androids so lifelike they are nearly indistinguishable from their human counterparts.
A new phase in development has created the Nexus 6 models. Very intelligent, strong and fast, the machines are used as slave labor on hazardous worlds where precious minerals are collected. A member of the corporation who developed the model tells us early on that the machines were so intelligent that they risked developing emotions, so a fail-safe feature was implanted in the models to keep this from happening: a four year lifespan. When a group of four renegade robots hijack a ship and return to Earth to meet their maker, demanding more life, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a blade runner or replicant hunter, is brought out of retirement to terminate the machines.
At its grittiest surface this is an excellent example of the inspiration taken from the noir films of the 1940s adapted for the present--or the future, in this case. The hard bitten cop hunts his enemies in a shifty city of double-talkers, backstabbers, and shifty-eyed liars. Everyone is a threat, and Deckard's prey are like phantoms drifting in and out of mist. But being projected into the future (an ever nearing one, I might add. I certainly hope L.A. never ends up looking that), the mystery is made all the more special as Deckard hunts beings who look just like everyone else.
Beneath that initial layer, "Blade Runner" is actually a complex, existential meditation on the question of what it means to be human. The femme fatale character, Rachael (Sean Young), is a replicant herself, but didn't know it before meeting Deckard. Memories of a past were implanted into her artificial brain and even he, the most skilled blade runner, had a difficult time in determining she wasn't human. Is it ethical to terminate something that has no knowledge that it isn't actually alive? Are human synapses in the brain that trigger emotions all that different than the wires crossed in a machine's "mind"? And my own question, is it ethical to create an artificial being which has the capability of becoming too lifelike? Perhaps that these Nexus 6 robots demand more life is enough of sign that they are too human. After all, isn't a desire of abundance and a fear of death two major aspects of what it means to be alive?
I have seen multiple versions of this film. The 25th anniversary addition parried down a lot of material, changed the ending--for the better, in my mind--and removed a lot of voice over narration work that Ford did in the original release. I think that all of these changes better the film. What is left seems more like an homage to a film style long since past, as opposed to a cheesy attempt to recreate it, merely dressing it up with a sci-fi element.
But even if you do happen to see the original cut of the film I have no doubt that you will be awestruck by the grandness and visionary boldness of what Scott brought to the screen. Exemplary use of lighting, fantastic costumes and some of the best sets in any film ever make this an exciting and memorable movie-going experience. I use the word "experience" intentionally. This isn't something simply to watch, it won't let you be so passive. No, this is a film to embrace and be swallowed up by. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and "Blade Runner" flings open the shutters and climbs right in.
4/4
Spot on.
ReplyDeleteGlad you approve :)
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