100 Movie Project - Blade Runner

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The following post contains spoilers for Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a science fiction classic and I’d actually watched this movie twice already but both times I was watching it with friends, was talking and not really paying much attention, and found the movie a little dull and hard to follow. So this time I made a point of watching it alone (although that’s how I usually watch movies nowadays) so that I could pay more attention to the movie and get a better feel for it. And that definitely helped. I enjoyed it quite a bit more on the third viewing than on the first two.

The thing I immediately noticed, and probably enjoyed the most, was the cinematography. Ridley Scott (the director) and Jordan Cronenweth (the director of photography) did a great job nailing that gritty sort of cyberpunk feel. Everything feels very worn down. It all looks futuristic yet also, somehow, very old. There’s plenty of neon. I felt they did a great job making you feel like you were in this run down futuristic dystopia. You can see why the film is held in high regard, up there with Akira and Ghost in the Shell by sci-fi/cyberpunk fans.

There were a couple of scenes that stood out.The first were the scenes in J. F. Sebastian’s (William Sanderson) toy filled house. They were extremely atmospheric and creepy and, in my opinion, some of the most well done scenes in the movie. The area and shots are weird and the reality of these maybe sentient dolls essentially being Sebastian’s slaves was very unsettling.

The end fight where Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) chases Deckard through the more decrepit areas of the house were adequately tense and well shot, with Deckard trying to get the jump on Roy and then having to run away in a sort of cat and mouse game until he gets cornered on the roof in the rain. Lots of mist and lights peeking through the darkness added to the atmosphere.

The third scene that I thought was pretty memorable was not memorable in a good way. The scene in question takes place in Deckard’s apartment with Rachael. Deckard at this point has realized that he has feelings for Rachael and, while telling her about his feels, gets a little too physical with her. This may have been par for the course in 1982 when the movie was released, but it was uncomfortable to watch in 2022. Especially since it didn’t seem to make Rachael like Deckard any less. She just kissed him. Maybe an argument can be made that since she’s an android and could probably kill him easily she’s not really threatened by him or something but I still felt it was a little weird to watch.

The acting was good but nothing really stood out. Harrison Ford did a good job making Rick Deckard seem worn down from a life of chasing androids and Sean Young was good as Rachael struggling with how to reconcile what she thought she knew with learning she’s an android. But like I said, while the acting was well done it wasn’t incredible. I’m not trying to diminish the job the did but sometimes you see a performance that just blows you away, like Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight, and that wasn’t the case here.

1 movie down and 99 to go. I assume most people have seen Blade Runner so leave me a comment telling me what you though of or remember about the movie.

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