Blade Runner | | Cast : | Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young | | Director : | Ridley Scott | | Studio : | CREATIVE DESIGN ARTS | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen, Box set | | Released Date : | June 25, 1982 | | DVD Released Date : | June 06, 2000 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 30, 2005 | | Summary | Just to put my 2 cents worth in... | Content
 | I saw this version in a theater and I have to say I felt ripped off. The missing naration doesn't add or detract from the movie, in fact, I kinda missed it. The "unicorn dream" sequence is footage Ridley Scott stole from his 1983 disaster "Legend", the movie he dumped "Dune" to make. The only other major difference is the lack of a happy ending. The real story here is that this is not the definitve version of the film. There is another... a friend of mine saw a sneak preview back in the day in which Deckard was a replicant (remember all those old family photos on the piano?). Maybe one day that version will see the light of day and we will have a real "Director's Cut". Until then I say stick to the original. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 19, 2005 | | Summary | The VHS Director's Cut Experience | Content
| Walking home from class one day I pass by my local video rental store. As luck would have it, it was the first day they were selling off their VHS library. Curious, I step inside and browse around until I spot a title I've heard before but never really bothered checking out: Blade Runner the Director's Cut. The combination of a futuristic film noir (two of my favorite genres) and one inspiration to Cowboy Bebop (one of my favorite series)? I decide to part with the 8 dollars.
Before watching the film I feel the need to find out a little more about my version. Upon checking the reviews I run into a little debate over the better or best version. As I understand (and to boil things down), the original version was the "Hollywood (forced/ feel good)" cut verses Mr. Scott's "own vision". In addition, the DVD Director's cut is a 1st generation release (i.e. distracting/poor transfer quality). So how was the VHS Director's Cut? Amazing.
From start to finish the film transports us into the gritty streets of a semi-advanced LA, planted in the classic 80's style. The characters, driven through dimly lit environments and circumstances play very well together- from the decadent nightclubs to a monolithic corporation to apartment housing that mid 20th century forgot. The music also fuses nicely, between jazz of a contemporary detective mystery and an 80's electronic orchestra, creating the synthesized trumpet that pulls me deeper into the night's chase. And the performances? (You can read the product description for story) Well, without giving anything away, acting is never excessive, while subdued much of the time- as it needs to be. It was those moments during the journeys, in between the confrontations that allowed time for the main characters to develop. When sides did meet, the action was also very believable (like the settings). In summary, the deliveries only built up until a great finish with an inspiring message to boot.
While that sale went on I also picked up a few other 80's VHS classics:
*Arcadia of my Youth- English Subtitled
Classic from the creator of Interstella 5555(which also has a certain dream-like quality). 'Arcadia' also has a strong positive message it wants to convey.
*Highlander- Original Cut(Heard director's cut is over explanitory.)
Another 80's fantastic adventure.
*Legend of Drunken Master II- English Subtitled (The complete version)
Early 90's but close enough. For those who want more action and less plot. Jackie Chan in his prime...I'll check out 'Police Story' afterwards.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | A great film draged thorugh the mud! | Content
| Blade Runner one of the greatist sci-fi movies ever made has been disgraced! don't get me wrong, I love the official version. It kicked major.....you know what. But the director's cut needs to get its you know what kicked by the official version. Here are the reasons you should see the offical version instead of the director's cut (spoilers ahead):
1.They made Deckerd a replicant in this version. Now you don't have anyone to cheer for. 2.They cut the happy ending. I mean come on...Ridley Scott thought that was a good thing? 3. The voice-overs gave the film a great Maltese Falcon feel. Are thay in the directors cut? NO! So there you have it. Go see the version that's good. And, yes, I am a 12 year old that has seen Blade Runner. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | The Movie, The whole movie, and nothing but the movie. Great | Content
| `Blade Runner', directed by Ridley Scott and starring, in one of his most important roles, Harrison Ford, is quite probably one of the best science fiction movies ever. I would easily put it in the top five with Fritz Lang's `Metropolis', Forbidden Planet', `2001 A Space Odyssey', and another Phillip K. Dick inspired story, `Minority Report'.
I was originally disappointed with this movie when I saw it in the theatre, as it was based on one of Dick's most famous stories, `Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' and the screenwriters took significant liberties with the story. But one of the surest ways of identifying a high quality movie is when it `grows' on you after repeated viewings. I have probably seen the original theatrical release on VCR and DVD and on broadcast TV at least five times, and I look forward to every viewing. The things which grow in my appreciation of the film as time goes by are Ford's performance and Ridley Scott's great invention of a very dark Los Angles some fifty years (from the time of the filming) in the future. The dark settings are a Ridley Scott trademark and they show up most dramaticly in `Alien', `G.I.Jane', and `Black Sun'. While the effect is great in the Sci-fi and Horror flicks, it really doesn't work in `G.I.Jane', but that's another movie.
`Blade Runner' seems to have embedded itself into our collective unconsciousness. I happened to see an Alton Brown / Food Network special on TV yesterday where our golden boy, AB quoted a line from Sebastian's geneticly engineered minatures in `Blade Runner'.
This movie seems to be the sort of work where everything just seems to hang together very, very well, from the set design to the music to the acting. Virtually all the roles in the movie are small compared to Ford's character, the Blade Runner, Deckard, but there are some which make one wish they had larger parts. Joe Turkel fits his part perfectly as the founder of the Tyrell Corporation. M. Emmet Walsh is also perfectly cast as Deckard's former captain of the Blade Runner unit who calls him back into service. Sean Young does well as Tyrell's closet replicant. The greatest little pleasure outside Ford's role is the performance of William Peterson, much better known as the Larry of the three brothers, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl on the `Newhart' TV show. Brion James, a lesser character actor similarly carries his part well. The two most difficult parts to assess are those by Rutger Hauer and Edward James Olmos. I suspect Olmos is given a major visibility in the credits for this movie more due to his widely recognized part in `Miami Vice' than to his role in this movie itself. Regarding Hauer, I often thought this was by far his best performance and that his whole career is based on the recognition he got from doing this movie. But, having recently seen `The Hitcher' again, I sense that while Hauer does well in these very sinister roles, his acting range is really limited and, like Whoopie Goldberg in `Ghost', the acclaim should go not to the actor but to the casting director.
Oddly, I suspect one of the biggest differences between the theatrical release and the director's cut is to make just a little more of Olmos' role in the movie. The theatrical release doesn't even add any lines for Olmos, just a few more for Ford / Deckard to explain Olmos' character. In general, the theatrical release added just a little more voiceover dialogue to explain things early in the movie and to give the ending a slightly more upbeat resolution.
I was really disappointed with the extras on these DVDs, as missing is my favorite feature, a voiceover commentary by director which explains the scenes in the movie. I suspect that unlike Kevin Smith's movies which make more money in DVD release than in the theatre (and who therefore puts a lot of effort into DVD extras) `Blade Runner' is so good, the DVD producers feel no need to pile on the goodies.
This is a truly great movie whose value increases as time goes by and other filmmakers are unable to top it's story and great atmospheric interpretation of a classic Sci-Fi hypothesis.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | I'll Stand In Line | Content
| I'll stand in line to be the millionth to review Blade Runner. I love both the first release with the voiceovers & also the Director's Cut - there were two ways to skin the cat (Blade Runner test image). Blade Runner is a brain wave opera that walks the tightrope on love & anger,good & evil,male & female,beauty & grotesque. The cast was all wonderful - especially Sean Young as Rachael, who walks the tightrope on human & perfection. The Vangelis soundtrack including the beautiful "Blade Runner Blues" is now available through Amazon. |
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